“She’s cutting down Jackie’s trees!”


First Lady Melania Trump sat on the back foot of social media users on Saturday as photos of her completed Rose Garden redesign initiative sparked a range of objections online.

The Rose Garden is a relic of the White House, originally commissioned to renovate landscapes in the early 1960s, during the presidency of John F. Kennedy. Jackie Kennedy oversaw the construction of the garden during her time as first lady and is often associated with her design and legacy.

Melania Trump’s renovation, which she said was aimed at restoring some of the Kennedys’ original vision, removing much of the leaf and color that had become characteristic of the space.

“Can we talk about how Jackie Kennedy’s Rose Garden was colorful and diverse and beautiful and Melania just made it … white?” one Twitter user wrote in response to photos of the renovation that took place Saturday. The remark reflected many who noted the exterior appearance and the primarily white palette.

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“Melania is cutting down Jackie Kennedy’s trees and building tennis courts,” wrote another abused Twitter user.

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“Here’s the colorful, happy Rose Garden under Obama, and here’s Melania’s discovery of the new garden, completely without color or fun,” said author Jennifer Wright in a title in addition to their own before-and-after comparison.

“They cut down Jackie’s trees!” Republican strategist and political commentator Ana Navarro-Cárdenas of the redevelopment, saying she hopes Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden “will return [the Rose Garden] to the way it was. “

The completed renovation came just days before this year’s Republican National Convention is due. Much of the convention will be held virtually, in light of concerns about the coronavirus, with President Donald Trump set to accept the official nomination of the GOP party of the White House lawn. The first lady is scheduled to deliver a speech on Tuesday in support of her husband’s nomination from Rose Garden.

Photographs of the Rose Garden’s reconstruction results sparked criticism comparing her to Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France, whose disregard for national poverty leading to the French Revolution is some accounts notorely remember, with the expression, “let them eat cake.”

The hashtag “Marie Antoinette” trended on Twitter shortly after photos of the Rose Garden began circulating, as it did when Melania Trump first announced the renewal initiative last month. People pointed out that it is the White House allocate resources to a decorative project, while millions of U.S. residents have to contend with unemployment and illness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

White House Rose Garden
The recently renovated White Garden Rose Garden is pictured on August 22nd. First lady Melania Trump received criticism from social media users after photos of the renovation appeared online Saturday.
Drew Angerer / Getty

Some social media users suggested that the redevelopment of the garden was “a waste of taxpayers’ money”, but the White House said earlier that “private donors” were funding the project, not the general public.

Newsweek reached out to Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s chief of staff, for comment, but received no response in time for publication.