President Donald Trump’s brag that he transformed the Oval Office into a “24-karat gold” paradise, dripping in ornate decor, has seemingly been debunked by Internet sleuths who say the new furnishings are actually cheap plastic bought at Home Depot.
As shiny gold vermeil figurines were placed on the mantel, medallions on the fireplace, and gold eagles on the side tables, some eagle-eyed sleuths zeroed in on the Oval Office’s wall and fireplace trimmings.
According to the skeptics, several of those trimmings are actually plastic molds bought at Home Depot and painted in gold, Inside Edition reported.
The plastic embellishments, sold at the popular hardware and home improvement store as “polyurethane applique & onlay molding,” retail for $58.07, according to The Mirror.
While the item is primed in white, Internet sleuths say it was likely coated in gold paint or leaf before being installed in the White House. Other newer details in the White House also appear to match another only that retails for $30.79, according to Buzzfeed.
The Independent has reached out to the White House for comment.
Despite the Internet’s insistence that the Oval Office is now decked out in plastic, Trump has insisted the new decor is made of genuine gold, going as far as bringing in a “gold guy” to give the White House a glitzy gold makeover earlier this year, according to The Wall Street Journal.
While boasting his renovations earlier this year, Trump said the room “becomes more and more beautiful with love, with great love and 24-carat gold that always helps too.”
The president doubled down on the embellishments being real gold in March, saying, “Throughout the years, people have tried to come up with a gold paint that would look like gold, and they’ve never been able to do it. You’ve never been. And look at that. Look. You’ve never been able to match gold with gold paint.”
The Internet had a field day with the gold trim’s apparent origin, with social media users ridiculing the so-called gold furnishings.
“Imagine running the free world and still decorating like a broke mobster’s wife in Jersey. $58 Home Depot appliques in the Oval Office, spray-painted gold. Very on brand for Trump: cheap, fake and f***ing ugly,” one critic wrote on X.
Another piled on, writing, “Nothing says fake AF human being than trying to claim everything in the Oval Office is gold when it was purchased at Home Depot.”
“Petty is the idiot who adorned the Oval Office in gold, spray-painted plastic Home Depot castings,” another critic chimed in.
The White House did not immediately return The Independent’s request for comment on the Internet rumors.
