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Melania Trump’s Red Christmas Trees in the White House Spark Controversy

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Every single year during the most wonderful time of the year, the entire American nation awaits the unveiling of the White House Christmas Decoration courtesy of the First Family.

This year will be the second time First Lady Melanie Trump had chosen the theme. However, it would seem that the public is not exactly very pleased with what they saw. Just like last year’s unveiling, FLOTUS chose to reveal the decorations using a highly stylized video montage wherein she wanders through the White House.

The very first White House Christmas Tree in the Blue Room is during the time of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in 1961

White House Christmas Tree: Then and Now

The people then can’t really help but compare the modern decorations from the previous First Ladies the countries had. The White House decoration actually began with President Benjamin Harrison, it was said that he bang the tradition back in 1889 when he set up a Christmas tree for his grandchildren. In the past couple of decades, it has always been the First Lady’s job to lead the Christmas decorating committee for the White House.

This tradition was steamed by former First Lady Lou Henry Hoover back in 1929. In fact it was also the year when a fire broke out within the White House and the West Wing was nearly destroyed, good thing no one got hurt.
In 2010, the Obamas were rumored to plan on breaking the tradition by not putting up a tree, but this was of course revealed to be untrue after they celebrated Christmas during the each of the presidents’ eight years in office.

2018’s Controversial Trump Decorations

It would seem that last year’s Christmas decorations wasn’t controversial enough that the First Lady had to go all out this year. In 2017, people speculated that FLOTUS seemed to have chosen a theme of a post-apocalyptic chamber because of her icy despair towards her husband, President Donald Trump. It has always been known that the two aren’t exactly the usual couple and people think Melania is just trying her best to put her best foot forward all the time. Some people even compared last year’a decoration with the movie Get Out.

However, this year the First Lady made it pretty obvious that she wants red as the main color, her office explained that this choice was an extension of the pales as well as the stripes that can all be found in the presidential seal. It is said to be the symbol of valor and bravery just like how the Founding Fathers designed the seal. Then again, the red Christmas trees seemed to have caught the attention of the public. It turns out that in Europe, red Christmas trees are actually sick Christmas trees representing a bad omen or disastrous events and turmoil happening.

These 40 red trees are said to be made of cranberries and red berries that are strung together. While 29 trees contain about 14,000 ornaments on them and they are found in the Grand Foyer of the White House. In an official statement, the First Lady said that that the theme she chose represents the heart and spirit of the American people, she also thanked those who helped her with the decorations.

The internet has always been very critical especially towards the First Family, hence when the red trees were shown to the public, they immediately thought of the controversial movie, The Handmaiden’s Tale. This then led to a lot of memes such as referring to it as something out of a Tim Burton movie. Despite all that, the president himself lighted up the National Christmas Tree yesterday, along with the Singing Nuns of the Dominican Sisters of Mary who performed that night.


Another thing that most people have been waiting for is this year’s official White House Christmas Ornament, this was started by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

In 1981, the White House Historical Association have officially been chosen to design the White House Christmas Ornament. This year, it was to represent the 33rd United States President Harry S. Truman and the design was to represent the major changes he did during his administration including the Truman Balcony as well as the changes he made on the Presidential Seal.

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