President Donald Trump sparked outrage by joking about the "autopen" on a portrait to get a laugh out of Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
On Thursday, the White House X account posted a video of Trump giving Xi a tour of the Presidential Walk of Fame, a West Colonnade display of gold-framed portraits of past presidents that Trump installed last September. Former President Joe Biden's portrait is notably swapped out with an autopen, reflecting Trump and his allies' claim that Biden's aides used the signature device on pardons and orders because he was mentally unfit. Biden denies the claim.
"Trump, Trump," the president said, pointing at the portraits on both sides of the autopen. "This is the autopen...It's Biden," Trump then explained to Xi with a pat on the arm.
While people following Trump and Xi on the tour laughed at the joke, online reactions were harsher. Many were outraged that Trump would take a dig at a previous president for the sake of getting a laugh out of a foreign leader.
"As an American, I find this so embarrassing," former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul reacted. "He calls it the people's house, but he does not treat it as the people's house. Whatever your policy disagreements were with President Biden, 81 million Americans voted for him. To treat him with such disrespect is appalling. To force a foreign guest to participate in your ridicule of Biden is even worse."
"I hate this," lamented Philip Klein, the editor of National Review Online, a conservative opinion outlet. "Xi is a commie b— who runs a key US adversary. Biden, warts and all, was a U.S. president."
"He's a grotesque human being," blasted former GOP congressman Joe Walsh. "Taking a despicable cheap shot at an American president to make a communist dictator laugh."
"How embarrassing for us," bemoaned Gregg Nunziata, a former GOP Senate Judiciary Committee counsel.
As an American, I find this so embarrassing.
He calls it the people's house, but he does not treat it as the people's house.
Whatever your policy disagreements were with President Biden, 81 million Americans voted for him.
To treat him with such disrespect is appalling. To… https://t.co/PTwtEpYn6M
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) September 24, 2026