Social Media Users Dump on Trump After He ‘Pretends To Be President’ in Strange Ceremony: ‘Weird’

Even though Donald Trump hasn't been inside the White House since he left office more than three years ago, he nonetheless pretended like he was living there this week when he gave a guest a strange key.

As the former president wrapped up a day in court in the Stormy Daniels hush money case, Trump offered the former prime minister of Japan, Taro Aso, a ceremonial key when the two met at Trump Tower in New York, HuffPost reported. Throughout his presidency, Trump enjoyed handing out ceremonial keys, The Washington Post reported. 

The picture of the two posing with the key has gone viral on the internet. "Not sure what gives him the right to do this. Probably Citizen Trump once again pretending to be President," wrote former NBC Universal executive Mike Sington.

"Trump and former Japanese prime minister Taro Aso pose with a ceremonial "key to the White House" on Tuesday. That's yesterday Tuesday, not Tuesday from 1/20/17-1/20/21. If he thinks he has the right to do that, what else is he giving away?" asked another user.

"Very weird that this criminal pretends to be president. It would be far more fitting for him to start giving out honorary keys to his prison cell," a user mocked Trump. "Was this one of the stolen items he refused to return?" another user joked. "Did anyone count the silver and gold at the @WhiteHouse upon his departure? Those are minor lifts compared to Nuclear Secret Documents," another user mocked Trump's classified documents case.

"Perhaps a guy that’s so demented that he thinks he’s still President Shouldn’t be president again," a user ridiculed. "Trump, pretending to be president, gives former PM Taro Aso of Japan, the “key” to the WH. Always the clown," a user took a dig at Trump.

The former White House advisor and son-in-law of the former president, Jared Kushner, said in his 2022 memoir Breaking History that his father-in-law created keys for special visitors, per Newsweek. The phrase "Key to the White House" and the presidential seal were inscribed on them. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who traveled to the United States in 2020 to witness the signing of the Abraham Accords, was among the receivers of the key during President Trump's first term.

"When Trump met with [Netanyahu], he whipped out his signature gift—an oversized bronze 'key to the White House' in a wooden box carved with the presidential seal," Kushner explained in detail in the memoir. "Trump had designed the key himself to give to special guests. "'This is the first key I'm giving to anyone,' [Trump] said. "'Even when I'm not president anymore, you can walk up to the front gate of the White House and present it, and they will let you in.'"