The Trump White House has inexplicably relocated the presidential portraits of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush from their prominent position in the Grand Foyer to a small dining room now mostly used for storage. Portraits of two Republican presidents from more than a century ago — William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt — now hang there instead.
The sudden rearranging of presidential portraits in the midst of unprecedented, overlapping crises was symbolic of the Trump White House’s recent struggles, suggested CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins. Collins mentioned this break with tradition — the Grand Foyer typically displays some of the most recent presidential portraits — that was reported by CNN on Friday night.
“When you walk into the White House and you’re in the Grand Foyer, you see these two portraits of President Bill Clinton and George W. Bush,” Collins said. “We are now told that in the last week since the president hosted the Mexican president last week and we saw those portraits hanging up, they have been moved to the Old Family Dining Room. That’s a room that’s very small. No visitors go there. It’s used for storage of table cloths and old furniture. Instead they’ve been replaced by William McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt. It’s two of the most recent presidents there in the grand foyer usually. And in the last week the White House has moved those. We asked for explanation of why
“Moving portraits around at the White House of presidents they don’t like,” Burnett repeated, the exasperation obvious in her voice.
The CNN story on the rearrangement noted Trump’s well-known animus toward both presidents.
“In his book, former Trump national security adviser John Bolton wrote Trump ‘despised’ both Bush presidents, and people familiar with the conversations say Trump has lambasted George W. Bush as ‘stupid.'” the story noted. “Trump has similarly castigated Clinton, the husband of his 2016 presidential rival, Hillary Clinton, and suggested he was a bad president.”
Watch the video above, via CNN.