The United States Air Force has decided to apply to Air Force One, the U.S. presidential aircraft, the color scheme preferred by President Donald Trump: gold, red, white, and dark blue. This decision marks a departure from the traditional color design of these aircraft. According to Air Force sources cited by American media such as CNN, the Boeing 747s that will operate as Air Force One will feature this design in these tones. This scheme, proposed by the Republican during his first term (2017-2021), was discarded in 2022 during the Joe Biden administration for technical reasons. Subsequent analyses concluded that darker colors on the lower part of the VC-25B aircraft, among other factors, could cause temperatures to exceed the current rating limits for a small number of components, a spokesperson for that military branch stated at the time. Thus, this new design is a turn from the traditional decoration of the presidential plane, which, since the John F. Kennedy administration (1961-1963), had used only shades of light blue and white. The Air Force has specified that the painting requirement will not be limited to the two future Air Force Ones: it will extend to four C-32 aircraft, as well as a controversial 747 donated by Qatar that is being fitted for presidential use. Since his return to power in January 2025, the Republican has made gold a sort of personal seal within the White House, where gold-plated objects on shelves, mantels, doorknobs, and lamps abound, almost copied from the style of his private residence in Mar-a-Lago (Florida). In this way, Trump has driven a constant remodeling of the presidential residence, in which he also ordered the East Wing to be demolished to build a ballroom, to the criticism of detractors, historians, and conservationists.
