Rob Finnerty used his Newsmax program to spotlight what many Americans already feel: there’s a stark difference in tone between the Biden White House’s holiday staging and the decorations being unveiled under President Trump’s team. Finnerty’s segment argued that the Biden-era aesthetic felt more like a political art installation than a celebration of faith, family, and tradition — a view he pressed hard for his viewers to notice.
Under the Bidens, last year’s White House holiday theme was billed as “A Season of Peace and Light,” complete with modern flourishes, volunteer-curated art, and installations meant to convey abstract messages of healing and inclusivity. Critics on the right argue that those choices turned what should be a comforting, faith-forward American tradition into a lecture about feelings, and left many patriotic families cold.
That’s not a harmless aesthetic debate — it’s a question about who gets to represent American institutions and what values they broadcast to our children at the most visible address in the land. Too many in the cultural elite have used the holidays as another vehicle to sanitize or secularize the season, while sidelining the symbols and stories that bind ordinary Americans together. No conservative should accept the People’s House being repurposed as a gallery for woke symbolism.
By contrast, the Trump White House decorations this season lean into tradition, family, and patriotism, with First Lady Melania Trump’s theme framed as “Home Is Where the Heart Is.” The rollout emphasized classic wreaths, trees, and personal touches meant to honor Gold Star Families and the nation’s history — a return to a warmer, more recognizable holiday vernacular that most families understand.
Conservatives should welcome a White House that celebrates Christmas with confidence rather than embarrassment, and that reasserts public spaces as places where faith and family aren’t shoved to the margins. This isn’t nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake; it’s about defending the cultural foundations that make our communities stable and strong.
If the American people want a restored sense of normalcy and pride in public life, they should demand it from the people who run the White House each December. Rob Finnerty’s critique is more than cable noise — it’s a reminder that the fight for America’s identity is carried out in small symbolic ways as well as big policy ones, and that hardworking patriots won’t quietly accept their holidays being co-opted by elites who no longer share their values.
