If there’s one thing about Donald Trump most people can agree on, it’s this: The man is an expert-level troller. Even on the least troll-y social media site there is, LinkedIn.
This week, he and his team may have taken those rage-bait skills to the next level.
Trump’s face is now the logo of the White House’s official LinkedIn account (opens in new tab), replacing the emblem of the building itself that was used by previous administrations.
And since this is the official account for the institution, not just Trump’s administration, that means former staff for previous presidents now have his mug prominently displayed on their own LinkedIn pages. Among them are speechwriters (opens in new tab), communication directors (opens in new tab), and former second gentleman Doug Emhoff (opens in new tab).
The list also includes President Barack Obama (opens in new tab), whose top career achievement now runs next to an image of the man who championed the falsehood that Obama was not born in the U.S. and, more recently, accused him of treason (opens in new tab) (without evidence).
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Needless to say, former White House staffers aren’t thrilled with the Trumpy new logo on their LinkedIn pages.
“I served as President Obama’s Director of Press Advance, not President Trump’s,” Johanna Maska posted to the platform Wednesday (opens in new tab), tagging LinkedIn leadership. “Can you please enforce your rules and make sure institutions are accurately represented on this platform?”
Former George W. Bush staffer Scott Stanzel agreed, writing that (opens in new tab) “it is [a] misrepresentation that needs to be corrected.”
A LinkedIn spokesperson later told us: “Our policies allow LinkedIn Pages to update logos and photos associated with the account.”
In an email to The Standard Thursday, Maska pointed to the platform's professional community policies (opens in new tab), which prohibits sharing "false or misleading content." She argued current White House violated that policy by "display[ing] a photo of only one such occupant of the White House."
"Donald Trump's picture is not an accurate representation of the institution of the White House," Maska told us. "We all have badges for a short time, access to the White House only at the discretion of the voters, at the whim of the people, even Mr. Trump."
Maska said she has not yet heard back from LinkedIn, though Jeff Weiner, the company's executive chairman, shared a mysterious reply on her post, writing only "WNS AmaurO." That reply was later deleted.
"I mean, at least he saw it," Maska said.