On Thursday, Donald Trump showed Xi Jinping a White House portrait depicting an autopen in place of Joe Biden, saying, “This is the autopen… It’s Biden.” The display echoes unproven claims that staff used an autopen to sign Biden’s documents and pardons because he was unwell.
Trump established the Presidential Walk of Fame along the White House’s West Colonnade in September 2025 and replaced Biden’s photo with an autopen image. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director emerita of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, said U.S. leaders are expected to treat visiting foreign leaders with dignity; she called denigrating a former president in front of one unprecedented and counterproductive. The White House had not responded to HuffPost’s request for comment at the time of reporting.
Experts offered several interpretations of Trump’s warmth toward Xi, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un. Peter Baker said Trump admires leaders he sees as decisive and may identify with their ability to act without democratic constraints; Stanley Renshon said the display could signal that foreign leaders should look to Trump rather than his predecessors. Aubrey Immelman said Trump may be flattering such leaders to help in future negotiations. Baker said a government-funded ad that week against communism referred to U.S. leftists, not foreign leaders.
