By Griha Atul,News18

Copyright news18

The West Wing colonnade of the White House has never been known for drama. Yet it has become a set piece as President Trump unveiled his new “Walk of Fame.” Black-and-white portraits of past presidents lined the walls — until the camera panned to Joe Biden’s slot. There, in place of a face, hung an autopen machine.
The video, released by a White House aide, was pure political theatre: a slow build, a sudden reveal, and an unmistakable jab at Trump’s predecessor. Within hours, the clip was everywhere — shared, mocked, cheered, and dissected.
BACKGROUND: TRUMP’S AUTOPEN ACCUSATIONS
This is not Trump’s first invocation of the autopen as a political weapon. As early as March 2025, just weeks after his inauguration, he claimed that “many” of Biden’s pardons — particularly for individuals connected to the January 6 investigations — were invalid because they were signed by autopen rather than by Biden himself. On Truth Social, Trump suggested the device was used to obscure Biden’s alleged cognitive decline, a theme he emphasized throughout the 2024 campaign.
By June 2025, Trump ordered a Justice Department probe into Biden’s aides, accusing them of signing executive orders, pardons, and bills without proper authorisation. A White House memo at the time framed the practice as a cover-up of Biden’s supposed impairments. Congressional Republicans quickly amplified these claims, while Democrats dismissed the inquiry as politically motivated.
Trump has continued to argue — without producing conclusive evidence — that autopen use invalidated certain Biden-era decisions, casting doubt on the legitimacy of his predecessor’s presidency.
So even as the White House aides describe the project as a “tribute to presidential history”, the display fits a broader pattern: Trump’s use of symbolism, aesthetics, and spectacle to shape narratives and target political opponents.
THE SIGNATURE CONTROVERSY
The autopen has long been a presidential convenience. Dwight Eisenhower used it for correspondence; Barack Obama used it to sign bills while abroad. The Justice Department has deemed its use legal so long as the president authorises it.
But Trump has hammered Biden for relying on the device, accusing him of outsourcing not just letters but pardons and proclamations — acts meant to embody the full weight of presidential authority – a pointed jab, extending Trump’s long-running criticisms of Biden’s cognitive health and administrative practices.
Conservative outlets amplified the claim; legal analysts pushed back, pointing out there’s no evidence Biden delegated without direction. The machine may be mechanical, but the decisions, they argue, remained human.
It was found that many of Biden’s pardons, including high-profile cases, bore his personal signature. Many fact-checkers noted that while some routine documents were signed by autopen, there is no precedent for revoking pardons based on the method of signature — and doing so would likely run afoul of constitutional separation of powers. Biden himself told The New York Times in July that he personally approved every clemency decision, regardless of whether an autopen executed the final signature.
To date, the Justice Department probe has not produced evidence of widespread unauthorised autopen use.
THE CHATTER DIVIDE
On right-leaning social media, the portrait was hailed as poetic justice. “The autopen did more work than Biden,” one influencer quipped. For Trump supporters, the image distilled a larger critique: that Biden’s presidency was detached, bureaucratic, even robotic.
On the left, outrage came swiftly. Critics saw pettiness, even vandalism of tradition. The White House, they argued, should honour its occupants — even adversaries — not reduce them to props in partisan theater. Historians noted the break with precedent: never before has a president mocked another within the official walls of the people’s house.
SYMBOLS, NOT SUBSTANCE
The autopen portrait will not change legal precedent. Biden’s signatures, whether penned by hand or machine, carry authority. What it does change is the mood of the White House. By turning architecture into commentary, Trump transforms public space into campaign canvas.
The irony? The autopen, meant to project continuity in governance, has now become a symbol of rupture. The machine stands framed not only as Biden’s surrogate but as the latest icon in America’s battle over legitimacy and image.
Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.