Trump Declares the Oval Office and Cabinet Room a National Monument After Midterm Losses

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a proclamation establishing the Oval Office National Monument, covering the Oval Office, the Outer Oval Office and the Cabinet Room under the Antiquities Act.

The move was Trump’s first formal White House action after Republicans lost the House and Senate in Tuesday’s midterms, and it quickly surged across X as images of the gold-trimmed West Wing recirculated.

“We’ve had tremendous victory in this office,” Trump said, according to ABC News. “So we’re making it a national monument, and it will not be allowed to be touched by anybody, destroyed, ripped down by stupid people.”

The White House proclamation names Room 110 (the Oval Office), Rooms 106 and 108 (the Outer Oval Office) and Room 105 (the Cabinet Room) as the monument’s boundaries.

It directs the Interior secretary, through the National Park Service, to write a management plan, document alternatives before any action that would “substantially alter or demolish” the spaces, and coordinate with the Committee for the Preservation of the White House.

Trump told reporters the designation would make the rooms “impossible to knock down and change in any meaningful way,” ABC News reported, and said he would send the proclamation to Congress for ratification.

The text of the proclamation itself does not require congressional ratification. A White House fact sheet describes the Antiquities Act proclamation as establishing the monument to ensure preservation, care and management.

Importantly, the proclamation also states that nothing in it “shall be construed to restrict the President’s authority to redecorate the monument, select furnishings, or make ordinary operational and security modifications” that do not substantially impair the historic structure.

The Associated Press reported that the order does not lock future presidents into Trump’s gold-heavy décor and does not stop a successor from rolling back the proclamation — something Trump has done to predecessors’ monuments.

Asked whether a future president could remove the gold accents he has added, Trump indicated a successor could, but “very carefully,” according to ABC News.

The announcement came a day after Trump toured the East Wing ballroom construction site and defended focusing on White House projects while Republicans absorbed a midterm rout.

In October 2025, Trump ordered the East Wing torn down with little advance notice to make way for that ballroom, a structural change that fueled criticism he now seeks to prevent for the Oval Office and Cabinet Room.

The White House and grounds are already part of President’s Park and are recognized as a National Historic Landmark; Trump’s proclamation adds a discrete monument designation for the three rooms.

Supporters cast the order as protecting a historic workspace. Critics called it a post-election décor fight dressed up as preservation, noting the redecorate carve-out and the lack of a hard congressional lock.

Either way, the proclamation is now public law of the executive branch unless a future president revises it, and Interior must begin the management planning the order requires.

Content created by Conservative Daily News and some content syndicated through CDN is available for re-publication without charge under the Creative Commons license. Visit our syndication page for details and requirements.