WASHINGTON ‒ President Donald Trump took personal swipes at his top presidential foes in new plaques installed in the White House, the latest Trump makeover of the mansion.
The White House this week added plaques featuring brief biographical write-ups below photos of the former presidents on the Trump’s “Walk of Fame,” which was installed along the West Wing’s colonnade in September.
Some of the biographies read like standard historical summaries, only with slight Trump twists. John F. Kennedy’s plaque refers to the 35th president’s “painful setback” from the “failed Bay of Pigs Invasion.” The plaque for Harry S Truman calls the Democratic president’s domestic agenda, known as the Fair Deal, a “so-called Fair Deal.”
But the plaques of Trump’s top Democratic foes read much like the attacks Trump often posts on Truth Social ‒ even down to the capitalization of certain words for emphasis.
“Sleepy Joe Biden was, by far, the worst President in American history,” reads Biden’s plaque, which is situated below a photo of an autopen in place of Biden, the 46th president.
Barack Obama’s plaque refers to “Barack Hussein Obama” and calls him “one of the most divisive political figures in American History.” It goes on to say Obama passed “the highly ineffectual ‘Unaffordable’ Care Act,” while also taking a shot on Obama’s foreign policy with Iran.
The plaque for Bill Clinton credits the 42nd president ‒ along with Republicans in Congress ‒ for an economic boom in the 1990s, but it also mentions “scandals that plagued his presidency.” The Clinton write-up concludes with the line “In 2016, President Clinton’s wife, Hillary Clinton, lost the Presidency to President Donald J. Trump!”
A spokesperson for Biden declined to comment on the plaques.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in a statement said, “The plaques are eloquently written descriptions of each President and the legacy they left behind. As a student of history, many were written directly by the President himself.”
Trump also took a jab at his top Republican presidential foe: former President George W. Bush.
The plaque for Bush, whose family never embraced Trump and the MAGA movement, says the younger Bush’s presidency was “largely defined by the events of Sept. 11, 2001.” It also says Bush “started wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which should not have happened.”
Ronald Reagan’s plaque ‒ along with touting his record during the Cold War ‒ claims the Republican icon was “a fan of President Donald J. Trump long before” Trump’s 2026 White House run.
President Trump insults past presidents on White House plaques
New plaques installed under presidential portraits at the White House feature insults. Some were reportedly written by President Donald Trump.
The plaques come as Trump has used his power as the sitting president ‒ more so than any recent American president ‒ to remake the White House and its campus to his liking.
At Trump’s request, the White House paved over much of the famous Rose Garden, turning the iconic patch of grass into a stone patio. Trump also ordered the demolition of the White House’s East Wing to make way for the construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom, which Trump plans to pay for with private donations. The ballroom’s price tag has ballooned to $400 million after Trump originally said it would cost $250 million.
This story has been updated to add new information.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
