Trump Shows Xi an Autopen Where Biden's Portrait Should Be

President Donald Trump pointed to a framed photo of an autopen and told Chinese President Xi Jinping that it stood for Joe Biden. The moment came during a White House tour on Thursday, as the two leaders walked past a new display of presidential portraits along the West Wing Colonnade.

Trump had installed the display, which he calls the Presidential Walk of Fame, earlier this year. It features portraits of past commanders-in-chief in gilded frames. Biden is the only one without a portrait. In his place hangs a picture of an autopen, a machine that replicates a signature.

Video released by the White House shows Trump stopping at the display with Xi. He waves to his own portraits from his first and second terms. Then he points to the autopen image. Trump says, Trump, and then Trump, and this is the autopen. He taps Xi on the arm and adds, It’s Biden. Xi laughs.

I watched the clip twice before I let myself feel what it made me feel. The first time, I focused on the mechanics. Trump was showing a foreign leader a gallery of American presidents. He was explaining his own place in that line. The autopen bit felt like a punchline he had used before.

The second time, I listened to the laugh. Xi does not laugh often in public. The sound was clear. It was not polite. It was the kind of laugh you give when someone lands a joke at another person’s expense. That is what stuck with me.

Trump has made the autopen claim about Biden for years. He has said Biden relied on the device to sign documents without full awareness. Biden has denied this. No evidence has surfaced to support Trump’s claim. Still, the image remains on the wall.

The display itself is new. Trump added it as part of renovations to the White House grounds. He has spoken about it in interviews. He said the choice to use an autopen image instead of a portrait was his decision. He framed it as a statement about Biden’s fitness for office.

Critics called the moment grotesque. Charles C.W. Cooke, a senior editor at the National Review, wrote that Joe Biden was an American president and Xi is a communist dictator and the head of a foreign state. He said internal divisions are not fair game in this context. Others used stronger words. Some called it un-American. Some called it disgusting.

I do not think outrage helps here. It makes the moment bigger than it needs to be. But I also do not think it is nothing. A president showing a foreign leader a mockery of a former president is not normal. It is not how we usually treat the office, even when we disagree with the person who held it.

What matters to me is what this says about how we see ourselves. The presidency is more than a job. It is a symbol. When we put someone in that role, we accept that they will make mistakes. We also accept that they will age in public view. Biden was 82 when he left office. He was not always sharp. That does not erase his service.

Trump’s joke lands because it plays on a fear many people have. The fear that leaders are not really in charge. That machines or staff make the decisions. That the person we voted for is a figurehead. It is a powerful fear. It is also a fear that can be used to dismiss anyone we do not like.

Xi’s laugh matters too. He is not a neutral observer. He leads a country that competes with the United States on trade, technology, and global influence. His laughter signals that he sees the moment as a win. Not for policy. For posture. It tells him that American leaders will mock each other in front of him. That they will hand him material he can use later.

I keep thinking about the families who voted for Biden. The ones who believed he would protect their interests. The ones who feel he did a decent job. How does it feel to see your president reduced to a machine in a gallery meant to honor service? I do not know. I can only guess.

Trump’s supporters see it differently. They see a president who refuses to play by old rules. They see someone who calls out what he sees as weakness. They cheered the clip when it appeared online. They liked that Trump was blunt. They liked that Xi laughed.

Both reactions are real. Both are part of how we live now. The question is what we do with them. Do we accept that mocking former presidents is now part of the show? Do we treat the office as something that can be joked about without cost?

I do not have a clean answer. I only know that when I watch the clip, I feel a quiet worry. Not about Trump. Not about Biden. About us. About what we accept as normal when the camera is rolling and the world is watching.

The White House posted the video with a laughing emoji. That tells you how they see it. As a win. As content. As proof that Trump is still Trump. Maybe it is. Maybe that is enough for some people.

For me, it is not. I want leaders who can disagree without demeaning. I want a presidency that feels bigger than the person in it. I want us to be better than this. Not perfect. Just better.

The autopen image will stay on the wall. Trump has made that clear. Biden’s portrait will not join the others. That choice is Trump’s to make. It is his White House. His gallery. His joke.

What we do with that choice is ours. We can laugh. We can rage. We can scroll past. Or we can ask what kind of country we want to be. One that mocks its former leaders in front of foreign rivals. Or one that treats the office with enough respect to keep the jokes private.

I do not know which path we will take. I only know that the clip is still in my head. The laugh. The tap on the arm. The framed autopen where a portrait should be. It is a small thing. But small things add up. They tell us who we are.

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