Trump Tried to Recreate an Obama-Style ‘War Room’ Flex and Got Exposed When Viewers Zoomed In on Staff Huddled Under Sheets and All the Messy Details
Images from the control sector of Donald Trump’s war room at Mar-a-Lago have left observers saying the scene looks less like senior officials crafting a strategy and more like an awkward case of amateurs after hours.
Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and others were seen in black-and-white and colored images shared by the White House.
Instead of authority, viewers zeroed in on what was sloppily hanging in the background, along with a glowing X feed and other visible details in the room that seemed more interesting than the message.
Trump’s choice to oversee the Jan. 3 abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from his Palm Beach club already set the scene apart from Washington. The makeshift feel of the room only widened that gap from the White House’s offices to the Mar-a-Lago space.
The dark black fabric appeared hastily draped, the space felt temporary, and open laptops suggested a setup still in progress rather than a locked-in command center built for weighty decisions. The visuals, also shared on his Truth Social platform, show Trump squinting his eyes while struggling to see as Hegseth types on a computer with Rubio and another man behind him. Just over their shoulders was a large television with the X social platform open to the search page.
Trump shared the same images on his Truth Social platform, prompting social media to dissect every element, turning the entire room into a punchline shared across platforms.
One Threads user wrote, “We’re being led by amateurs making war decisions from behind a curtain while country club guests eat breakfast before their tee time. X is on a screen in the background, because this leader cares more about approval from his base than Congress when it comes to war.”
Another added, “Hegseth looks (and probably thinks) he’s playing Battleship!”
A third kept it simple: “This is some Wizard of Oz level right here.”
Facebook reactions leaned into comparisons and visual disbelief.
“Obama looked way more badass in his situation room when he took out Bin Laden. This looks like the back room of a strip club. Lol,” one commenter wrote.
Another focused on the staging itself: “That doesn’t look like a ‘secure’ room? They just threw black sheets up everywhere? Looks like forts my grandkids make to huddle under! Lol.”
One X user was fixated on the screen behind the officials, noting, “X is on the big screen during a high level operation with the U.S. president and every major intelligence official in the room. X is the biggest media platform now.”
Other off-putting mishaps in Trump’s “war room” also raised alarms, such as the dangling phones and WiFi cords that were not plugged in. “Hhahaha,” said one person, while another zoomed in, writing, “Holy crap, I think you’re right.”
A more blunt comment read, “I swear to god, they’re so … incompetent. Of course no one actually considered that anyone seeing these pics might notice that the goddamn phones aren’t even plugged in. Also, I want to know where this was actually being held. Why did they feel the need to haphazardly hang black sheets all over the place??”
Further confirming the room was at his Mar-a-Lago estates, others pointed out, “look at the chairs from the dining room,” asking, “and what’s a waiter standing behind Trump doing in the “War Room” everyone else is wearing a suit.”
This is what Elon meant when he said X would become the global town square. It’s not just social media anymore; it’s real-time intelligence, citizen journalism, and primary source documentation faster than any official channel can move.
— O.P. JiRI (@The_Great_JiRI) January 4, 2026
The mockery landed at a sensitive time for Hegseth, who has been dubbed by some in congress the “Secretary of War Crimes,” since his appointment in January, tying the sloppy optics to his role in overseeing months of “strikes” on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
His blunt push for tougher military fitness standards, including remarks criticizing “fat troops” and “fat generals,” was meant to signal discipline and urgency. Instead, those comments sparked backlash and meme culture that resurfaced alongside the Mar-a-Lago images, reframing his message as performative rather than commanding.
Lingering questions about judgment have been an issue swirling around him since he was sworn in last January.
The room’s appearance became shorthand for doubts about preparation and seriousness, shifting attention away from policy and back onto personality and presentation.
That scrutiny has followed Hegseth throughout his transition from media figure to Pentagon chief. Past concerns about his drinking habits were pulled back into the conversation as viewers searched for reasons why the setup looked so careless and unfinished.
That backdrop made October remarks from California Gov. Gavin Newsom newly relevant. Months earlier, Newsom had questioned Hegseth’s temperament and readiness for the role, comments that now circulated again as critics argued the Mar-a-Lago images reinforced those earlier doubts and criticisms.
In the end, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago war room showed how quickly optics can flip.
