Trump shows off giant new flagpoles: ‘best in the world’
The US president says he is personally paying for each of the US$50,000 poles
US President Donald Trump took time out on Wednesday from deliberating on whether to bomb Iran to unveil two huge new flagpoles that he claimed are among the best in the world.
Trump, 79, saluted as a giant Stars and Stripes flag was raised on one of the 27-metre (88-foot) poles in a brief ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House.
The billionaire real estate tycoon, who built his career on brash displays of wealth, said he was personally paying for each of the US$50,000 poles.
And he could not resist some nationalistic hyperbole about the size and quality of the new additions.
“This is about the largest you’ll ever see,” Trump told reporters. “These are the best poles anywhere in the country – in the world actually.”
The poles are, however, 3.6 metres (12 feet) shorter than originally advertised by the White House, which said when it announced Trump’s plan in April that they would be 100 feet tall.