White House staff were forced to intervene in an effort to stop President Donald Trump from an Oval Office decoration plan that was feared to literally bring the ceiling crashing in, according to a new book.
According to Republican strategist Scott Jennings' book, Trump told him directly he wanted a massive chandelier to hang above the famous room.
"I'm thinking of putting a chandelier in here... Right through the shield there on the ceiling," he told Jennings, asking, "If there's any room that needs a chandelier, it's this one. What do you think, Scott?"
According to the book, reported on by the Daily Beast, Jennings diplomatically responded, "I think it will come in handy at night, Mr. President," while privately noting the room was "awash in sunlight."
But he wrote that White House staff then stepped in to kill the idea after discovering the ceiling "couldn't hold the weight."
Jennings frames the episode as part of a larger narrative about Trump's redesign of presidential spaces. "Trump's redecorating is a metaphor for the way he has governed in his second term — adding new elements at such a rapid pace that hardly anyone can keep up," he wrote.
The chandelier incident was just one of many redesign attempts. Trump has since demolished the White House East Wing to construct a $300 million ballroom, replaced historic trees, and transformed the Rose Garden into "The Rose Garden Club" - a Mar-a-Lago-inspired dining area.
"It's clear that he has a vision for what he wants, and it is up to the rest of us to figure it out and embrace it," Jennings observes, capturing the president's unapologetic approach to reimagining presidential spaces.
Jennings notes that Trump has been "restyling the Oval visually as fast as he's reshaping all of American politics," with the president adding personal touches like "his own mugshot" and the Declaration of Independence to the historic room.