President Donald Trump is revealing his ill will toward his political opponents, even in the White House.
According to a CNN report on the 10th, President Trump ordered the removal of the portrait of former President Barack Obama, which had been adorning the entrance to the White House. Consequently, the portrait was relocated to the middle of the steps near the entrance to the presidential residence.
The original location naturally stands out during major White House events and is visible to tourists on White House tours. The new location is accessible only to the presidential family, Secret Service agents, and staff members, making it virtually invisible.
CNN noted that it has been a practice for sitting presidents to place their predecessors’ portraits at the most prominent entrance to the White House and interpreted this relocation as an extension of their public outcry against their political opponents.
Former President Joe Biden is Trump’s immediate predecessor, but his portrait is reportedly not yet complete. President Trump has expressed strong animosity toward former President Obama since his days as a real estate developer and broadcaster before taking office. Recently, he has claimed that former President Obama and his administration committed treason during the 2016 presidential election.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has ordered an investigation into allegations that senior Obama administration officials produced disinformation alleging Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. President Trump also ordered portraits of other political opponents, including former President George W. Bush and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, moved to a less visible area of the stairwell.
Before his death in 2018, Bush called Trump a “charlatan” in his autobiography and supported Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Bush has also criticized Trump as a “failed and uninspiring president.”