Former President Barack Obama’s official portrait has been moved from the Grand Foyer of the White House — and been replaced with a painting of President Donald Trump pumping his fist in the air after last year’s attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Obama’s portrait, unveiled in September 2022, now hangs in the East Room, according to multiple media outlets, including NBC News, CNN and the Associated Press. On Friday, the White House shared footage of the new Trump painting on X, formerly Twitter.
“Some new artwork at the White House,” announced the official account.
The painting appears to be based on photos from Evan Vucci and Doug Mills, photographers for the AP and New York Times, respectively, taken on July 13, 2024 — mere moments after 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks grazed Trump’s ear.
Trump loyalist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) reacted favorably to the news and shared the news on X with the comment: “Much better.” Greene, who recently had an awkward social media gaffe, is among many MAGA supporters celebrating the change.
Others, however, are pointing out that it “doesn’t even fit in the framing of the wall design.”
Trump’s words immediately after the shooting, “Fight, fight, fight,” became a GOP rallying cry during his bid for a second term. Crooks was gunned down within seconds of the failed assassination attempt, which wounded multiple attendees at the political rally in Butler, killing one.
The unveiling of Obama’s painting in 2022 marked the first time in a decade that a sitting president, Biden, invited a predecessor for an unveiling. Obama, whose wife Michelle was honored with her own portrait, thanked artist Robert McCurdy with a heartfelt statement.
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“When future generations walk these halls and look up at these portraits, I hope they get a better honest sense of who Michelle and I were,” he said at the time, per NPR. “And I hope they leave with a deeper understanding that if we could make it here, maybe they can, too.”
“They can do remarkable things, too,” he concluded.
