White House Hangs Tarps Over North Portico Amid Trump's Construction Blitz
Source: Forbes
BREAKING BUSINESS
White House Hangs Tarps Over North Portico Amid Trumps Construction Blitz
By Conor Murray, Forbes Staff. Murray is a Forbes news reporter covering entertainment trends.
Jul 09, 2026, 02:06pm EDT
TOPLINE
The White House on Thursday hung large tarps covering the North Portico, printed with images of the columns that are under repair, as the Trump administration ramps up construction and repairs projects across Washington, D.C.

Construction workers hung tarps outside the White House's North Portico on Thursday. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
GETTY IMAGES
KEY FACTS
* Tarps went up on the White Houses North Portico in the late morning on Thursday, covering scaffolding that has stood for days.
* A White House official told CNN the North Portico is undergoing standard restoration work to repair stones in the columns, one of several concurrent construction projects taking place at the White House and across Washington.
* Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told podcast host Katie Miller earlier this week the North Portico columns are undergoing repairs, saying the construction should be finished very quickly.
* President Trump comes out to greet a world leader, sees door dings in the pillars, and he says, Look at all this stuff that needs to be repaired, Burgum told Miller.
* Earlier this week, Trump told reporters construction workers have taken about 150 years of paint off of the columns and re-did them, saying they were in very bad shape and treated very badly by a lot of presidents."

The tarps are covering scaffolding outside the North Portico. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
COPYRIGHT 2026 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Workers put up a tarp to cover the scaffolding on the North Portico of the White House, Thursday, July 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
COPYRIGHT 2026 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2026/07/09/white-house-hangs-tarps-over-north-portico-amid-trumps-construction-blitz/
What could go wrong?
Hat tip, Joe.My.God.
https://www.joemygod.com/2026/07/printed-tarp-masks-makeover-of-white-house-columns/
tanyev
(50,058 posts)All we've seen so far, Forbes, is DESTRUCTION and NOTHING has been successfully repaired.
😒
Ritabert
(2,945 posts)Total waste of taxpayer money.
Bengus81
(10,750 posts)to follow them. Who gives a rats ass about your fucking columns Trump?
Ritabert
(2,945 posts)sop
(20,206 posts)William Seger
(12,601 posts)... and this is how he treats our property.
During his late night posting frenzy 3-days ago to his social blog hellhole site, he posted this out-of-context image & I'm sure you can figure out the rest:
— Trevor Foster (@darthfos.bsky.social) 2026-07-09T18:03:27.981Z
Buddyzbuddy
(3,154 posts)We know he feels a real threat which is why he left the plane.
Alice B.
(774 posts)How?
Ditto on the theory that hes replacing the capitals with Corinthian ones.
Progressive dog
(7,665 posts)to reach the pillars. Maybe people used to be 25 feet tall and a little bigger around than Trump.
IMO Just a poor excuse for having the pillars painted gold.
Alice B.
(774 posts)He has to work on a crew doing it as public service.
Remember that movie The Super?
rampartd
(5,970 posts)states should begin civil forfeiture on the proceeds of their crime.
KT2000
(22,292 posts)He is tearing up DC according to his own bad taste with no approval. He does not own any of this.
Bayard
(30,931 posts)But not total replacement of anything. Unless he pulls another East Wing demolition style.
Lonestarblue
(13,694 posts)We have a historic commission, and members should not be chosen for political loyalties but for historical expertise. They should be in charge of repairs and restoration, not the president. It is not his house.
Srkdqltr
(10,251 posts)Alice Kramden
(3,007 posts)There are no norms, no process - and everybody just goes along with this destruction
SeattleVet
(5,982 posts)QueerDuck
(2,547 posts)Currently, the White House porticos feature Ionic capitals characterized by scroll-shaped spirals called volutes. The more decorative (and tacky) style proposed to replace them is the Corinthian style, which features elaborately carved acanthus leaves. --- But gilded... oooo! So classy, eh? He's turning the White House into a Baroque Brothel


Ritabert
(2,945 posts)QueerDuck
(2,547 posts)Ritabert
(2,945 posts)QueerDuck
(2,547 posts)Following expansions and rebuilds overseen by figures like Benjamin Henry Latrobe in the early 1800s, the structure integrated subtle Federal-style motifs and American materials, grounding its European geometry into a distinct American identity.
He wants to convert the White House portico into something that resembles a cathedral or temple. He's trying to turn the White House from a people's house into one that says "wealth" and "power" ... something that one would see at the Parthenon.
He's such a crass man... with tiny fingers and a mushroom dick (according to Stormy Daniels).
Ritabert
(2,945 posts)underpants
(198,090 posts)QueerDuck
(2,547 posts)Botany
(78,474 posts)You dont just do things to the White House he should be removed for what he has already done
to the White House, the reflecting pool, pissing away 400 million dollars to fix up an outdated
747 that our intelligence agencies or Secret Service have no doubt found some kind of bugs
in it, and stealing the money for and ruining the 250th birthday of America. Not to mention his
unneeded war with Iran, his non stop grifting of Americas money, and his defiance of a court order
to release the Epstein files along with all the people he has murdered with his madness.
Btw his election was as legitimate as his shooting in 2024 in PA. You know what doesnt grew
back? Cartilage and Musk has already admitted to being into the election data when he said on
Joe Rogans show that he had a special app that let him see the results early. That wasnt an app
that was a hack.
Hope22
(4,992 posts)That scaffolding is so close to the columns that I dont see how work could possibly be done on the existing structure. The man should be removed from the property. He has zero authority to demolish the grounds or the House yet here we are! Those people hanging from the roof should be ashamed but they will demolish for a dollar bill. Scum!!
Botany
(78,474 posts)This is madness. The old columns were just fine.
Hope22
(4,992 posts)They have no scruples, no human decency no moral compass. At times of my life I have literally called every senator in an afternoon. In the days when senators would take input from Americans no matter their home state. At this point a call to my two thieving morons only puts my phone number on their list of people to remove when the time comes. You are correct it is madness!
sinkingfeeling
(58,407 posts)Talitha
(8,295 posts)bluestarone
(22,686 posts)Everything they do is just like they are doing with ICE All COVERED (MASKED) up so nobody can witness or investigate ANYTHING!!
FakeNoose
(43,449 posts)
Sneederbunk
(17,872 posts)chowder66
(12,778 posts)mopinko
(74,342 posts)wonder how much it cost.
EarthFirst
(4,289 posts)the no bid was probably close to $250,000 at which point six weeks later well find out that they arent UV tolerant; need replacing; and the cost will skyrocket to over three quarters of a million dollars.
electron_blue
(3,636 posts)nothing else, really, just destruction for the sake of it
The Madcap
(2,271 posts)After the WH is destroyed, he should move on to deconstructing Mar A Lardo.
CoopersDad
(3,428 posts)What a jackass thing to do.
jls4561
(3,368 posts)underpants
(198,090 posts)Easterncedar
(6,758 posts)slightlv
(8,327 posts)it absolutely enrages me! But one thing I've discovered through the years that I can do better when I'm enraged like this is work it out through cleaning. I don't know if you read my story of a few days ago of the flying mailbox and my exploding bathroom. Life has not exactly been easy around here at Casa Pie ligero (as close as I can come in spanish). So... I've determined I'm going to take my rage at this news and finish cleaning the mess in the bathroom. How fitting, since all he truly is was what my bathroom was filled with a few days ago! (I know... sorry... TMI)
sop
(20,206 posts)Biophilic
(6,858 posts)No one else is responsible for this destruction and pillage. The GOP owns this man and what he is doing. All of it.
slightlv
(8,327 posts)that he's so enamored with. Damn him! HOW can we stop him from complete destroying OUR HOUSE?! And he thinks he can hang a huge tarp and we're stupid enough not to know what's going on behind there? No... I've now decided prison is too good for him. For destroying the Constitution, for having our service men and women undermine their oaths of office by obeying their superiors and actually disobeying the Constitution at times, and for destroying the People's House and multiple Monuments, the Man *must be found guilty and executed by firing squad in public (pay for view is optional).
BigmanPigman
(55,884 posts)Dear_Prudence
(1,220 posts)I have pondered how a most sacred object, like the Ark or the original Omphalos at Delphi, could be lost by great civilizations. Now I see it unfolding in real time before my eyes with the dismantling of our White House and its grounds. I guess back in the day, guys in sandals draped the Ark and the Omphalos, claimed to be "repairing it", and that was all she wrote...
MissouriDem47
(479 posts)The White House Lawn looks worse than it did in the movie "Idiocracy" that predicted Trump 20 years ago.
LymphocyteLover
(10,544 posts)Johonny
(26,945 posts)Diamond_Dog
(41,683 posts)And how soon will chunks of it be falling off?
Hugin
(38,156 posts)The very definition of Potemkin. I guess that clears up one item of discussion on the phone call with Pootie.
Pathetic.