WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump has affixed partisan plaques to the portraits of all U.S. commanders in chief, himself included, on his Presidential Walk of Fame at the White House, describing Joe Biden as \u201csleepy,\u201d Barack Obama as \u201cdivisive\u201d and Ronald Reagan as a fan of a young Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The additions, first seen publicly Wednesday, mark Trump’s latest effort to remake the White House in his own image, while flouting the protocols of how presidents treat their predecessors and doubling down on his determination to\u00a0reshape how U.S. history\u00a0is told.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe plaques are eloquently written descriptions of each President and the legacy they left behind,\u201d White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement describing the installation in the colonnade that runs from the West Wing to the residence. \u201cAs a student of history, many were written directly by the President himself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indeed, the Trumpian flourishes include the president\u2019s typical bombastic language and haphazard capitalization. They also highlight Trump’s fraught relationships with his more recent predecessors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An introductory plaque tells passersby that the exhibit was \u201cconceived, built, and dedicated by President Donald J. Trump as a tribute to past Presidents, good, bad, and somewhere in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Besides the Walk of Fame and its new plaques, Trump has\u00a0adorned the Oval Office\u00a0in gold and\u00a0razed the East Wing\u00a0in preparation for a massive ballroom. Separately, his administration has pushed for an examination of how Smithsonian exhibits present the nation\u2019s history, and he is playing a strong hand in how the federal government will recognize the nation’s\u00a0250th anniversary\u00a0in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here’s a look at how Trump’s colonnade exhibit tells the presidential story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joe Biden is still the only president in the display not to be recognized with a gilded portrait. Instead, Trump\u00a0chose an autopen, reflecting his mockery of Biden\u2019s age and assertions that Biden was not up to the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden, who defeated Trump in the 2020 election and dropped out of the 2024 election before their pending rematch, is introduced as \u201cSleepy Joe\u201d and \u201cby far, the worst President in American History\u201d who \u201cbrought our Nation to the brink of destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two plaques blast Biden for inflation and his energy and immigration policy, among other things. The text also blames Biden for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and asserts falsely that Biden was elected fraudulently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden\u2019s post-White House office had no comment on his plaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 44th president is described as \u201ca community organizer, one term Senator from Illinois, and one of the most divisive political figures in American History.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plaque calls Obama’s signature domestic achievement \u201cthe highly ineffective \u2018Unaffordable Care Act.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it notes that Trump nixed other major Obama achievements: \u201cthe terrible Iran Nuclear Deal … and \u201dthe one-side Paris Climate Accords.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An aide to Obama also declined comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
George W. Bush, who notably did not speak to Trump when they were last together at former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral, appears to win approval for creating the Department of Homeland Security and leading the nation after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the plaque decries that Bush \u201cstarted wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which should not have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An aide to Bush didn\u2019t return a message seeking comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 42nd president, once a friend of Trump’s, gets faint praise for major crime legislation, an overhaul of the social safety net and balanced budgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But his plaque notes Clinton secured those achievements with a Republican Congress, the help of the 1990s \u201ctech boom\u201d and \u201cdespite the scandals that plagued his Presidency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clinton’s recognition describes the North American Free Trade Agreement, another of his major achievements, as \u201cbad for the United States\u201d and something Trump would \u201cterminate\u201d during his first presidency. (Trump actually renegotiated some terms with Mexico and Canada but\u00a0did not scrap\u00a0the fundamental deal.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His plaque ends with the line: \u201cIn 2016, President Clinton’s wife, Hillary, lost the Presidency to President Donald J. Trump!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An aide to Clinton did not return a message seeking comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The broadsides dissipate the further back into history the plaques go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Republican George H.W. Bush, who died during Trump’s first term, is recognized for his lengthy resume before becoming president, along with legislation including the Clean Air Act and Americans With Disabilities Act \u2014 despite Trump’s administration relaxing enforcement of both. The elder Bush’s plaque does not note that he, not Clinton, first pushed the major trade law that became NAFTA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lyndon Johnson\u2019s plaque credits the Texas Democrat for securing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 (seminal laws that Trump\u2019s administration interprets differently than previous administrations). It correctly notes that discontent over Vietnam led to LBJ not seeking reelection in 1968.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrat John F. Kennedy, the uncle of Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is credited as a World War II \u201cwar hero\u201d who later used \u201cstirring rhetoric\u201d as president in opposition to communism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Republican Richard Nixon\u2019s plaque states plainly that the Watergate scandal led to his resignation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Trump spared most deceased presidents of harsh criticism, he jabbed at one of his regular targets, the media \u2014 this time across multiple centuries: Andrew Jackson\u2019s plaque says the seventh president was \u201cunjustifiably treated unfairly by the Press, but not as viciously and unfairly as President Abraham Lincoln and President Donald J. Trump would, in the future, be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With two presidencies, Trump gets two displays. Each is full of praise and superlatives \u2014 \u201cthe Greatest Economy in the History of the World.\u201d He calls his 2016 Electoral College margin of 304-227 a \u201clandslide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump’s second-term plaque notes his popular vote victory \u2014 something he did not achieve in 2016 \u2014 and concludes with \u201cTHE BEST IS YET TO COME.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the introductory plaque presumes Trump\u2019s addition will be a White House fixture once he is no longer president: \u201cThe Presidential Walk of Fame will long live as a testament and tribute to the Greatness of America.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"