Golden Curtains, Falling Bombs - Trump Between Medals and Military Operations

In the East Room of the White House, three soldiers were to be honored with the Medal of Honor. It is the highest military award of the United States, intended for bravery under the most extreme conditions. President Donald Trump, however, used the moment not only for tributes. He spoke about fabrics, colors, construction work. About curtains.

“I picked these drapes in my first term. I have always liked gold.”

The new ballroom in the East Wing will be the “most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world,” he continued. While hammering is going on behind him, from six in the morning until half past eleven at night, he hears “that beautiful sound,” which for him means money. “But my wife is not thrilled,” he added. The scene was bizarre. Medals, teleprompter, golden tones. And construction noise as the soundtrack. The renovations are more than architecture. Art historian Erin Thompson of John Jay College sees in them a staging of change meant to replace political promises. Stylistic decisions, Thompson says, fit the political message: a look back to an idealized past that appears larger than the present. It is an aesthetic meant to display power.

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After the curtains came the war. Trump spoke publicly for the first time about the joint US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran. In Minab in the south of the country, more than one hundred schoolchildren are said to have been killed. Four US soldiers have also died in the meantime after Iran responded to the strikes on Saturday. During the ceremony, the president repeated that the military operations would likely last four to five weeks, but did not rule out a “significantly longer” deployment. He justified the attacks with familiar arguments: Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons that threatened allies and could even reach the United States. This portrayal contradicts official assessments of the US government itself. As recently as June, the White House had stated that Iran’s nuclear facilities had been “destroyed,” and that claims to the contrary were false reports.

While medals were being awarded, construction continued, and bombs fell thousands of miles away. Three soldiers were honored. Four have already fallen. And in the East Room of the White House, the president spoke about golden curtains and a ballroom that is supposed to become the most beautiful in the world.