Trump allegedly insists on 'unhygienic' bathroom design, according to White House reporters
United States President Donald Trump's unusual taste in interior design has come under fresh scrutiny following claims made in a new book that White House staff were forced to deal with a persistent problem caused by one of his preferred bathroom features: wall-to-wall carpet.
According to Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, an upcoming book by White House reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, the 80-year-old's bathroom included carpeted flooring that repeatedly became soaked near the shower.
"The portion nearest the shower would often be soaked through; the staff was never quite sure why, but they worried about mould growing underneath," Haberman and Swan write in an excerpt obtained by the Daily Mail.
Rather than replacing the carpet or using a traditional bath mat, the book claims staff came up with a workaround that involved placing additional pieces of matching carpet on top of the affected area.
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"The solution was to lay a small piece of the same carpet - never an actual bath mat - over the larger one," the reporters wrote.
These sections were reportedly rotated, removed and dried as needed.
While carpeted bathrooms may have been popular way back when in the 1970s, modern designers and hygiene experts generally advise against the interior design feature because carpets can trap moisture, odours and bacteria, creating an ideal environment for mould growth.
Elsewhere in the book, the authors detailed Trump's unusually hands-on approach to furnishing the presidential residence.
According to Haberman and Swan, he regularly moved furniture and decorative items between rooms, sometimes carrying pieces himself and rearranging spaces without warning.
The authors suggest these changes occasionally brought him into conflict with his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, who reportedly occupies the traditional primary bedroom while the president uses a separate room nearby.
Staff allegedly found themselves navigating competing preferences as items selected by the First Lady were moved or replaced.
Critics have since rushed to social media to share their thoughts on the bathroom carpet debate, with one X user writing: "They did this in one of our houses in the 1990s. My dad had that replaced immediately lol."
A second chimed in: "I’ve seen a lot of older people do this; it always made me wonder why… I love it… but keeping it clean..."
And a final X user echoed: "Carpeted Kitchens and bathrooms were a 'thing' in the 70s until people realised how filthy they were."
Tyla has reached out to the White House for comment.
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News
Rhiannon Ingle