In the latest wave of contentious White House changes under Donald Trump, the US President placed plaques underneath portraits of former presidents, using
them to disparage and make baseless claims about some of his predecessors, including Joe Biden and Barack Obama. The plaques have been installed in what the President calls the “Presidential Walk of Fame,” a portrait gallery along the West Wing Colonnade. According to ABC, the White House stated that the plaques were written personally by Trump. All the plaques are now part of the White House’s so-called “Wall of Fame,” situated outside the West Wing. The display showcases portraits of every US president in chronological order, with one notable omission - Joe Biden. Rather than providing neutral historical summaries, the plaques feature pointed, opinionated language, resembling Trump’s posts on his social network, TruthSocial. According to the plaques, Barack Obama is labelled “one of the most divisive political figures,” while Ronald Reagan receives personal praise, with Trump noting that Reagan “was a fan.” Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s plaque is the most scathing, declaring, “Sleepy Joe was, by far, the worst President in American history,” and adding, “Taking office as a result of the most corrupt election ever seen in the United States.” Meanwhile, attacking Obama's presidency, the plaque read, "As President, he passed the highly ineffective ‘Unaffordable’ Care Act, resulting in his party losing control of both Houses of Congress, and the Election of the largest House Republican majority since 1946." The plaque about Bill Clinton downplays his achievements, attributing legislative successes to “Republicans in Congress” during his tenure, and references Trump’s ongoing rivalry with the Clinton family. In fact, the plaque also references the 2016 election in which Hillary Clinton, President Bill Clinton’s wife, lost the presidency to Donald Trump. Several presidents, including Ronald Reagan, received praise from Trump: “Known as ‘The Great Communicator,’ Reagan was re-elected in a landslide in 1984 and left office with high approval ratings. He was a fan of President Donald J Trump long before Trump’s historic run for the White House and likewise, President Trump admired him." Trump’s “trolling” is nothing new, but his ridicule of former presidents follows intense criticism over his response to the murder of actor-director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele. On social media, Trump claimed Reiner died “due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind-crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME".
