President Donald Trump has installed new, opinionated plaques beneath portraits of former U.S. presidents along the White House colonnade. They offer his own commentary on past leaders, including himself.
The display, unveiled publicly on Wednesday, reflects Trump’s broader effort to shape how presidential history is presented in the White House.
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A walk through history, with commentary
The exhibit, known as the Presidential Walk of Fame, runs along the colonnade connecting the West Wing to the White House residence. It’s a path Trump regularly uses and often walks with guests.
New plaques beneath each presidential portrait offer short descriptions of each commander-in-chief’s legacy.
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The White House says Trump wrote many of the texts himself. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described them as “eloquently written descriptions of each President and the legacy they left behind.”
An introductory plaque says the exhibit was “conceived, built, and dedicated by President Donald J. Trump as a tribute to past Presidents, good, bad, and somewhere in the middle.”
The framing, however, shifts quickly once visitors move down the line.
Recent presidents draw the sharpest language
Former President Joe Biden’s display stands out immediately. Unlike the others, his portrait is not gilded. Instead, Trump chose an image of an autopen, a decision the AP reports reflects Trump’s long-running criticism of Biden’s age and fitness for office.
The plaque beneath Biden’s portrait labels him “Sleepy Joe,” calls him “by far, the worst President in American History,” and repeats Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent. Biden defeated Trump in both the popular vote and the Electoral College.
Barack Obama’s plaque describes him as “one of the most divisive political figures in American History.” It criticizes his health care law, referring to it as the “Unaffordable Care Act.”
Bill Clinton’s entry credits him with balanced budgets and crime legislation, while noting his achievements came with a Republican Congress and “despite the scandals that plagued his Presidency.” It ends by pointing out that Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election to Trump.
Earlier presidents, softer edges
The language becomes less confrontational the further back the plaques go.
George W. Bush is praised for leading the country after the 9/11 attacks and creating the Department of Homeland Security, though his plaque criticizes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
John F. Kennedy is described as a World War II hero who used “stirring rhetoric” against communism. Richard Nixon’s plaque plainly acknowledges that Watergate led to his resignation.
One recurring theme appears even in earlier entries: criticism of the press. Andrew Jackson’s plaque says he was treated “unjustifiably” by the media, a comparison that extends forward to Abraham Lincoln and Trump himself.
Trump’s own legacy, twice
Trump, the only president with two terms represented, has two plaques, both overwhelmingly positive.
They tout what he calls “the Greatest Economy in the History of the World,” describe his 2016 Electoral College victory as a “landslide,” and highlight his popular-vote win in his second term.
The second plaque closes with a familiar Trump refrain: “THE BEST IS YET TO COME.”
A broader reshaping of the White House
The plaques arrive amid broader changes to the White House grounds and interiors. Trump has added gold accents to the Oval Office, demolished the East Wing to make way for a planned ballroom, and pushed for changes to how federal institutions, including the Smithsonian, present American history.
Supporters say the Walk of Fame offers a candid, unfiltered take on presidential legacies. Critics argue it breaks with long-standing norms that separate personal opinion from official history inside the White House.
