President Donald Trump has been mocked online for adding a sign to the White House to remind him where the Oval Office is.
Trump, 79, who is hoping to reshape the entire White House with a gaudy Mar-a-Lago-inspired makeover, added a paper sign with gold cursive writing next to an entrance for the West Wing room in what may be his most subtle, yet pointless, addition to his renovation project.
CNN’s chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, first shared a photo of “The Oval Office” sign on X, as Trump hosted a group of Republican senators for breakfast following Tuesday’s crushing election defeats for the GOP.
A number of social media users mocked Trump over the signage, which appeared to be a temporary measure, and raised speculation about why the man who is on track to become the oldest sitting president in U.S. history would need such a label.
Patrick Rodenbush, a spokesperson for former President Barack Obama, posted on X: “Oh this is very helpful otherwise no one would be able to figure out the oval-shaped room in the West Wing is actually the Oval Office.”
Writer and comedian Akilah Hughes added: “It’s so Trump doesn’t take a wrong turn and end up on the roof again.”
Another X user wrote: “So smart. Many memory care units also label rooms so that those with dementia can remember where they are.”
Another said: “If Joe Biden had done this, Fox News would be running non-stop coverage of how they had to label offices so Biden knew where he was going.”
In response, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said: “President Trump is making the White House beautiful and giving it the glory it deserves. Only the Daily Beast and people with a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome would find a problem with that.”
Trump, who has already paved over the White House Rose Garden and demolished part of the historic East Wing to construct his $300 million ballroom project, has long faced questions about his mental acuity and apparent declining health.
Trump underwent a physical in October, just months after his previous annual exam, during which he received an MRI and a cognitive test. The White House has not publicly revealed why the 79-year-old needed an MRI scan, which is not typically conducted as part of routine medical evaluation.
Trump has frequently boasted about scoring well on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a screening test for early signs of dementia that often involves drawing a clock showing a specific time and identifying animals.
“Those are very hard—they’re really aptitude tests, I guess, in a certain way, but they’re cognitive tests,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One in late October.
Psychologist Dr. John Gartner has suggested that Trump’s “major deterioration” in language skills—seen in the president’s rambling speeches and forgetting of basic facts—may be a sign of dementia.
“He used to speak with a high level of vocabulary in very polished paragraphs. Now what we see is not only has his vocabulary gone down, but there are times when he’s really unable to complete a thought,” Gartner told Daily Beast podcast host Joanna Coles. “Sometimes he’s unable to complete a word.”
