![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/06\/23093348\/GettyImages-2220416750.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The White House Rose Garden, long seen as sacred ground, is now a construction zone \u2014 and many Americans aren\u2019t happy about it.<\/p>\n
Photos show bulldozers and gravel replacing the lush greenery outside the Oval Office as part of a controversial renovation led by Donald and Melania Trump, which began June 9. The garden\u2019s grassy center is now gravel, construction equipment is scattered nearby, and limestone borders from Melania\u2019s 2020 redesign are being replaced with concrete.<\/p>\n
Trump, 79, explained the changes in March, saying the garden was impractical for press events: \u201cPeople fall… Women in high heels, it just didn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n
The White House calls it a \u201crestoration,\u201d but critics argue it erases history. \u201cRemoving Kennedy\u2019s Rose Garden for a patio,\u201d one user posted on X. Others called it \u201cabsolutely crazy,\u201d echoing backlash Melania received during her 2020 redesign.<\/p>\n
Historian Michael Beschloss described her vision then as \u201cgrim.\u201d Meanwhile, construction continues elsewhere on the grounds, including a new ballroom and two large flagpoles \u2014 which Trump claims he\u2019s personally funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve needed flagpoles for 200 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The White House Rose Garden, long seen as sacred ground, is now a construction zone \u2014 and many Americans aren\u2019t happy about it. Photos show bulldozers and gravel replacing the lush greenery outside the Oval Office as part of a controversial renovation led by Donald and Melania Trump, which began June 9. The garden\u2019s grassy…<\/p>\n