Politics

Trump Installs Controversial Plaques for Past Presidents

Is Trump's Presidential Walk of Fame a degradation of the presidency, or essential historical accountability?

Published DEC 18 2025

Trump Installs Controversial Plaques for Past Presidents

Story

Above: Plaques put up by the Trump administration's Presidential Walk of Fame are seen with descriptions of U.S. presidents along the colonnade of the White House on Dec. 17, 2025. Image credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

The Facts

U.S. President Donald Trump installed plaques beneath portraits of former presidents in the White House's Presidential Walk of Fame, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stating that many were "written directly by the President himself."
ABC News
The Jerusalem Post
Straight Arrow News
The plaque beneath Joe Biden's representation, which features an autopen rather than a portrait, describes him as "by far, the worst President in American History" and claims he took office "as a result of the most corrupt Election ever seen in the United States."
New York Post
France24.com
Barack Obama's plaque refers to him as "Barack Hussein Obama" and describes him as "one of the most divisive political figures in American History." Obama maintains the highest favorability rating of any living president.
FOX News
NBC
The Hill
The plaque for Bill Clinton highlights many of his achievements and mentions that "President Clinton's wife, Hillary, lost the Presidency to President Donald J. Trump" in 2016, with Hillary Clinton referenced on multiple plaques.
The Telegraph
The New York Times
Ronald Reagan's plaque concludes by stating "He was a fan of President Donald J. Trump long before President Trump's Historic run for the White House. Likewise, President Trump was a fan of his!"
The Washington Post
The Times (UK)
Former President John F. Kennedy’s plaque highlights that he was the first Catholic elected to the presidency, while former President Jimmy Carter’s plaque states that “He did wonderful things for Humanity!”
The Washington Post
CNN

Sources Split

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RIGHT

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ESTAB

The Spin

Anti-Trump narrative

Trump's tacky Presidential Walk of Fame represents a complete degradation of the presidency, with childish insults replacing historical records. The plaques spread blatant lies about the 2020 election and falsely accuse Obama of treason while distracting from Trump's shenanigans. This perfectly captures how Trump has sullied the office and extinguished America's beacon as a global exemplar of democratic norms.

Los Angeles Times

The Daily Beast

Pro-Trump narrative

The updated Presidential Walk of Fame plaques provide essential historical context that previous administrations ignored or whitewashed. Biden's disastrous presidency deserves documentation — from record inflation to the Afghanistan debacle to 21 million illegal border crossers. Obama's divisive legacy and the Russia hoax he helped engineer finally get the accurate accounting they warrant on the White House walls.

Red State