Photo-Illustration: Megan Paetzhold
After more than 50 losses in court and one at the Electoral College, it’s beginning to look like President Trump didn’t win reelection on November 3. But he should take comfort that there are certain achievements legally cast ballots and a functioning democracy can never steal from him. Chief among them: generating the most ridiculous presidential photos of all time. Below, in chronological order from transition to lame duck, are the best of the snaps that captured the Trump administration — and serve as visual proof that the last four years actually took place.
Trump subjects potential Cabinet pick Mitt Romney to his version of the Balmoral Test (dining at Jean-Georges) on November 29, 2016.
Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Trump sequesters himself at the Mar-a-Lago receptionist’s desk to draft his inaugural speech with a Sharpie in January 2017. He continued to try to master this pose in the White House.
Photo: @realDonaldTrump/Twitter
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau considers Trump’s offered hand during a meeting in the Oval Office on February 13, 2017.
Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
A strong wind blows back Trump’s necktie exposing the office tape applied to its underside as he steps off of Air Force One in Orlando, Florida on March 13, 2017.
Photo: Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
Trump has a big-kid moment during Truck Day at the White House on March 23, 2017.
Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, First Lady Melania Trump, and President Trump caress a glowing globe “in a gesture of solidarity” while marking the opening of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology on May 21, 2017 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The president, accompanied by the First Lady and their teenage son, Baron, ignores expert advice and stares directly at the sun without wearing eye protection on a White House balcony during the solar eclipse on August 21, 2017.
Photo: Screencap/CNN
President Trump supervises his juvenile jobs program in the White House Rose Garden on September 15, 2017.
Photo: Carlos Barria/REUTERS
Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) and Philippine strongman Rodrigo Duterte (R) join hands with the contorted Trump during the ASEAN-US 40th Anniversary Commemorative Summit in Manila on November 13, 2017.
Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP
Trump pauses to drink from a bottle of water while touting his foreign-policy accomplishments during his recent trip to Asia in a speech at the White House on November 15, 2017.
Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Wind upends the president’s carefully coiffed combover on February 2, 2018 while he boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.
Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
President Trump remains seated for the delicate dance of diplomacy at the G7 summit on June 9, 2018 in Charlevoix, Canada.
Photo: Jesco Denzel /Bundesregierung via Getty Images
At the Helsinki Summit on July 16, 2018, Vladimir Putin presents Trump with a soccer ball that may or may not have contained a surveillance device.
Photo: Kommersant Photo Agency/Shutterstock
President Trump gestures while monitoring a live broadcast of the U.S. Senate confirmation vote of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on October 6, 2018, while aboard Air Force One.
Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
Future presidential candidate Kanye West shows Trump a rendering of iPlane 1 — a futuristic hydrogen-powered plane he wants Apple to build to replace Air Force One — during a meeting in the Oval Office on October 11, 2018.
Photo: Pool/Getty Images
Trump lectures Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi about border security, as Mike Pence looks on, during a December 11, 2018 meeting in the Oval Office — less than two weeks before Trump ordered what became the longest and most pointless government shutdown in U.S. history.
Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Trump welcomes the Clemson Tigers football team to the White House on January 14, 2019 with a McDonalds-catered feast fit for a (burger) king.
Photo: @The White House/Twitter
Trump spots a beautiful flag after walking onstage at CPAC 2019 and just starts hugging it. It’s like a magnet, he doesn’t even wait.
Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
President Trump and a furry bespectacled friend impersonating the Easter Bunny welcome guests to the White House Easter Egg Roll on April 22, 2019.
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
As Hurricane Dorian approaches on September 4, 2019, President Trump warns of the threat posed by winds, flooding, storm surge, and — at least for Alabama — Sharpie.
Photo: Tom Brenner/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The about-to-be impeached Trump holds hand-Sharpied talking points during a White House press conference on November 20, 2019 regarding his attempt to pressure the government of Ukraine to launch an investigation into the Biden family.
Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
The president breaks protocol by walking in front of 93-year-old Queen Elizabeth II on December 3, 2019.
Photo: Richard Pohle - WPA Pool/Getty Images
The president’s more-than-natural complexion stands out in the late-day sun as he walks across the South Lawn of the White House on February 7, 2020.
Photo: Joshua Roberts/REUTERS
Dr. Anthony Fauci has a moment as President Trump speaks during a COVID-19 briefing at the White House on March 20, 2020.
Photo: NBC News
President Trump attempts to demonstrate how to hold a Bible during a staged photo op on June 1, 2020 outside the boarded-up St. Johns Episcopal Church near the White House — shortly after his administration ordered federal officers to violently clear the area of protesters demonstrating against police brutality and racism.
Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
The president descends ever-so-carefully down the gradual slope of a long ramp after giving a speech at West Point on June 14, 2020.
Illustration: Screencap/CPSAN
President Trump walks to the White House after returning from an over-promoted yet under-attended indoor campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 20, 2020 — his first rally in months following the coronavirus lockdowns.
Photo: Patrick Semansky/AP/Shutterstock
Donald J. Trump’s face gets as close as it ever will to joining the presidents on Mount Rushmore during an Independence Day celebration on July 3, 2020 in South Dakota.
Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Trump takes a hard-earned break from his war on immigrants to offer free advertising in the Oval Office for a variety of Goya products amid a boycott of the company after its CEO praised the president.
Photo: @realdonaldtrump/Instagram
During a socially distanced Axios interview on August 4, 2020, President Trump shows printed-out charts to reporter Jonathan Swan in what was an ultimately fruitless attempt to convince Swan that the COVID-19 pandemic has not been as deadly in the U.S. as it actually has. Swan’s incredulous reactions to Trump’s claims quickly became a meme.
Photo: Screencap/HBO/Axios
President Trump reaches, apparently in vain, for First Lady Melania Trump’s hand while descending the steps of Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on August 16, 2020.
Photo: Susan Walsh/AP/Shutterstock
An American flag appears as though it has emerged from the depths of President Trump’s unmasked mouth during a campaign rally on September 24, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida.
Photo: Tom Brenner/REUTERS
The COVID-19-infected president shares a tightly enclosed space with Secret Service agents during a drive-by of his supporters outside Walter Reed Medical Center, where Trump had been hospitalized after developing a severe case of the coronavirus.
Photo: @realdonaldtrump/Instagram
The president immediately takes off his face mask moments after returning to the White House from the hospital on October 5, 2020.
Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images
Donald Trump performs his signature dance for supporters at an October 18 campaign rally in Carson City, Nevada, less than three weeks before the 2020 election. Trump’s moves did not help him win reelection, but they did become a minor sensation on the popular social-media platform the president sought to ban.
Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
On Thanksgiving, the outgoing president regales reporters with numerous baseless allegations of voter fraud as part of his ongoing effort to overturn the result of the 2020 election. Trump’s tiny-desk tirade led to #DiaperDon trending on Twitter.
Photo: Kaitlan Collins/Twitter
