- Joe Rogan, who backed Trump, condemned the partisan plaques as dangerous, arguing presidents should not write subjective descriptions of predecessors.
- The plaques, using Trumpian language to praise Republicans and attack Democrats, sparked broad backlash and debates over White House neutrality.
Joe Rogan, the influential podcaster who backed Donald Trump in the 2024 election and attended his inauguration, has voiced sharp criticism of the president’s new partisan plaques on the White House’s Presidential Walk of Fame.
During a Christmas Day episode of The Joe Rogan Experience with comedian Shane Gillis, Rogan described the additions as “so crazy,” arguing that a sitting president shouldn’t be allowed to craft subjective descriptions of predecessors.
“This is so crazy,” Rogan said after reading excerpts from the plaques.
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“You shouldn’t be allowed to do this, right? It should be like, historians.”
He warned of the precedent, adding that someone needs to tell Trump, “Hey, this is not good. You can’t do that, because other people could do that too, and then the White House stops being the White House,” turning it into a space where the current occupant could “just go crazy and say everybody else is a crook.”
Rogan pushed back when Gillis suggested a future Democrat like Gavin Newsom wouldn’t retaliate in kind: “Of course he would. He copies everything that Trump does.”
Rogan has frequently criticized Newsom’s leadership in California.
The plaques, installed mid-December along the West Wing colonnade beneath presidential portraits, use Trump-like language—complete with nicknames, bold claims, and random capitalizations—to praise Trump and Republicans while slamming Democrats.
Biden’s entry, placed under a photo of an autopen signature rather than a portrait, calls him “Sleepy Joe Biden” and “by far, the worst President in American history.”
It accuses him of taking office via “the most corrupt Election ever seen in the United States” and overseeing disasters that brought the nation “to the brink of destruction,” including the Afghanistan withdrawal.
Obama’s plaque refers to him as “Barack Hussein Obama,” labeling him “one of the most divisive political figures in American History” for passing the “highly ineffective ‘Unaffordable’ Care Act” and signing “the one-sided Paris Climate Accords.”
Clinton’s mentions his wife’s 2016 loss to Trump, while Reagan’s notes he was “a fan of President Donald J. Trump long before President Trump’s Historic run for the White House.”
Reactions of the White House Plaques
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the plaques in a statement: “The plaques are eloquently written descriptions of each President and the legacy they left behind.
As a student of history, many were written directly by the President himself.”
Spokesman Davis Ingle told Fox News that Trump is “making the White House beautiful and giving it the glory it deserves at no cost to the taxpayer,” describing the Walk of Fame as “a great addition to the People’s House.”
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, criticized the move: “The idea that those plaques would have been placed by a president of the United States to talk about former presidents of the United States, the American people deserve better.”
Rogan’s Broader Concerns Echo in Separate Episode
Rogan’s unease extended to another recent podcast on December 23 with comedian Tom Segura.
Discussing Trump’s changes, including the plaques, Rogan said, “There’s nothing nuttier than the plaques under the presidents’ names…How is this real? How are you allowed to do that?”
He questioned the autopen photo for Biden and suggested Trump needs “a right-hand man who goes, ‘Sir,’” to curb extreme ideas.
When Segura remarked that Trump is “losing it too, you can tell,” Rogan replied, “I think everybody does when you get to a certain age,” noting the president’s 79 years.
The Presidential Walk of Fame and Its Origins
The display began taking shape earlier in 2025, with portraits lining the colonnade Trump often uses to reach the Oval Office.
Plaques were first spotted by reporters around December 17, marking a stark departure from tradition—past presidential portraits are typically neutral, commissioned after terms end, without successor commentary.
An introductory plaque explains it was “conceived, built, and dedicated by President Donald J. Trump as a tribute to past Presidents, good, bad, and somewhere in the middle.”
Trump has multiple entries praising his achievements, like creating “the Greatest Economy in the History of the World.”
These fit Trump’s wider White House overhauls: gold accents in the Oval Office, paving the historic Rose Garden into a stone patio, and ongoing construction of a massive ballroom replacing parts of the East Wing—funded privately, with costs escalating from initial $200 million estimates.
Reactions Pour In Amid Fact-Checks and Debate
Outlets across the spectrum have scrutinized the plaques.
PBS fact-checked claims like the 2020 election fraud (debunked after numerous court losses), highest inflation ever (actually peaked in the 1970s-80s), Obama spying on Trump’s campaign (no evidence from investigations), and the Affordable Care Act’s ineffectiveness (uninsured rates dropped significantly).
CNN and AP highlighted the “pointed” and “Trumpian” style, while Fox News emphasized White House defenses.
Some conservatives view them as refreshingly honest, but critics, including Rogan, see them as undermining the White House’s role as a neutral historical symbol.
Rogan’s comments stand out given his role in Trump’s 2024 win—his platform reached millions of young men, and his pre-election Trump interview drew massive views.
Yet post-inauguration, he’s critiqued various moves, from immigration to these plaques.
As daily passersby—including staff, visitors, and dignitaries—encounter the display, it remains a potent symbol of Trump’s unfiltered approach.
With no signs of removal, the controversy underscores deeper divides over how history is told in America’s most iconic building.
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