Trump Signs Oval Office Preservation Order and Gets Branded an 'Egomaniac' Obsessed With Being Remembered

Donald Trump took his first formal executive step following the Republican Party's devastating midterm election defeat, signing on Thursday, 5 November 2026, a presidential proclamation declaring the Oval Office and Cabinet Room a protected national monument while critics accused him of trying to freeze his legacy in place.

Trump says the proclamation means the Oval Office and Cabinet Room 'will not be allowed to be touched by anybody'.

The proclamation itself explicitly preserves a president's authority to redecorate. One viral reply called him 'an egomaniac' afraid of being forgotten.

'It Will Not Be Allowed To Be Touched'

Trump signed the proclamation in the Oval Office on Thursday 5 November, the Associated Press reported. 'We're making it a national monument, and it will not be allowed to be touched by anybody,' he told reporters.

He called it his first official action since his party's midterm losses. 'We like the Oval Office, and it's a symbol, like the White House itself,' he said. 'If anybody ever decides to come and start knocking down walls, you call me wherever I may be.'

Since returning to office, Trump has filled the room with gold accents, including gold wall appliqués and gold-framed portraits, and added a copy of the Declaration of Independence.

He also highlighted new chandeliers in the Cabinet Room, saying they were needed because of 'very bad lighting'.

What The Order Does

The proclamation is more modest than Trump's description. It says nothing that limits a president's power to redecorate, choose furnishings, or make routine operational and security changes that do not significantly harm the rooms' historic or architectural character, CBS reported.

It directs the Interior Secretary to manage the Oval Office and requires documentation, review and consideration of alternatives before any action that would substantially alter or demolish it. Trump said major changes would need congressional review, but that requirement does not appear in the text.

A future president could also rescind the designation. Trump himself has reversed monument designations made by his predecessors, CBS noted.

It was the third day that week Trump had spoken about his Washington projects, which include a ballroom and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, according to the AP. He faces several lawsuits alleging those projects went ahead without required approvals.

'An Egomaniac' Who Fears Being Forgotten

Reaction online was scathing. Responding to the BBC's report on the order, X user @wpnzdthickness wrote: 'Oh he's gonna get REALLY pathetic over the next couple months huh.' The post had more than 100,000 views by Friday.

One reply went further. 'The only reason he even ran for office is that he's an egomaniac who realised that nobody was gonna remember The Apprentice and he was going to be forgotten fast,' wrote @thoraxe237. 'Ain't gonna be remembered a way he would like though.'

Others pointed out that a future president could reverse it, though technically with a new proclamation rather than an executive order. 'Funniest thing is the next president can just immediately sign their own executive order undoing it,' wrote @Rayn665, in a reply liked more than 12,000 times.

While Trump sought to present the monument decree as an enduring cultural milestone, the move has underscored the limits of executive power as Washington prepares for two years of divided government.