Trump Is Spending Millions to Cover Four Horse Statues in Gold

According to federal documents, the Gilders’ Studio will use gold paint that is very thick, heavier and purer than the gold paint job the same studio made on the Wyoming state Capitol dome seven years ago.

Trump’s Department of the Interior is spending $95 million on beautification projects in Washington, D.C., according to NOTUS, all initiated between December 2025 and April of this year. The horses haven’t been restored since the 1970s, and their gold coating looks patchy with their stone bases showing cracks and dirt. But the administration’s aesthetic spending raises eyebrows, especially relating to how contracts have been awarded.

Trump’s decision to repaint the National Mall’s reflecting pool blue, for example, is expected to cost $13.1 million, thanks to contractor Atlantic Industrial Coatings overcharging the government to the tune of a 20 percent profit margin. That’s seven times what Trump promised the job would cost. The president is also spending millions to repaint the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, a historic building next to the White House, drawing lawsuits from historic preservation groups.