When I first heard of this story, I was convinced it was some old Saturday Night Live skit about comical government operations, but that turned out not to be the case…unfortunately.
President Trump wants to clean up the 137-year-old Eisenhower Executive Office Building — hardly one of the federal government’s architectural gems, by the way — but naturally, some hyperventilating “historic preservation” group sprinted to court the moment he suggested making the place look less like a relic from a forgotten basement.
At this rate, administration officials will need to file a motion with a federal judge just to use the bathroom.
Because of the lawsuit, the Trump team has now agreed to put any beautification efforts on ice for the rest of the year while the court sorts it out. Apparently, to some self-appointed guardians of history, dirt, decay, and peeling paint are sacred artifacts worth preserving:
The sudden declaration from GSA [General Services Administration] comes after the DC Preservation League and Cultural Heritage Partners, a law firm focused on historic preservation, filed a complaint on Friday against the Trump administration after President Donald Trump speculated about painting the building next to the White House stark white.
During a Fox News interview last week, Trump said that the Eisenhower Building “was always considered an ugly building” and lamented its historic gray color — the exterior facade is mostly composed of polished granite, slate, and ornate cast-iron trim — saying that “gray is for funerals.”
Think about this:
The President of the United States and his staff must get the permission of a federal judge before repainting or power-washing a White House staff building??
And these federal judges, particularly in DC, wonder why the American people increasingly loathe them. https://t.co/Vks4RGpvqN
— ?? Mike Davis ?? (@mrddmia) November 19, 2025
As Brett T. at Twitchy asked, “Once again, we have to ask why we had an election a year ago to pick a president when judges can simply prevent him from doing anything they don’t approve of?”
White House spokesman Davis Ingle summed the lunacy up this way: “President Trump is making the White House beautiful and giving it the glory it deserves. Only people with a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome would find a problem with that.”
But of course, the lunatic, Trump-deranged left saw this as a big win:
“The government’s temporary freeze of the president’s plans marks a significant step forward,” Greg Werkheiser, founding partner of Cultural Heritage Partners, said in a statement. “The court battle lies ahead, and we are fully conscious of just how much is at stake for this wonderful building and for the rest of America’s treasures protected under law.”
There has been a lot of upset among progressives regarding the funding for a new ballroom project at the White House, especially when you consider that the Federal Reserve is spending large amounts of money to renovate its own buildings. It’s interesting to note that in cities run by progressive leaders, like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago, there seems to be a tendency to overlook cleanliness and upkeep.
Some people argue that just because a building has historical significance doesn’t mean it can’t be improved. In fact, the building in question is quite old and doesn’t look good at all; it really needs some work. Let’s hope this is just a brief hold-up and that the renovations can move forward soon – and the lefties who are ‘objecting’ to cleaning a federal building get some help for their TDS.
One last thought: Why would a federal judge think he/she has any authority to rule on this matter in the first place? This case shouldn’t be a ‘case.’ To believe our founders envisioned the president would have to get a court’s permission to scrub a federal building clean is insane.
