WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Wednesday unveiled a new “Presidential Walk of Fame” along the West Wing colonnade, a gallery of framed black-and-white portraits honoring every American president. But where Joe Biden’s image should hang, visitors instead found a photograph of an autopen machine signing Biden’s name.
The installation, announced with little advance notice, traces the nation’s leaders from George Washington through Trump himself. As cameras panned across the exhibit during the unveiling, the frames showed familiar presidential faces until the final spot reserved for Biden revealed only the close-up of the mechanical signature device.
A senior White House aide said the decision to substitute the autopen image came directly from the president. The move appears aimed squarely at highlighting Biden’s use of the device to sign official documents during his time in office—something Trump has repeatedly mocked as evidence of detachment from his own administration’s decisions.
Autopens, which replicate a person’s signature, have been used by presidents of both parties for decades to handle large volumes of correspondence or to sign routine documents when travel or illness makes a personal signature impractical. Legal opinions have long held that a signature applied this way is valid if the president authorizes its use.
Trump’s framing of the practice is different. He has frequently suggested that Biden’s reliance on an autopen called into question the legitimacy of key orders and pardons. Biden and his allies have defended the practice as routine and have said every document bearing the signature was fully reviewed and approved by him.
Reactions to the new exhibit were swift. Democrats criticized the display as petty and disrespectful to a former president. Supporters of Trump called it a pointed piece of political theater. Social media quickly filled with memes of the autopen image, and commentators debated whether the stunt was clever satire or an erosion of presidential decorum.
The “Walk of Fame” is the latest in a series of symbolic changes Trump has made to the White House grounds. By replacing Biden’s portrait with a photograph of a machine, Trump delivered a visual jab meant to question not only his predecessor’s methods but his very presence in the presidential lineage.
ed the validity of certain executive orders, clemencies, and other acts purportedly signed via autopen.
