As President Donald Trump continues to reshape the White House and Washington D.C. in his image, a group of experts are warning that his desire to use “magic paint” on an iconic building is “incompatible” with reality.
According to a Saturday, April 11, report from CNN, Trump, 79, has “privately advocated” for the Eisenhower Executive Office Building — located next to the White House — to be covered in so-called “magic paint,” a silicate-based product.
Proponents of the product claim it chemically binds into stone surfaces, potentially strengthening the stone and preventing staining while increasing durability. According to the news outlet, the paint is also a “bright white” in color that speaks to the president’s “aesthetic taste.”
Per documents obtained by CNN, Trump has privately claimed the “magic paint” would “strengthen the stone, keep water out, prevent staining, be easy to apply and rarely require painting.”
Experts, however, argue that painting the building is not only illegal — the paint simply will not work on the building’s granite surface.
“Mineral Silicate paints are not suited for use on granite,” the experts concluded in documents obtained by CNN, concluding that if the “magic paint” is used it could cause “permanent damage” to the building and would “not strengthen granite or improve its structural durability.”
Preservationists also argue that Trump’s plans cannot move forward without the proper environmental and historic preservation reviews. The Commission of the Fine Arts, which oversees changes to federal buildings, is scheduled to review the president’s plans.
Us Weekly has reached out to the White House for comment.
For the uninitiated, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building is home to much of the president’s staff, including the Office of the Vice President, the National Security Council and the Office of Management and Budget. The structure boasts 533 rooms along with hand-painted tiles, bronze stair balusters and stained glass rotundas.
Reports of Trump’s “magic paint” plans come just days after The New York Times reported that the president plans to use overseas steel to form the structure of his coveted White House ballroom. Last October, the president claimed ArcelorMittal, a steel company in Luxembourg, donated $37 million worth of steel for the project. Days later, “the administration announced a tariff exemption that would benefit ArcelorMittal,” The New York Times reported.
On Friday, April 10, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat representing Massachusetts, sent a letter to the Trump administration claiming the donation and use of overseas steel “casts doubt on the president’s commitment to supporting the American steel industry.”
The president has also come under significant fire since renaming the iconic Kennedy Center building to the Trump-Kennedy Center.
“Next thing perhaps he will want to rename JFK Airport, rename the Lincoln Memorial, the Trump Lincoln Memorial. The Trump Jefferson Memorial. The Trump Smithsonian. The list goes on,” Maria Shriver wrote via Instagram. “Can we not see what is happening here? C’mon, my fellow Americans! Wake up! This is not dignified. This is not funny. This is way beneath the stature of the job. It’s downright weird. It’s obsessive in a weird way. Just when you think someone can’t stoop any lower, down they go…”
