President Donald Trump has frequently indicated, so far in his second term, that he cares a lot more about the White House decorations than about most of the other concerns he deals with as president.
When he’s not moving around presidential portraits to embarrass his past rivals, Trump has been obsessing over the construction of a new White House ballroom, while also slathering seemingly every available service in the Oval Office with gold accents. Trump has also been known to give visiting world leaders and members of Congress lengthy tours of his renovations.
Then, on Monday, while sitting next to the prime minister of Australia, Trump expressed concern that a camera might hit a valuable White House mirror.
“You’re not allowed to break that. That mirror is 400 years old. Aiy-yie-yie … hard to believe” — Trump isn’t happy about a camera hitting a mirror pic.twitter.com/1LEepv6ZBg
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 20, 2025
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“You’ve gotta watch that, watch that,” the president warned a cameraperson. “You’re not allowed to break that. That mirror is 400 years old. The camera just hit the mirror. Aiy-yie-yie. I just moved it up here special from the vaults, and the first thing that happens, a camera hits it. Hard to believe, isn’t it? Hard to believe. But these are the problems in life.”
It’s not exactly clear what the mirror was, or why Trump believes it’s “400 years old,” as the White House itself began construction in 1792, which is 233 years ago, and the nation itself is only 249 years old. And judging by the lack of a glass-breaking sound, it doesn’t appear that the mirror itself was actually broken.
Trump: Ooh, you gotta watch that… You’re not allowed to break that, that mirror’s 400 years old. A camera just hit the mirror. Ay ay ay. I just moved it up here special from the vaults, and the first thing that happens, the camera hits it. Hard to believe, isn’t it? But these… pic.twitter.com/84RSrwF3Ct
— FactPost (@factpostnews) October 20, 2025
One correspondent noted that no mirrors in the White House collection are that old:
White House does not have mirrors that are 400 years old, as 400 years ago would be around 1625, and the oldest mirrors in the White House collection are from the late 1700s — English pier mirror, dating to the late 1700s (1770-1790) and another set of mirrors salvaged after the… https://t.co/9l3a2A8kLs
— Olga Nesterova (@onestpress) October 20, 2025
Some social media users were amused by the moment.
is he having these meetings with world leaders in this room and not in the oval office like all other presidents so he can sit at this table and thus we can’t see his swollen cankles?!? https://t.co/pAouHPJd5l
— Allison (@allaseal) October 20, 2025
Dumbo is talking again https://t.co/LbFMuTtF0S
— James Graham (@JamesGrahamAuth) October 20, 2025
Photo courtesy of an X screenshot.
