Reagan Is Back in Style but Not in Spirit

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The Oval Office, a room famous for its distinct ovum—er, oval—shape, has become synonymous with American democracy and the president himself. It’s no wonder that each executive has sought to personalize their backdrop.

The room has been the main executive office since President William Howard Taft ordered a southward extension of the West Wing in 1909. The expansion was meant to mimic the shape of the Blue Room, the White House’s other oval-shaped room, which incorporated a semicircle design overseen by President George Washington. Washington was the only president to never live in the White House, but his preference for oval-shaped rooms to receive guests with presidential drama and formality has become customary. 

Administrations succeeding Taft’s have since altered the Oval Office’s decor to suit each president’s preferences. Shortly after returning to the White House for his second term, President Donald Trump removed the dark blue Clinton-era rug brought out of retirement by Joe Biden and replaced it with the lighter, egg-colored rug used by Ronald Reagan. 

Since Trump entered the world of politics, he has fancied himself a successor of Reagan and his policies. But unlike when he unveiled the Reagan rug at the beginning of his first term, there’s a lot more evidence now that Trump and Reagan share little else in common. 

One stark difference is Trump’s immigration policies. While Reagan sought to tighten border security with the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, he also granted amnesty for nearly 3 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Less than 100 days under Trump’s direction, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) currently detains close to 48,000 migrants and controversially shipped 238 individuals in ICE custody to El Salvador, raising serious due process concerns and legal questions. Trump may even have acted in contempt of court by defying a federal judge’s order to turn around the El Salvador–bound planes. So far, it seems Trump’s immigration crackdown has been anything but “reasonable, fair, orderly, and secure,” as was Reagan’s objective. 

Trump also differs from Reagan over his second-largest agenda item: tariffs. In only his first three months, Trump has rattled markets worldwide due to the unpredictability of his trade war. The fallout from his “Liberation Day” tariff announcement prompted many to quote none other than Reagan himself on the dangers of engaging in trade wars. Reagan advocated for free trade, believing that high tariffs only hurt Americans in the long run and that trade wars “weake[n] our economy, our national security, and the entire free world.” In contrast, even though Trump instituted a 90-day pause for his tariffs, tensions with China have only continued to rise, leading to tariffs as high as 245 percent for certain goods. 

So while Trump may have brought back Reagan’s rug, it’s clear he’s cracked away from much of the former president’s legacy. Style is easy to replicate, but substance is harder to come by.

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