New plaques: Trump mocks his predecessors in the White House

The language is by no means conciliatory. Above all, the political legacy of Democratic presidents is panned; The polemic, garnished with many superlatives, is reminiscent of Donald Trump’s writing style in his social media posts. “Many of the texts were written by the president himself,” said Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

A selection of the most notable entries:

Joe Biden: “the worst president in US history”

Most spectacular is the plaque dedicated to Joe Biden, which reads: “‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden was by far the worst president in American history. He came to office as a result of the most corrupt election the United States has ever seen and was responsible for a series of unprecedented disasters that brought our country to the brink of destruction.” Among other things, Trump sees “Biden’s devastating weakness” as the cause of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the major attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

It continues: “Joe Biden, known as sleepy and dishonest, was controlled by radical left-wing string pullers. They and their allies in the fake news media tried to cover up his mental deterioration (…).” By the way, instead of the official portrait of Biden, there is a picture of an autopen hanging here – a device that imitates signatures. It can be seen as an allusion to Trump’s claim that many of his predecessor’s orders were invalid because he did not sign them by hand.

Biden “instrumentalized” the justice system and had “many innocent people” persecuted, but at the same time pardoned “radical democratic criminals” and members of “the Biden crime family.” The text concludes with the sentence: “Despite all of this, President Trump was re-elected in a landslide and SAVED AMERICA!”

Barack Obama: “one of the most divisive figures in history”

Under Barack Obamas (2009-2017) Portrait reads: “Barack Hussein Obama was the first black president (…) and one of the most divisive figures in American history.” Obama’s health care reforms were “highly ineffective and unaffordable” and the US economy “stagnated” under him.

In fact, Obama took office immediately after the 2008 financial crisis – the worst since 1929. In the following eight years, the number of working US citizens grew for 75 months in a row, and the unemployment rate halved from ten to less than five percent. The health care reforms known as “Obamacare” ate up a lot of the budget, but resulted in more than 20 million US citizens receiving health insurance for the first time.

A second plaque reads: “Obama spied on Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and was responsible for creating the ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’ scam, the biggest scandal in U.S. history.”

What is meant is the accusation that the Russian state supported Trump’s election campaign, especially on social media. The FBI opened an investigation at the time, found that there had been contact between Trump’s employees and actors close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but was unable to prove any election interference.

George W. Bush: “Wars shouldn’t have happened”

Trump is more squeamish about his Republican predecessors. On the plaque for George W. Bush (2001-2009), negative events during his time in office are not linked to his government activities. It is succinctly stated that “his term of office was significantly shaped by the events of September 11, 2001” and “shortly before the end of his term in office there was a global financial crisis and a severe recession.”

However, Bush “also started wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, neither of which should have happened.”

Ronald Reagan: “was a big fan of President Trump”

What is interesting, however, is how Trump describes the work of a president he admires: Ronald Reagan. There is no mention of his extremely controversial economic and tax policies; instead it says: “Reagan won the Cold War and fundamentally changed American politics and the conservative movement.”

Under Reagan, the US economy flourished, he rebuilt the US military and “restored national self-confidence.” And further: “He was an admirer of Donald J. Trump long before President Donald J. Trump’s historic election victory in 2016. President Trump was also an admirer of him!”

Donald Trump: “Golden Age for America”

There are also two new plaques under Trump’s own portrait. It says, among other things, that Trump has ended eight wars, “secured the border and made our cities safe” in the first eight months of his current term in office. Trump also falsely claims to have implemented “the largest tax cuts, spending cuts and deregulation in American history.”

Then the text ends with the announcement: “THE BEST IS AHEAD!”