Middleboro Review 2: "Like a brothel" and "penis extension": I asked, and you delivered.

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

"Like a brothel" and "penis extension": I asked, and you delivered.

August 19, 2025

On Friday, I asked for your thoughts on Donald Trump's interior design choices for the Oval Office for a piece I'm working on about taste. What it means in the age of Trump, its evolution, and what the near-universal ridicule of Trump's decor may reveal about us.

And boy, did you deliver. Here's a sample collection:

Something is missing in his egotistic soul that craves all this ornamentation. His presidency doesn't reflect our country; it soils it. —Karen
Looks like a brothel. I guess that makes it appropriate. —Emil
Many of his over-the-top design enhancements are chosen to theoretically boost his image. I believe, to use a crude term, like a penis extension. —Amy
We're paying for all that stuff, and we'll have to pay again when the next president wants it all removed. His doing all this to an American institution that does not belong to him is a disgrace. —Laurie

I enjoyed scrolling through your comments over the weekend, and they were once again on my mind while watching Trump's Oval Office meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday. Speaking of which, I highly recommend you read M. Gessen's editorial on the barely concealed efforts at extortion of their strange and empty meeting.

—Inae Oh

Trump’s Promise to End Vote-by-Mail Is Yet Another Attack on Disabled Voters

The president credits democracy superfan Vladimir Putin with the idea. Yes, really.

BY JULIA MÉTRAUX

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