Donald Trump’s housing advisor has stirred up anxiety within the White House by persuading the president to endorse a highly controversial 50-year mortgage plan. This development unfolded after an unexpected presentation at Trump’s Palm Beach golf club. Bill Pulte made his entrance at the Trump International Golf Club with what onlookers described as a makeshift display resembling a school project, titled ‘Great American Presidents.’ At the heart of the display was an image of Franklin D. Roosevelt, annotated with ‘30-year mortgage,’ alongside a picture of Donald Trump, labeled with ‘50-year mortgage.’

Within a mere ten minutes, Trump had already shared an image of the display on Truth Social, triggering a wave of alarmed reactions. Supporters and housing market analysts began inundating aides with warnings that the plan might exacerbate costs in an already expensive housing market. “He just sold POTUS a bill of goods that wasn’t necessarily accurate,” a source close to the president revealed to Politico. “He said, ‘FDR did it, you can do it, it’s gonna be a big thing,’ but he omitted the potential for unintended consequences.”

Economists were quick to criticize the proposal, dismissing it as a ‘band-aid solution’ that could ultimately render homes even less affordable. Detractors within the administration described the backlash as one of the most intense of Trump’s second term. An outspoken insider remarked, “This incident made it abundantly clear—if it wasn’t already—that Bill Pulte lacks any real understanding of the mortgage markets. After publicly embarrassing the president with his ill-conceived 50-year mortgage plan, it’s likely his influence is waning.” While the notion of a 50-year mortgage might appear to address ‘affordability’ by lowering monthly payments, the long-term implications remain questionable.

But stretching loans that long means homeowners build equity at a glacial pace, with the majority of each payment going toward interest rather than the property itself. Instead of easing the crisis, it would saddle buyers with lifelong debt and flood an overheated market with more demand, pushing prices even higher. ‘It would lead to buyers building equity in their homes more slowly,’ said Gennadiy Goldberg, head of US rates strategy at TD Securities. ‘At the beginning of a mortgage, more of those payments tend to be interest.’

One person who witnessed Pulte’s presentation said: ‘Anything that goes before POTUS needs to be vetted. And a lot of times with Pulte they’re not. He just goes straight up to POTUS.’ Trump downplayed the controversy in a Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham on Monday, insisting the concept was ‘not a big deal.’ ‘All it means is you pay less per month,’ he said. ‘Pay it over a longer period of time. It’s not like a big factor. It might help a little bit.’

Prominent conservatives, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, influencer Laura Loomer, and Mike Cernovich, ripped the proposal online. ‘It will ultimately reward the banks, mortgage lenders, and home builders while people pay far more in interest over time and die before they ever pay off their home,’ Greene wrote on X. ‘In debt forever, in debt for life!’ Loomer added: ‘You know what’s better than a 50-year mortgage? Mass deporting 65 million illegal aliens.’

Pulte later defended his plan, saying the extended mortgage term was just one piece of the Trump administration’s broader push to expand homeownership opportunities. The White House issued a statement saying Trump remains ‘committed to making it easier and more affordable to achieve the American Dream of homeownership by eliminating unnecessary red tape, increasing supply, and lowering costs.’