Ex-GOP strategist flags hidden message buried in Trump's 'grotesque' White House addition

President Donald Trump shared what appeared to be an AI-generated image Monday night of a golden eagle statue affixed to the White House facade, and while the post was ridiculed by critics, one former GOP staffer flagged what they believed was a hidden message.

The image in question shows a golden eagle statue attached to the front facade of the White House holding a red, white and gold shield surrounded by 11 stars. Trump described it as a “golden gift to the White House for its 250th birthday year,” suggesting there may be plans to bring the image to life.

However, Steve Schmidt, the former GOP strategist and co-founder of the conservative anti-Trump organization the Lincoln Project, zeroed in on the number of stars featured on the statue, which differed from the typical 13 to represent the original 13 colonies.

“This is grotesque and un-American,” Schmidt wrote Tuesday in a social media post on X to his more than 1.4 million followers. “11 stars represent the Confederate States of America, not the United States of America.”

Schmidt was making reference to the 11 states that seceded from the United States between 1861 and 1865 to form the Confederate States of America, largely out of a desire to preserve their right to enslave African Americans.

Trump has sparked controversy throughout his two terms regarding the Confederacy. In 2020, Trump ruled out renaming U.S. military bases named after Confederate officers, going as far as to restore the name of a base that was stripped of its reference to a Confederate officer during the Biden administration.

Trump also attacked NASCAR over its Confederate flag ban and has called Confederate monuments "beautiful" and criticized efforts to see them removed.