White House Decorations 2017 Memes

About

Melania Trump's Christmas Decorations refers to an image of a hallway in the White House as decorated by Melania Trump for the Christmas season that many joked about as being bleak and creepy as opposed to the warm and cheery decorations one might expect for the holiday season.

Origin

On the evening of November 26th, 2017, Melania Trump's Communications Director Stephanie Grisham^[1] tweeted an image of a hallway in the White House decorated for the holiday season. with the caption "The holidays are upon us!! Right now: flotus is seeing to every last detail here at the @WhiteHouse." The tweet gained 950 retweets, over 3,800 likes, and over 2,700 responses.

Tweet by Stephaine Grisham showing the decoration of the Whitehouse that FLOTUS Melania Trump worked on that some considered a bit creepy and cold

Spread

Shortly after the photo was posted online, it was mocked for appearing dark and gloomy. On the morning of November 27th, Twitter user @hownottodraw^[2] asked "why do the White House Christmas decorations look like Voldemort is about to come back," gaining over 330 retweets and 930 likes (shown below, left). Twitter user @rachel_handler^[3] compared the decorations to Ivanka Trump's Thanksgiving Table Centerpiece with a Hold My Beer joke, gaining over 1,300 retweets and 3,800 likes (shown below, right).

Twitter user @hownottodraw questions why the Whitehouse Christmas decorations look like Voldemort is about to come back

Tweet by @rachel_handler joking about if Melania and Ivanka compete who can make a more dreadful holiday tweet

Other people joked that the decorations were perhaps a reflection of Trump's emotional state, as she is rumored to dislike her husband Donald Trump and not want to be the First Lady.^[4] Twitter user @TheDweck^[5] made such a joke, gaining over 90 retweets and 500 likes (shown below, left). Film critic David Ehlrich joked that Melania wanted the hallway to look like a boss fight from the Silent Hill series, gaining over 1,900 retweets and 3,800 likes. The jokes were covered by Vogue,^[4] RT,^[7] Elle,^[8] Foxnews,^[9] The New Yorker,^[11] Salon^[10] and more.

Tweet by @TheDweck joking that Melania wanted the them for the Christmas decorations to be as dark as her soul

David Ehlrich jokes that Melania told the decorator that she wanted the entrance of the Whitehouse to look like the final boss fight scene in Silent Hill

2018 Decorations

On November 26th, 2018, Melania Trump tweeted a video of her observing the 2018 White House holiday decorations. She captioned the post, "The People's House @WhiteHouse is ready to celebrate Christmas and the holiday season!" The tweet received more than 21,000 retweets, 92,000 likes and 14,000 comments in 24 hours (shown below).

The People's House WhiteHouse</a> is ready to celebrate Christmas and the holiday season! <a href="https://t.co/oejKW3mC15">pic.twitter.com/oejKW3mC15</a></p>— Melania Trump (FLOTUS) November 26, 2018

Similar to the reaction to the previous year's decorations, people criticized the path of Christmas trees, describing the color of the trees as scary, disturbing and a reflection of violence. Many compared the hue of red to the color of blood. Twitter^[13] user @owillis tweeted, "Lady Melania wanted to send a message.'Take the blood of my enemies and paint the trees. Send it to the village for the Winter Harvest Festival as warning. Let no one ever cross me again. Be Best.'" The tweet received more than 280 retweets and 700 likes in in 24 hours (shown below, left).

In a tweet, Twitter^[14] user @sgtjanedoe called the color "the blood of [Melania's] enemies." The post received more than 375 retweets and 1,200 likes (shown below, center). Others compared the color to the costumes and design of pop culture properties, such as The Handmaid's Tale and The Shining (shown below, right).

Several media outlets covered the response to the decorations, including The Daily Dot,^[15] USA Today,^[16] BBC,^[17] Vox^[18] and more.