Trump denied spending excessive time on the projects, then
went on to detail repairs to exterior plaster, as well as construction of a heliport and ballroom. He described the executive mansion’s previous condition in dire terms, including a cracked column, missing ornamentation and broken tile.

“I fix things very good, very beautifully,” he said. “It’s a natural thing. It actually relaxes me.”

Obama, campaigning for Democrats in Ohio on Saturday, joked that the proliferation of gold-colored appliqués in Trump’s Oval Office looked “like Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake factory”. With his focus on home renovations, Obama added, Trump “should be on HGTV [a US TV network that largely runs reality programmes about home improvement and real estate].”

The slight played on a broader vulnerability for Trump, a real estate developer by profession, who has devoted considerable attention to remaking the White House and Washington even as most Americans disapprove of the projects. Fully 59% of respondents to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll conducted this month said Trump was spending “too much” time on the projects, compared with 27% of adults who said he is spending the right amount of time on the projects and 11% who said not enough.