In a grand display of patriotism and personal flair, President Donald Trump has added two towering flagpoles to the White House grounds as part of his latest renovation efforts. Despite escalating tensions in the Middle East and growing backlash from some MAGA supporters, the 79-year-old president took time on Wednesday, June 18, to personally oversee the installation of what he called “the best poles anywhere in the country or in the world.”
The installation began early Wednesday, with one pole erected on the South Lawn and another on the North Lawn later in the day. According to CNN, Trump spent nearly an hour supervising the process and speaking with workers and reporters on site.
“It’s a very exciting project to me,” Trump said. “These are the best poles anywhere in the country or in the world.” The president later presided over a brief ceremony to raise the American flag on the newly installed South Lawn pole.
The event was attended by key figures, including the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner, who were at the White House for the swearing-in of Charles Kushner as the new U.S. ambassador to France.
It took five men to hoist the large flag, which Trump proudly saluted as it reached the top of the 88-foot pole. Although Trump initially claimed the flagpoles were “approximately 100 feet” tall, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later clarified the official height as 88 feet.
A second flag of matching size was raised on the North Lawn later in the afternoon, shortly after a brief thunderstorm passed through Washington, D.C. “I’ve had it for a long time. In the first term, I had it, but you know you guys were after me … I was the hunted, and now I’m the hunter. There’s a big difference,” Trump told reporters, as quoted by the Daily Mail.
The flagpoles reportedly cost $50,000 each, and Trump compared their quality to those at his Florida properties, Mar-a-Lago and Doral. “There’s a little flagpole that’s like 15 feet high—little tiny flag up top. This is the real deal,” Trump said. “Nothing like this. You know, most of them are 20 feet, 25 feet, this is close to 100 feet.”
The flagpoles are part of what has been dubbed a “Trumpian” White House makeover, which also includes updates to the Rose Garden and more gold-accented decor in the Oval Office. A video of the newly raised flag was shared on the official White House X account, captioned, “Thank you, @POTUS.”