First Lady Jill Biden decorated the White House for Christmas one final time before leaving the White House — but her holiday touch has spawned some Grinch-inspired responses.
The White House unveiled this year’s decorations on Monday to highlight the theme of “A Season of Peace and Light.” Christmas trees decorated with nearly 28,000 colorful ornaments punctuate each historic room and animals float around a hyper-hued, brightly lit carousel in one.
“At the holidays, Americans come together every year in fellowship and faith, reminding us that we are stronger as a community than we are apart,” President Joe Biden and the first lady wrote hopefully in their holiday message as the decorations were unveiled.
But not even the decorations in the Bidens’ White House are immune from the rage of Republican critics, who bashed the bright “clownish” decorations
“White House Christmas decorations are circus-themed. How fitting,” Sen. Josh Hawley’s Communications Director Abigail Jackson wrote on X.
“What has Nurse Jill done with our White House? My God,” Jacob Schneider, director of Team Trump’s Rapid Response, posted.
Greg Price, also on Trump’s Rapid Response team, remarked: “Jill Biden’s Christmas decorations look like what would happen if a group of circus clowns projectile vomited all over the White House, which I guess is the perfect metaphor to sum up the last four years.”
Conservative commentator Benny Johnson also chimed in: “Who taught Jill Biden how to decorate for Christmas?”
Criticizing White House Christmas decorations seems to have become part of the holiday tradition.
When Melania Trump put up her “time-honored traditions” themed decorations in 2017, she was also hit by backlash.
“Melania Trump’s White House Christmas decor looks awesome if you add the Babadook,” one X user wrote at the time about what many regarded as decorations inspired by horror.
Another remarked: “Grotesque style and a phenomenal waste of money. Great work!”
The Daily Beast brutally wrote at the time: “Melania Trump, with what looks like the help of Tim Burton, has designed an anti-Christmas wonderland of white branches set stark against the wall and casting creepy shadows on the ceiling, leading to — at the end of the corridor — in the East Garden Room, a traditional Christmas tree bathed in golden light.”
The outlet called the setup “Melania’s ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’.”
The former first lady herself seemed to have considered the entire tradition a nightmare.
In a secret recording from mid-2018, obtained by CNN, Melania Trump told her senior adviser Stephanie Winston Wolkoff: “I’m working … my a** off on the Christmas stuff, that you know, who gives a f*** about the Christmas stuff and decorations? But I need to do it, right?”
