Another No-Bid Contract, This Time For Gold-Plated Horses

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32. MaddowBlog-Team Trump's latest no-bid contract: $5 million to coat horse statues in gold

The Republican’s administration’s aggressive renovation agenda for the nation’s capital now includes yet another controversial addition.

Team Trump’s latest no-bid contract: million to coat horse statues in gold.

The Republican’s administration’s aggressive renovation agenda for the nation’s capital now includes yet another controversial addition.

www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— TheBlackPage (Woke, DEI forever against fascism) (@theblackpage.bsky.social) 2026-05-30T15:24:25.981Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/team-trumps-latest-no-bid-contract-5-million-to-coat-horse-statues-in-gold

Donald Trump and his team haven’t exactly been subtle about their gold fixation. Since the president returned to power, Americans have seen an emphasis on everything from “Gold Cards” to a “Golden Dome” to a “Golden Fleet” of U.S. battleships. (And don’t get me started on the many gold trinkets Trump plastered on the walls of the Oval Office.)

So perhaps it’s not too surprising that the Republican’s administration is also adding gold coats to the White House’s aggressive renovation agenda for the nation’s capital. NOTUS reported:

Four massive bronze horses positioned along the roads surrounding the Lincoln Memorial still shine in the sun from their first restoration in the 1970s. But their gold-toned coating is faded and patchy, and their heavy stone bases are cracked and dirty.

The Trump administration wants them glittering with a fresh coat of gold in time for America’s 250th anniversary on July 4. So in mid-April, the National Park Service handed a $5 million contract to a gilding studio in Maryland to repair the statues and cover them with a thick layer of 23.75-karat gold leaf.

.....It comes against a backdrop of a president focused on his ballroom vanity project, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the installation of a White House helipad, the construction of a massive “triumphal arch” near Arlington National Cemetery, renovating the White House Treaty Room and the Kennedy Center, his plans for a “statue garden,” his sudden interest in fountains around the nation’s capital and a dozen or so additional renovation projects he’s prioritized in and around the White House complex.

A recent Fox News poll asked respondents, “Do you think Donald Trump cares about people like you, or not?” Only 37% of Americans said they believe the president does in fact care about people like them.

There’s no reason to assume that number can’t sink lower.