Trump Turned ‘Lewinsky Room’ Into Oval Office Gift Shop

Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

From Mark Zuckerberg wandering into a meeting about the military’s new F-47 stealth-fighter jet to Vice-President J.D. Vance perpetually loitering by the Keurig machine to the president interrupting meetings to call up Dana White or Rupert Murdoch, NBC News’ report on the workings of Donald Trump’s Oval Office is chock full of details that are almost too stupid to be believed. But for whatever reason, this is the one I can’t stop thinking about:

A Republican senator invited over for a bill signing said Trump took him and others to see what the president called “the Monica Lewinsky Room,” scene of the trysts between Bill Clinton and a certain White House intern. There, in the space near the Oval Office, Trump keeps a supply of MAGA hats and shirts to give out to visitors. The senior White House official described the room as a “beautifully organized” gift shop of sorts.

As with much of the second Trump administration, this is somehow simultaneously bonkers and utterly unsurprising.

On the one hand, it’s unpresidential and just downright creepy. Can you imagine Barack Obama casually musing to White House visitors, “Hey, do you think JFK hooked up with Marilyn Monroe in here?” No. Even if you ignore that this is taking place in the “highest office in the land,” it’s insanely inappropriate. If you were an accountant and your boss said, “Hey, check it out. This is the supply closet where my predecessor banged his assistant!” there would be grounds for contacting HR.

On the other hand, this feels almost inevitable. Trump loves celebrity scandals, is obsessed with other peoples’ sexuality, and hates the Clintons. And back in 2019, the Washington Post reported that the site of Clinton’s liaisons with his intern had become a staple of Trump’s Oval Office tours:

In a visit in 2017, Trump told a TV anchor, “I’m told this is where Bill and Monica …” — stopping himself from going further, according to “Team of Vipers,” a new book by former White House aide Cliff Sims that The Washington Post obtained before its publication Tuesday.

Three other people who have embarked on a tour with Trump said he made similar comments regarding the former president and the White House intern, laughing and making facial expressions. The subject often leads to lengthy, sometimes crass conversations, aides said.

At least Trump is just using the space to store generic MAGA gear, not giving sycophants “Lewinsky Room” branded merch. Though perhaps it’s only a matter of time until Trump is literally using the Oval Office to sell T-shirts taunting his political rivals.