President Donald Trump may have won the election, but his enemies seem to believe he doesn’t have the right to make any decisions whatsoever. Every single thing Trump does prompts the left to file a lawsuit. But I think the left’s lawfare strategy against President Trump has now officially jumped the shark.
Federal Judge Dabney L. Friedrich has ordered the Trump administration to refrain from power-washing or painting the Eisenhower Executive Office Building through the end of the year, giving her more time to consider a lawsuit that demands the president leave an ugly government building dirty.
The lawsuit was filed by Cultural Heritage Partners PLLC and the DC Preservation League, who argue that painting or aggressive cleaning could irreversibly damage the 1888 National Historic Landmark. The Eisenhower Executive Office Building has long been controversial for its appearance. Mark Twain called it "the ugliest building in America,” and President Harry Truman agreed, calling it "the greatest monstrosity in America.”
The building was built between 1871 and 1888 in the French Second Empire style, which clashed sharply with the neoclassical design of other federal buildings in Washington. As a former architect myself, I gotta say it's pretty damn ugly.
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The lawsuit claims that Trump's proposed work to clean, repoint, and repaint the building would breach the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. Cultural Heritage Partners and the DC Preservation League argue that the administration has not produced the necessary documentation demonstrating consideration of the project's impact on the human environment, yada, yada, yada, including historic properties and other factors. Oh, and get this: they want us taxpayers to cover their attorneys' fees and costs.
Trump shared his plans for the building during an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, saying it needed cleaning and repointing. He showed a mock-up of the building painted white during the television interview, telling Ingraham, “Gray is for funerals,” though he suggested that he wasn’t sure when it would happen.
NEW: President Trump reveals his plans to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham to repaint the Eisenhower Executive Office Building all white.
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) November 13, 2025
“It’s all painting. Most of it’s painting. It’s cleaning, pointing, and painting. It needs other work too.”
“Look at—how beautiful that is.”
“It… pic.twitter.com/H5GPZAhiVp
The plaintiffs claim that improper cleaning and repointing of historic masonry can lead to erosion or loss of historic stone surfaces, damage to mortar joints, staining or discoloration, and other problems.
On the plus side, you can’t make the building any uglier.
Greg Werkheiser of Cultural Heritage Partners told CNN their lawsuit wasn’t about Trump’s taste: “You can have really bad taste. You can have really good taste. What we’re asking for is you comply with the law.” Sure. Whatever helps them sleep at night.
The president of the United States is being told to get a federal judge’s blessing before he can repaint or power-wash a White House staff building. No one believes another president would face something this petty. In the end, this case reveals the ridiculous extremes to which Trump’s enemies will go to hobble him. They have weaponized lawfare so thoroughly that a judge can now halt power-washing a building that Mark Twain once called the ugliest in America.
