President Donald Trump was crucified on social media after posting an apparent AI-generated image of a golden eagle attached to the Truman Balcony.

“A Golden Gift to the White House for its 250th Birthday Year!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday, along with a picture of a golden eagle on the South Portico of the White House overlooking the South Lawn.

Trump’s obsession with gold is well documented, but the president has seemingly taken it to the extreme during his second term, most notably in the Oval Office. New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan detailed this obsession in their recent book, “Regime Change,” recounting a story of White House press secretary Karoline Levitt walking in on Trump super-gluing golden embellishments to the Oval Office fireplace mantle.

CNN reported that the eagle image’s metadata indicated it had been created with Google AI, but HuffPost could not independently confirm this. Another indication that the photo was AI-generated: the eagle appeared to only have 11 stars, two short of the traditional 13 used to represent the original 13 colonies.

No other photos of the eagle affixed to the Truman Balcony have surfaced from credible sources since Trump made the post on Monday afternoon. Freelance photographer Andrew Leyden published photos to X after Trump’s post showing the Truman Balcony with no eagle affixed to it.

Critics slammed Trump not only for the tackiness of the supposed decoration but also for the fact that Trump’s post said it was the White House’s “250th Birthday Year.” While it may be the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, construction of the White House was not completed until 1800:

History is full of fragile men who covered everything in gold to look powerful. It never ages well. https://t.co/mXmHLjlelC

From who? And if you are a white house reporter please do not be too scared to ask this https://t.co/Iw6QajbAvO

WHO GAVE TRUMP THIS GIFT??? A foreign country or foreign leader? Trump needs to answer this. We know he loves a good bribe! https://t.co/VRd97hYwiS

We know Trump didn't pay for this. So either the taxpayers bought it or it was a gift from one of his oligarch buddies.It would be nice if the press actually cared about holding this administration accountable half as much as they did the last. https://t.co/XhB49V8P38

Setting aside how fucking tacky this shit looks, why 11 stars?!?11? https://t.co/33n8Dl6yKp

The White House, famously built in 1776. https://t.co/fH9gyKaHoF

It wasn't enough with the gawdy gold in the Oval? Now this ? https://t.co/3SElFP2Iv8

He's discrediting the entire “don't build ugly buildings” movement by being tacky af. https://t.co/vnmnjGAetg

The White House is 226 years old, not 250.Trump is the dumbest president America has ever had and it's not even close. https://t.co/sLrlLruvWk

Look closely, you will see 11 stars surrounding the eagle, is this symbolic of the confederate flag?Yet, another desecration of a federal building. https://t.co/5t3cOD8eas

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