A landmark 'for the ages'

Sitting behind the Resolute Desk on Thursday, Donald Trump signed the proclamation that he says will prevent future administrations from changing the Oval Office and Cabinet Room designs, declaring those spaces national monuments.

Speaking to reporters before signing, Trump named the protection he intends the document to carry. According to him, the West Wing rooms would not be "touched by anybody, destroyed, ripped down by stupid people".

Trump told reporters the document he was signing would turn the rooms into a landmark that would last for the ages. He added that no one should be allowed to take the design down, and that if anyone started knocking down walls, "you'll call me wherever I may be, and I will come back here".

The broader renovation push

The proclamation sits inside a wider White House building program that Trump has defended in recent weeks. His projects have included:

• •the demolition of the East Wing to make way for a $600m ballroom
• •a permanent granite helipad on the South Lawn
• •a $14m renovation of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool

Defending the work, Trump pointed to cracked windows, damaged stonework and broken decorative features, saying he had paid for repairs and hired skilled workers. "When you looked at that wall one year ago, it was badly damaged from years of service," he said, adding that exterior columns had been in horrible shape.

Critics and a Cheesecake Factory jab

The redesign has drawn mockery. Barack Obama criticized it, joking that Trump "has got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory. Just gold everywhere."

Treasury secretary Scott Bessent appeared to hit back by dining at a Cheesecake Factory.

Political backdrop

The signing came after midterm elections in which Democrats made significant gains in several traditionally Republican states where Trump had previously won, including Texas, Kansas, South Carolina and Iowa, campaigning on affordability and corruption, and secured control of Congress.

Beside the proclamation on the desk sat a red baseball cap emblazoned with the word "Veto" – an explicit reminder of Trump's threat to block the legislative priorities of the new Congress.

The proclamation followed recent renovation-focused events. Before the midterms, Trump held a press conference on the delayed results of his $14m reflecting pool work, blaming Joe Biden for algae in its waters. "This was in the Biden era … The algae is brutal. It forms easily," he said. Two days later, Trump led a media tour of the White House Ballroom construction site, calling the renovations "a miracle". The proclamation is now signed, with Trump saying he would return if anyone ever came to knock down the walls.