President Donald Trump unveiled a Presidential Wall of Fame at the White House where portraits of past presidents are lined up in chronological order.
In a bid to be what he perceives to be humorous and somewhat petty, he decided to forego a portrait for former President Joe Biden and instead mounted an autopen in place of his predecessor.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 24, 2025
https://t.co/jE2Vm7UdjL pic.twitter.com/CJ3yQBtPGQ
In retrospect, Trump is making quite a compelling case as to why Biden made a rather wise and preemptive measure. Believe it or not, the autopen has been in use since 2011, when former President Barack Obama used it to sign the Patriot Act extension. Since then, it has become a well-acknowledged routine for the POTUS to rely on the machine when signing documents remotely.
What Trump seems to have an issue with here is that he now wants to go after the people Biden pardoned. He’s already made it public that his administration is not convinced of the validity of those pardons because of the autopen. Whether that would stand up in a court of law is unlikely, however. And one of Biden’s main pardons — his son Hunter Biden — doesn’t seem at all cowered by Trump’s recent threats and made his disdain for the president clear in his extensive interview where he took aim at just about everyone his father had an issue with on his way out of the White House.
On X, one user accused Trump of disrespecting the office with this latest stunt. Another user didn’t find the move presidential at all. Some were even hoping that this was AI because the humor simply wasn’t landing. One zinger that certainly would get under Trump’s thin skin reminded him that he still lost to the “autopen” by 7 million votes — considering Trump, after all these years, still hasn’t conceded to Biden, he might even spare a Truth Social post refuting that one in particular.
They didn’t “forget” Biden they deliberately swapped his face for an autopen signature. That’s not history, that’s Trump throwing shade like a middle schooler. Every president has used an autopen, it’s standard practice, but he’s so obsessed with humiliation that he turned it…
— Charles Perreira (@CharlesPerreir7) September 24, 2025
Being elected President is a great honor bestowed by the voters of the USA.
— Joe Redwood (@humbdinino_joe) September 24, 2025
Being President does not necessarily make you Presidential. Trump is acting like a BossHog running a small town in the South. My way or the highway
I thought it was an AI stunt put together by an intern because it's too stupid to be real.
— Terrance. (@ExscapeVelozity) September 24, 2025
Trump was such a bad president that he lost to an autopen by 7 million votes. https://t.co/CUIZnqImSL
— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) September 24, 2025
The irony of Trump being so obsessed with these Biden-era pardons is that his own pardons haven’t been well regarded by the public. From corrupt sheriffs to con-man reality stars, Trump issued pardons to people who showed little remorse to their victims. So for him to now suddenly be so interested in ensuring justice is served is quite the personality shift, especially considering he recently admitted that he would have considered pardoning Diddy were it not for his criticism during the campaign.
Trump has been very interested in this second term in renovating the presidency. He wants the monumental building to bear his fingerprints, from remodelling the Rose Garden to constructing a new ballroom, and now this. It’s very likely that this is one of his jokes that will land well with his base, who simply enjoy rabble-rousing the “liberal snowflakes.”
However, if he wants to dish out jokes, it would also help if he could take them. The problem is he’ll happily disrespect former presidents or even the papacy, but when UN escalators fail or a comedian mocks him on a show he insists nobody watches, he acts like the world should stop.
