Trump proudly shows China’s Xi his very public belittling of Joe Biden

Trump proudly shows China’s Xi his very public belittling of Joe Biden Excited Trump shows off his gilded, MAGA-fied White House to visiting communist Chinese authoritarian - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in Donald Trump proudly showed off his additions to the White House wall of presidents to a visiting Xi Jinping on Thursday, which under his domain has become a sideshow pathway used to attack two of his predecessors: Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Xi was at the White House for the second day of a state visit to the United States, which began Wednesday with a red-carpet rollout at Maryland’s Joint Base Andrews, a welcome described as unduly “lavish” by some of the U.S. president’s critics on both sides of the aisle. On Thursday, the president gave his guest the grand tour, showing off his various additions and changes to the White House grounds, including the new helipad for Marine One on the lawn. He told reporters that his counterpart “loves good granite” as they inspected the landing pad. Xi also strolled through the “Presidential Walk of Fame” with Trump, who excitedly showed him that his face was on the wall not just once, but twice — because of his non-consecutive election wins. The Chinese president and his aides laughed hard as Trump pointed to Biden and said, “This is the autopen,” referring to Biden’s use of an automated signing tool, which Trump has used to mock his physical condition as well as mental acuity while in office. The moment was captured as a Thursday court ruling turned the grounds of the White House into a legal battlefield. CNN, MS Now and Politico were readmitted to the premises on Thursday around noon after initially being turned away, with reporters receiving security badges that were confiscated by Secret Service at the beginning of the week. News agencies continued to hold out on providing television pool coverage as White House officials left the issue of readmitting CNN and MS Now to the pool rotation unclear. Video of the moment Trump mocked his predecessor was shared by the official White House account on X, with a crying-laughing emoji. Chinese officials and White House aides, as well as Secret Service agents, reportedly also got into a heated dispute minutes before Xi’s arrival Thursday over the placement of photographers working for the White House and the visiting Chinese delegation around the White House entranceway. The president’s focus on the White House’s physical transformation was unsurprising. Trump frequently gives guests tours of the White House, with the wall of presidential portraits — and his Trump-ified additions — a main stop. The president also frequently shows guests the site and plans for the ballroom and “DronePort” he hopes to finish constructing on the former grounds of the White House East Wing, a project which like his renovations to the Kennedy Center is mired in court battles. As he has battled with Congress and mostly failed to enact his agenda through legislation, the president has focused on radically transforming the White House and the broader District of Columbia as he has sought another way to make his mark during his second term. Biden and Xi met several times during the former’s presidency. Unlike Trump, the 46th president met the visiting Xi in San Francisco, on the sidelines of the APEC summit in 2023 and focused entirely on politics, leaving with agreements to cooperate on AI development, defense issues, and efforts to curb fentanyl trafficking. Xi’s visit to the U.S. was marked by a welcome ceremony Wednesday at a Maryland military base that was packed with pomp, complete with a military flyover, an artillery salute, and the playing of the national anthem. The Chinese president watched the proceedings placidly while his U.S. counterpart, wearing full winter weather garb, winced in surprise as the planned flyover took place. Trump’s over-the-top welcome for Xi drew immediate condemnation from one of his Republican allies on the Hill, Sen. Roger Wicker. The Mississippi senator said in a floor speech that he would have advised the president not to put on such a show for the Chinese president given the U.S.’s ongoing concerns with China’s human rights record, among other topics of dispute. “I would not have scheduled such a thing. But as guests converse over the meal, the president might inquire about the purposes of China's massive military build-up, or about China's clear support for Iran,” said Wicker on Tuesday. "Our commander in chief should keep in mind that his guest is a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator who seeks to dominate his neighbors and whose massive military arsenal is aimed directly at the United States of America," he added. His reception of Xi at the White House follows Trump’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. The president’s poll numbers on foreign and domestic affairs are plunging, linked in both cases to the war in Iran the administration launched in late February with the stated assumption that the conflict would end in a few weeks. Nearly seven months on, fuel prices including gasoline and diesel remain at record highs across the United States while the overall cost of the war itself has surpassed $80 billion and continues to climb, with no signs of a negotiated end in sight. Trump’s speech Tuesday to world leaders at the U.N. was centered around his administration’s willingness to make tough foreign policy decisions, but as the midterm elections approach America still appears isolated from not just its European allies but from Canada, where Trump has launched a trade war, as well. “We inherited a dark age of America from the previous administration, and we turned it into the golden age of America,” Trump insisted during his speech Tuesday. “The entire world is being lifted by the wealth, strength, spirit, and momentum of a newly energized and a very powerful United States of America.” Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments