A snapshot of President Donald Trump with one of his most prominent frenemies got prime real estate at the White House—outshadowing a picture with one of his grandchildren.
A photograph of the 79-year-old president walking side-by-side with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, hangs in the Palm Room that connects the West Wing to the Executive Residence, PBS White House correspondent Elizabeth Landers noted Tuesday.
The image shows Trump and Putin, 73, in Alaska, where they staged a summit in August to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war.
Right below it was a photo of Trump in February attending the Daytona 500, the NASCAR Cup Series opener, with his granddaughter, Carolina. The six-year-old is the second child of the president’s son, Eric, and his wife, Lara.
Both photographs were encased in Trump’s signature gold, set against white latticework.
The Palm Room, which serves as a visitors’ lobby, got a tacky MAGA facelift in September. The floors were changed to marble, the president’s material of choice, and simple light fixtures were replaced with three swanky chandeliers. Indoor plants and flowers, a small bench, and a credenza were all swapped out for small images hung on the walls.
An administration official told the Daily Beast that it was not unusual for the White House to put up photos of the president’s public engagements throughout the complex, and that images of Trump with other world leaders are also on display. The photos around the White House are regularly updated and rotated, the official added.
Trump, who promised to end the Russia-Ukraine war on his first day back in office, has a love-hate relationship with Putin. Last year, Trump repeatedly oscillated between lavishing praise on the Russian autocrat and blasting him in scathing Truth Social posts.
In March, Trump told NBC News that he was “p---ed off” and “very angry” at Putin over the Ukraine peace talks. In May, he claimed in a Truth Social post that the Russian president had “gone absolutely CRAZY!”
Mere months later, however, Trump rolled out the red carpet for Putin, giving him a warm welcome in Alaska and a ride in the presidential limousine known as The Beast.
