If anyone failed to read the room, it was White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Her attempt to gush over President Donald Trump’s latest renovation project — a lavish marble bathroom in the Lincoln Bedroom — quickly turned into one of the most tone-deaf posts of the shutdown and unleashed a metaphorical political lashing from California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Last week, Trump posted before-and-after photos of what he called his “renovated” Lincoln Bathroom on Truth Social, boasting, “I renovated the Lincoln Bathroom in the White House. It was renovated in the 1940s in an art deco green tile, which was totally inappropriate for the Lincoln Era. I did it in black and white polished Statuary marble. This was very appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln and, in fact, could be the marble that was originally there!”
Leavitt immediately reposted the photo with her own caption — one that would haunt her for days.
“When I first learned a toilet like that existed inside the White House, I was horrified,” she wrote. “President Trump is making the People’s House more elegant and beautiful for generations of Americans to come!”
Her comment landed as 42 million low-income Americans were preparing to lose food benefits amid the five-week government shutdown. That timing made the post sting even more. Social media erupted in disgust, calling out the administration’s obliviousness to what ordinary families were facing.
“Horrified by a toilet… inflation, grocery prices, people are losing their jobs, kids being starved, and you’re horrified by a toilet,” one user fumed.
Another added, “Families are skipping meals so their kids can eat, and your emotional breaking point was… a toilet? You disgust me.”
Newsom seized on the outrage. Reposting a viral meme of Trump dressed as Marie Antoinette, he mocked Trump with the caption: “WOW!! THE QUEEN HAS A NEW BATHROOM.” The post garnered nearly two million views and thousands of comments.
The following day, he turned his attention to Leavitt and rubbed it in, writing, “Letting Americans starve doesn’t horrify them. Letting healthcare costs triple doesn’t horrify them. Letting our troops go unpaid doesn’t horrify them. A toilet does.”
Even longtime political commentators were stunned. “It’s impressive that I can’t tell if this is serious or ironic,” Ian Bremmer wrote. Another X user sneered, “You really shouldn’t wear that cross around your neck.”
The backlash didn’t stop with Leavitt.
Trump’s original post was also hammered for bragging about “gold fixtures” while federal workers remain unpaid and millions face food insecurity.
“Trump’s obsession with a marble bathroom while Americans go hungry and troops go unpaid is outright disgraceful,” one commenter said. “This shutdown isn’t political theatre — it’s neglect.”
Others mocked Trump’s penchant for gilded décor and self-promotion.
“Trump doesn’t care about Americans,” one viral post read above a cartoon of a diaper-clad baby Trump wearing a crown. Another noted that the stunt was classic distraction politics: “Flood the zone with crap.”
Referencing Trump’s former strategist Steve Bannon who once said, “Our real opposition is the media; the way to deal with them is to flood the zoon with crap. Stink up the joint. Flooding the zone & spinning on a daily basis plus shameless is a potent combination.”
Adding, “What Democrats do does not matter, because we always go on the offense; we do not respond to them, we attack.”
Meanwhile, the president’s ongoing White House makeover continues to raise eyebrows. Reports indicate he has torn down part of the East Wing to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom, repaved the Rose Garden to mimic Mar-a-Lago’s patio, and is floating plans for a massive self-named arch near the Lincoln Memorial.
As one viral response summed up: “Let them eat marble.”
