Jay Nordlinger is a senior resident fellow at the Renew Democracy Initiative and a contributor to The Next Move.
In the White House, President Trump has what he calls the “Presidential Walk of Fame.” It includes portraits of all the presidents—except one. In the place of Joe Biden, there is an image of an autopen.
Trump and others contend, or pretend, that it was scandalous for Biden to use an autopen. But this is standard practice in political offices.
In 1984, I was an intern for Senator Bob Dole. I was introduced to the autopen. My teenage self was scandalized. It seemed so impure—dishonest. I had a lot to learn …
The White House website—the official, governmental site—says, “AUTOPEN. 46th President. 2021–2025.” The accompanying text begins this way:
“Sleepy Joe Biden was, by far, the worst President in American History. Taking office as a result of the most corrupt Election ever seen in the United States, Biden oversaw a series of unprecedented disasters that brought our Nation to the brink of destruction.”
Let me ask you: What should future presidents, future White Houses, say about Trump? What should be pictured in the place of Trump himself? How would Republicans like that?
Last Thursday, Trump was hosting Xi Jinping. They paused in front of the “autopen portrait” and had a good laugh together. Proudly, the White House tweeted this moment around.
Who is Xi Jinping? He is the boss of the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP imprisons, tortures, and kills some of the best people in China—democrats striving for basic freedoms. The CCP is committing genocide against the Uyghur people. (This was the determination of the US State Department in 2021.) The CCP has crushed Tibet and threatens to do the same to Taiwan.
This government, the Chinese government, is a mortal enemy of the United States and all free countries.
If you think that what Trump did with Xi in the White House is wrong, you do not suffer from “TDS”—“Trump Derangement Syndrome”—as many will tell you (as they do me regularly). You are just a decent American.
I think back to an episode in 2019. Biden was launching his campaign for president. He referred to Kim Jong-un as a “dictator” and a “tyrant.” That is the least of what he is. Kim presides over one of the most monstrous regimes ever conceived by man.
Trump has always been chummy with him, even lovey-dovey. If you would like the nauseating details, consult a piece of mine published in October 2020: “Trump and Dictators.”
Kim responded to Biden, calling him a “fool of low IQ” and an “imbecile bereft of elementary quality as a human being.” Trump tweeted his approval:
“I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me [regarding nuclear weapons], & also smiled when he called Swampman Joe Biden a low IQ individual, & worse. Perhaps that’s sending me a signal?”
Among other things, note the respectful “Chairman Kim” versus “Swampman Joe Biden.”
Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, now the governor of Arkansas, was asked about this—Trump’s chortling with Kim over Biden’s IQ, etc. She said, simply, “I think they agree in their assessment of former vice president Joe Biden.”
Again: Is it right for US presidents to joke with Communist dictators about other American leaders? Does that sit well with you? Who has the TDS? Those who object or those who think it’s swell, when Trump does it?
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In 2006, Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan dictator, traveled to New York to address the United Nations. In that address, he said, “The devil came here yesterday”—meaning the American president, George W. Bush.
Congressman Charlie Rangel of New York was a left-wing Democrat and a fierce critic of Bush. But listen to what he said:
“George Bush is the president of the United States and represents the entire country. Any demeaning public attack against him is viewed by Republicans and Democrats, and all Americans, as an attack on all of us.”
And listen to Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the Democrats in the House:
“Hugo Chávez abused the privilege that he had of speaking at the UN. In doing so, in the manner in which he characterized the president, he demeaned himself and he demeaned Venezuela. Hugo Chávez fancies himself a modern-day Simón Bolívar, but all he is is an everyday thug.”
An everyday thug—exactly.
Can Republicans rise to the level of Rangel and Pelosi? They should be ashamed not to.
When I wrote about the 2019 episode concerning Kim, Trump, and Biden, I received a letter from a student—the president of his College Republicans club. He said that he had read my articles about North Korea and its horrors. My interviews with escapees and defectors.
Some of his fellow club members, he said, were going along with Trump on the loveliness, or admirability, of “Chairman Kim.” “But I want you to know that some of us are still holding the line and fighting the good fight.”
This student ended his letter as follows: “Though you are not a Republican anymore, I figured you would take a little encouragement in knowing that there are some Young Republicans trying to hold the line, despite the pressure to capitulate.”
To resist the pressure to capitulate: a hard thing and a great thing.
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King Trump’s Press Ban
Banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico is straight out of the 1776 playbook—the British Crown’s playbook, that is.
