Melania Trump Calls Out Historian For Criticism About Her Change To Rose Garden: ‘Dishonorable’

The former first lady clapped back at presidential historian Michael Beschloss, when he tweeted about the anniversary of her changes to the Rose Garden.

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Author and NBC News presidential historian Michael Beschloss, 65, tweeted on Saturday August 7 to commemorate one-year since former First Lady Melania Trump51, drastically renovated the White House Rose Garden. Michael shared a “grim” photo of the changes made to the iconic landscape, and Melania’s office responded on Sunday August 8 to refute his claims.

The Rose Garden shortly after the 2020 renovation was completed. (Susan Walsh/AP/Shutterstock)

Michael tweeted the photo of the bare-looking Rose Garden shortly after the renovation was completed, and it was unveiled to the public. The historian didn’t hide the fact that he felt like the changes were a travesty. “Evisceration of White House Rose Garden was completed a year ago this month, and here was the grim result—decades of American history made to disappear,” he wrote.

Melania’s office quote-tweeted Michael with a new image of the Rose Garden in bloom and said that historian “has proven his ignorance by showing a picture of the Rose Garden in its infancy.” It’s worth noting that the photo shared was from a different angle and only captures a small section of the garden, where the photo Michael posted was an aerial view. “The Rose Garden is graced with a healthy & colorful blossoming of roses. His misleading information is dishonorable & he should never be trusted as a professional historian,” Melania’s office tweeted. Michael had a snarky response himself, where he tweeted a photo of an ugly patch of grass outside of a shopping complex. “Garden next to office building,” he wrote in what appeared to be a subtweet at Melania and her office.

A view of the Rose Garden in 2009. (Shutterstock)
The Rose Garden was notably renovated in 1961 by then-First Lady Jackie Kennedy and designed by horticulturalist Bunny Mellon. It was an important White House staple and remained faithful to the original renovation until Melania changed it during the summer of 2020. Melania faced significant backlash for the changes, as many felt the landscaping was tone deaf during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since President Joe Biden was elected in November and took office in January, people started a petition for First Lady Jill Biden to return the garden to its former design. Despite the calls to return it to its old layout, the current first lady seems to enjoy the blooming flowers in the garden. She tweeted out a photo of it with the caption, “Spring is here at the White House,” in May 2021.