A winged West Wing: Eagles take flight in White House makeover
The newly redecorated White House is looking rather fly these days.
Decorators installed new furniture, wallpaper, carpet and rugs over the last few weeks while the president was away. But one particular accessory stands out.
Eagles have taken wing in the West Wing.
'A lot more eagles': Inside the spruced-up White House. https://t.co/xLxJVuwO58
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) August 24, 2017
In the Roosevelt Room.
Will be more eagles throughout Trump's West Wing, renovation team told press. Two gold eagles with uplifted wings in Roosevelt Room now. pic.twitter.com/ZKbP2bBBsw
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) August 23, 2017
Holding up a chandelier, which ruffled this critic’s feathers.
More gold eagles in new look Whitehouse. Trappings of a psychopath. Check out the creepy chandelier. Tasteful, non? pic.twitter.com/2mT3tijT4a
— Siobhan MacDonald (@SiobhanMMacD) August 24, 2017
There are also a dozen new side chairs with eagle details, according to the Denver Post.
“The one revealing thing in their light-touch makeover are the eagles. Lots of new eagles, everywhere,” Britain’s The Guardian noted after seeing the makeover.
“Perching on a pair of pedestals, their talons clinging to gilded rocks, an alarming duo of metre-high eagles greet visitors to the Roosevelt Room, beaks agape, wings raised up high, ready to attack.
“A gilded eagle peers down from the ceiling of the Oval Office too, clutching a chandelier in its talons, as if ready to hurl it down on any uncooperative heads of state.”
Eagle-eyed observers were sure they’ve seen decor like this before.
White House redesign's gold eagles? Lifted from the "Blues Brothers" movie's Nazi set? (Behind Henry Gibson) "I hate Illinois Nazis." pic.twitter.com/XRDIgfVY1R
— Robert J. Hawkins (@RobertJHawkins) August 24, 2017
it's going to look like the Liberace suite https://t.co/iAKydp2dAJ
— Andrea Riquier (@ARiquier) August 23, 2017
The new look at the White House was based on President Donald Trump’s personal style preferences, according to Business Insider, a preference for posh displayed in his gold-plated Trump Tower and Mar-A-Lago club.
At 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Trump picked out the new wallpaper in the Oval Office.
But birds? It’s not like Trump has had good luck with eagles — live, breathing ones, anyway.
“It’s an odd choice, given the president’s uneasy history with the bird of prey,” notes the Guardian, referencing that infamous time a bald eagle attacked Trump in his Trump Tower office during a photo shoot.
Watch Donald Trump Dodge a Bald Eagle | Person Of The Year 2015 | TIME https://t.co/WeDdGkvrpx
— cndfrukie (@Elisabe19768506) August 25, 2017
Decorators told the media the eagles sprinkled throughout the West Wing are there to symbolize Trump’s red-white-and-blue side.
“You’re going to start seeing a lot more eagles about the West Wing,” John Botello, an interior designer and preservation specialist for the Executive Office of the President, told reporters given a tour. “It’s a very patriotic symbol.”
The eagles, apparently, have landed.
This story was originally published August 25, 2017 at 2:38 PM with the headline "A winged West Wing: Eagles take flight in White House makeover."