The White House, an institution traditionally defined by its adherence to solemn protocol and the preservation of a shared national story, has been transformed into a theater of political retribution. On Wednesday, December 17, 2025, the Trump administration pulled back the curtain on the final phase of the “Presidential Walk of Fame.” The result is a series of bronze-hued, gold-lettered plaques installed beneath the portraits of every U.S. commander-in-chief along the West Wing Colonnade. However, instead of the neutral biographical summaries typically associated with presidential history, these plaques serve as a permanent, physical manifestation of Donald J. Trump’s personal grievances and political worldview.

The installation has sent shockwaves through the capital, with presidential historians and former White House alumni describing the move as a “wrecking ball to the rule of tradition.” The texts, which White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed were largely written by the President himself, do not merely recount the events of past administrations—they litigate them.

The Erasure of the 46th President

The most jarring aspect of the Walk of Fame is the treatment of Joe Biden. In a move that defies two centuries of White House tradition, Biden’s official portrait is entirely absent. In its place hangs a stylized photograph of an autopen—the mechanical device used by presidents to sign documents remotely. This choice is a visceral extension of Trump’s long-standing mockery of Biden’s age and mental fitness, intended to symbolize what the administration calls an “Autopen Presidency.”

The text beneath the autopen is arguably the most scathing in the collection. “Sleepy Joe Biden was, by far, the worst President in American History,” the first of two plaques declares. It proceeds to repeat the unsubstantiated claim that Biden’s 2020 victory was the result of “the most corrupt Election ever seen in the United States.” The plaque blames Biden for “the highest Inflation ever recorded,” the “Green New Scam,” and the “abolishing” of the Southern Border.

In a move that highlights the personal nature of the project, the text also links Biden’s perceived “devastating weakness” to global tragedies, specifically the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. It concludes with a triumphant nod to Trump’s 2024 return: “But despite it all, President Trump would get Re-Elected in a Landslide, and SAVE AMERICA!”

“Sleepy Joe Biden was, by far, the worst President in American History. Taking office as a result of the most corrupt Election ever seen in the United States, Biden oversaw a series of unprecedented disasters that brought our Nation to the brink of destruction. His policies caused the highest Inflation ever recorded, leading the U.S. Dollar to lose more than 20% of its value in 4 years. His Green New Scam surrendered American Energy Dominance and, by abolishing the Southern Border, Biden let 21 million people from all over the World pour into the United States, including from prisons, jails, mental institutions, and insane asylums. His Afghanistan Disaster was among the most humiliating events in American History, and resulted in the murder of 13 brave American Servicemembers, with many others gravely wounded. Seeing Biden’s devastating weakness, Russia invaded Ukraine, and Hamas terrorists launched the heinous October 7th attack on Israel.”

“Nicknamed both ‘Sleepy’ and ‘Crooked,’ Joe Biden was dominated by his Radical Left handlers. They and their allies in the Fake News Media attempted to cover up his severe mental decline, and his unprecedented use of the Autopen. Following his humiliating debate loss to President Trump in the big June 2024 debate, he was forced to withdraw from his campaign for re-election in disgrace. Biden weaponized Law Enforcement against his political opponent, while also persecuting many other innocent people. He left office issuing blanket pardons to Radical Democrat criminals and thugs, as well as members of the Biden Crime Family — But despite it all, President Trump would get Re-Elected in a Landslide, and SAVE AMERICA!”

The “Hussein” Inscription and the Obama Legacy

The plaque beneath the portrait of Barack Obama is equally confrontational. In a return to the “birther” era rhetoric that fueled his early political rise, Trump chose to lead with the 44th President’s full middle name: “Barack Hussein Obama.” The description frames the first Black president not as a historic figure of progress, but as “a community organizer, one term Senator from Illinois, and one of the most divisive political figures in American History.”

The plaque targets the Affordable Care Act, disparagingly referring to it as the “highly ineffective ‘Unaffordable’ Care Act.” It further alleges that Obama “weaponized the IRS and Federal bureaucracies against his political opponents” and “spied on the 2016 Presidential Campaign of Donald J. Trump.” Perhaps most striking is the inclusion of the “Russia Hoax” on the official walls of the White House, with the plaque describing it as the “worst political scandal in American History.” The text concludes by reminding visitors that Obama’s “handpicked successor, Hillary Rodham Clinton, would then lose the Presidency to Donald J. Trump.”

“Barack Hussein Obama was the first Black President, a community organizer, one term Senator from Illinois, and one of the most divisive political figures in American History. 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. He presided over a stagnant Economy, approved the terrible Iran Nuclear Deal, and signed the one-sided Paris Climate Accords, both of which were later terminated by President Donald J. Trump.”

“Under Obama, the ISIS Caliphate spread across the Middle East, Libya collapsed into chaos, and Russia invaded and took Crimea, in Ukraine. He crippled small businesses with crushing regulation and environmental red tape, devastated American coal miners, and weaponized the IRS and Federal bureaucracies against his political opponents. Obama also spied on the 2016 Presidential Campaign of Donald J. Trump, and presided over the creation of the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, the worst political scandal in American History. His handpicked successor, Hillary Rodham Clinton, would then lose the Presidency to Donald J. Trump.”

No Predecessor is Safe: From Bush to Clinton

The “Walk of Fame” does not spare Republican predecessors who have fallen out of favor with the current administration. George W. Bush, who has remained a quiet critic of the Trump movement, is given credit for creating the Department of Homeland Security, but his plaque sharply decries that he “started wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which should not have happened.”

Bill Clinton’s plaque is a study in “faint praise.” While it acknowledges the economic “tech boom” of the 1990s and his overhaul of the social safety net, it adds the caveat that these were achieved only “with a Republican Congress” and “despite the scandals that plagued his Presidency.” It characterizes the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as “bad for the United States,” a deal Trump claims to have “terminated.” The final line of the Clinton plaque, like many others, serves to elevate the current President: “In 2016, President Clinton’s wife, Hillary, lost the Presidency to President Donald J. Trump!”

A New Era of Historical Revisionism

The administration’s defense of the installation is as defiant as the plaques themselves. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the backlash as “manufactured outrage,” stating that the President is a “student of history” who is providing “eloquently written descriptions” of each legacy. “The Presidential Walk of Fame will long live as a testament and tribute to the Greatness of America,” an introductory plaque declares.

However, historians see a darker motive. Jonathan Alter, a noted presidential biographer, remarked that the installation is the “perfect symbol” of the Trump second term. “They’ve taken a wrecking ball to the rule of law and now they are taking it to the rule of history,” Alter noted. The installation of a painting of Trump’s raised-fist moment in Butler, Pennsylvania—which recently displaced the official portrait of Obama in the Grand Foyer—further underscores this effort to center the entire White House experience around the 45th and 47th President.

The “Presidential Walk of Fame” is more than a decor change; it is a permanent attempt to codify a partisan narrative within the very walls of power. For the foreign dignitaries, students, and citizens who walk the West Wing Colonnade, the history of the American presidency is no longer a collection of facts, but a series of grievances etched in gold. In Trump’s White House, the past is not a foreign country—it is a battlefield, and the current occupant intends to win every skirmish.

There are no words to express just how offensive and pathetic this is. For him to so crudely disparage the legacies of two of America’s best presidents in such a childish and insulting manner is a new low for the worst president the world will ever see.