President Donald Trump has posted what appears to be an AI-generated image of a bald eagle cast in gold and bearing a stars-and-stripes crest fixed to a balcony of the White House.
“A Golden Gift to the White House for its 250th Birthday Year!” the president wrote as he posted the image on Truth Social late Monday.
However the crest features only 11 stars, instead of the 13 traditionally used to represent the original 13 colonies and CNN notes the image’s metadata suggests it was made using Google’s AI tools.
Freelance press photographer Andrew Leyden posted two photographs on X showing the front of the White House shortly after Trump’s post with no such crest in place.
The “gift” post was met with derision on social media, variously describing it as “tacky” and drawing comparisons with Russian iconography.
“Trump’s hired [Vladimir] Putin as his decorator,” playwright Paul Rudnick said on X, likening it to the double-headed eagle appearing on the coat of arms of the Russian Federation.
Former GOP congressman turned Trump critic Adam Kinzinger simply shared the picture the caption “gross” while commentator Jo Carducci branded it as “tacky”.
Others pointed out that 2026 is not actually the 250th birthday of the People’s House. Construction began on the White House on October 13, 1792, 16 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.The Independent has reached out to the White House for comment.
Should the golden eagle actually appear on the balcony, it would be just the latest addition made to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that demonstrate Trump’s famous enthusiasm for the precious metal.
Since returning to the White House last year, the president has made over the Oval Office gold trinkets, including “new gold vermeil figurines on the mantle and medallions on the fireplace, gold eagles on the side tables, gilded Rococo mirrors on the doors”, CNN reported at the time.
Trump was also gifted a replica of the FIFA World Cup trophy, in advance of the U.S. co-hosting the tournament this summer.
More recently, Trump has turned his attention towards “beautifying” other national monuments around Washington, D.C., with the clean-up of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool proving a particularly troubled project.