Former First Lady Melania Trump lashed out at a prominent historian after he criticized her sense of style while noting that a year has passed since her controversial renovation of the White House Rose Garden.
It all started after Michael Beschloss, a historian specializing in the United States presidency who has written nine books on the presidency as an institution, called the renovation an "evisceration."
Beschloss wrote:
"Evisceration of White House Rose Garden was completed a year ago this month, and here was the grim result—decades of American history made to disappear."
Evisceration of White House Rose Garden was completed a year ago this month, and here was the grim result\u2014decades of American history made to disappear: @dougmillsnytpic.twitter.com/78OqjkoOPt— Michael Beschloss (@Michael Beschloss) 1628349009
Mrs. Trump soon fired back via a Twitter account that represents her official "office," though she does not currently hold any office since leaving the White House.
The account said Beschloss has "proven his ignorance by showing a picture of the Rose Garden in its infancy."
Iflo accused him of posting "misleading information":
"@BeschlossDC has proven his ignorance by showing a picture of the Rose Garden in its infancy. The Rose Garden is graced with a healthy & colorful blossoming of roses. His misleading information is dishonorable & he should never be trusted as a professional historian."
.@BeschlossDC has proven his ignorance by showing a picture of the Rose Garden in its infancy. The Rose Garden is graced with a healthy & colorful blossoming of roses. His misleading information is dishonorable & he should never be trusted as a professional historian. https://twitter.com/BeschlossDC/status/1424025074617749505\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/PuVOSjxx5w— Office of Melania Trump (@Office of Melania Trump) 1628432810
The former First Lady was abruptly criticized, with some social media users reviving their disdain for her decision to alter a once iconic area of the White House grounds.
No matter what you say, you still took a beautiful, colorful, historic garden with graceful cherry trees & you destroyed its charm and dignity. It is now appears to be a bland, tasteless, overcrowded, chaotic weed patch void of any class.pic.twitter.com/e7wIdqYA6l— G-Barb \u262e (@G-Barb \u262e) 1628475656
You put in a freaking sidewalk so your heels wouldn\u2019t sink in the grass during the illegal super-spreader events you held there. You took out all the trees that gave structure and height to the garden. \n\nMy garden is better than that one, now. \n\n@BeschlossDC is right.— RareBeautyEtsy (@RareBeautyEtsy) 1628439673
LOL that this Twitter account even exists, & LMAO that *this* is what they bother to tweet about. \n\nI\u2019m a professional gardener. You crammed way too many plants into a bed surrounded by boring boxwoods, & the whole design looks like something you\u2019d see framing a cheap golf club.— Serenity Now! (@Serenity Now!) 1628439829
Michael Beschloss is a scholar and a gentleman. It's a shame you don't know anyone like that.— CathyO (@CathyO) 1628450171
The ignorance is yours. Mr. Beschloss is absolutely correct; the garden is exactly as is in the photo-taken *one year ago*-when the garden was unveiled-*one year ago*.\n\n(IMO, it *now* looks like the outside of an office building w/both flowers and weeds growing out of the bushes)— Sophie Jane JRT (@Sophie Jane JRT) 1628437353
The Trump White House revealed the newly renovated Rose Garden last August, which the then-First Lady explained was designed to "fulfill the dynamic needs of the modern presidency."
Her husband, former President Donald Trump, often held press conferences in the Rose Garden, so the space was made more amenable to television cameras and other materials required by the White House press corps.
In April, a petition began to circulate calling for First Lady Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff to restore the Rose Garden to its former glory. The petition argues that the changes made by Mrs. Trump "ripped away" the legacy of ex-First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who oversaw the last major renovation of the space with the help of horticulturalist and designer Rachel Lambert Mellon.
To date, the Biden White House has not responded to the petition.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung presenting U.S. President Donald Trump with honors and gifts at the Gyeongju National Museum in Gyeongju on October 29, 2025.Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
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