Politics

‘What a metaphor’: Hillary Clinton attacks the optics of Trump’s White House

Kevin Dietsch and David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

If US president Donald Trump’s demolition of the East Wing of the White House to make way for a new ballroom wasn’t controversial enough, work on erecting an octagon-shaped cage on the south lawn for a UFC bout hasn’t gone down too well online.

As a reminder, the temporary installation is intended to be a part of this year’s 4 July celebrations, when Americans not only mark Independence Day, but the US’s 250th birthday.

“I have never seen anybody want anything so much as people want those tickets,” Trump previously said of the upcoming event.

Meanwhile Dana White, UFC boss and Trump ally, told Fox News earlier this month that the president wants the event to be “mostly for the military, so there’s gonna be 4,300 people there”.

“I just literally went over it right now; 4,300 people, and most of them will be military. 100 per cent [it’s a ‘thank you’ to the military],” he said.

General fans will be able to register for free tickets to view the event from the nearby park, the Ellipse, White added.

But when an image was shared of current construction work underway on the White House grounds – both for the UFC fight and the ballroom – former secretary of state and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton decried the optics on her X/Twitter account.

“This is what Trump’s done to the people’s house: a third of it is rubble. Another third is a cage match. What a metaphor,” she tweeted.

Clinton is one of the latest to share the image of the White House and criticise its appearance, with The Lincoln Project and Majid M. Padellan (known online as Brooklyn Dad Defiant) attacking the changes to the presidential residence earlier this week.

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