Donald Trump spruiks White House makeover as US debt hits $40 trillion

The United States is drowning in record debt and fighting a war with Iran, but Donald Trump’s attention was today firmly fixed on his White House makeover.

The President called an impromptu press conference on Wednesday morning, local time, and on the same day the United States surpassed $US40 trillion in debt, spent more than 30 minutes talking about his lavish White House overhaul.

“We put topsoil, brand new earth on top. Those are called shear walls and they’re of the greatest strength concrete,” Trump said.

“It’s ridiculous the way this place was taken care of. Nobody, including other presidents, they didn’t see it. But I see it because I was very good at real estate, like maybe the best in a lot of ways.”

The centrepiece of the tour was a brand new helicopter pad, normally made with concrete or asphalt.

Trump said the renovation would impress visiting world leaders, including China’s Xi Jinping, due to visit Washington in September.

“It’s a white granite. It’s a very special stone. It’s a really powerful stone,” the president said.

“If you took a hammer and you started hammering right now, all day long, you would not see where you have it. I don’t care how strong you are. You wouldn’t see a mark on it, literally.”

Commentators in the US are now questioning the appropriateness of the conference, given mounting cost of living pressures facing Americans and the enormous cost of the continuing war with Iran.

In another bold claim this morning, Trump declared he would meet North Korea’s Kim Jong-un again before the year is out, claiming the dictator has in his possession 57 nuclear weapons, an unusually specific number.

All of this comes as President Trump’s approval rating falls to just 33 per cent, the lowest in his presidency.