Did Trump put plaques under presidentsphotographs in the White House?
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Executive summary
Yes — the Trump White House installed new plaques beneath presidential portraits along a newly styled “Presidential Walk of Fame” (also called a “Wall of Fame” or similar) in the West Wing colonnade that include pointed, partisan descriptions of several predecessors, notably Joe Biden and Barack Obama [1] [2] [3].
1. What happened: plaques went up under presidential portraits
On Dec. 17, 2025 the White House added explanatory plaques below the portraits lining the colonnade outside the West Wing, creating what the administration calls a “Presidential Walk of Fame,” and those plaques include critical, often personalized language about past presidents rather than neutral historical summaries [1] [4] [3].
2. Content of the plaques: insults, policy critiques and disputed claims
The plaques reproduce blunt, Trump‑style wording — for example, the Biden entry calls him “Sleepy Joe” and declares he was “by far, the worst President in American History,” while the Obama plaque calls him “one of the most divisive political figures in American history” and critiques his policies — language that outlets report contains subjective characterizations and claims that some journalists label baseless or misleading [5] [6] [3] [7].
3. Symbolism and the autopen substitution for Biden’s portrait
Rather than a standard portrait for Joe Biden, the display features a photograph of a presidential autopen (a signature‑replicating device), and the plaque beneath that autopen image is among the most derisive, tying into administration claims that Biden is controlled by handlers — an intentional visual snub widely reported by news organizations [2] [5] [6].
4. How the White House explains the move and who wrote the text
White House spokespeople framed the plaques as a conception and dedication by President Trump and said many were written directly by him; press secretary statements cited in reporting described the plaque texts as “eloquent” and in some cases authored by the President himself [3] [2].
5. Media reaction and concerns about accuracy and tone
Mainstream outlets from AP and Reuters to NBC, CNN and ABC documented the installation and highlighted both the partisan tone and instances where reporting says the plaques advance disputed or false claims; several outlets explicitly flagged that some plaque language promotes disinformation about prior administrations [1] [2] [5] [7] [3].
6. Political purpose and possible agendas behind the plaques
Multiple reports interpret the plaques as an extension of an ongoing effort by the Trump administration to recast White House décor as political messaging — in some outlets described as “trolling” opponents or cementing a revisionist public narrative about predecessors — a move consistent with prior Trump changes to White House aesthetics and public communications strategy [8] [3] [4].
7. What reporting does not establish
Contemporary coverage documents the installation, the texts and White House statements about authorship, but sources vary in assessing the factual accuracy of specific claims printed on the plaques; where reporting labels claims as “false” or “disinformation” it does so based on journalistic judgment and fact‑checking rather than a legal finding recorded in these sources [5] [7] [3].
Answer to the central question
Yes — President Trump’s White House installed plaques under the presidential portraits along the West Wing colonnade, and those plaques include partisan, often derisive descriptions of former presidents such as Joe Biden and Barack Obama; the administration says many were written by the President himself, while news organizations have criticized the tone and flagged disputed or misleading assertions on the plaques [1] [2] [3] [5].