In May 2025, social media users — on platforms Instagram (archived), Threads (archived), Facebook (archived) and Reddit (archived) — posted pictures of giant banners displaying the faces of President Donald Trump and former President Abraham Lincoln hanging on the U.S. Department of Agriculture building in Washington, D.C.
A manipulated version of the image appeared to show Lincoln — who founded the agency — flipping Trump off; one post (archived) of this image received more than 2.8 million views, as of this writing.
While the image of Lincoln flipping Trump off is fake, it is true that the U.S. government hung the two banners on the USDA building.
In a statement to Snopes, the USDA confirmed the Trump banner was real. A spokesperson wrote via email:
USDA has much to remember in the coming months: the 163rd anniversary of the Department's founding on May 15th, the sacrifice of our nation's fallen on Memorial Day on May 26th, the 248th anniversary of the adoption of Old Glory on Flag Day on June 14th, and the 249th anniversary of the ratification of the Declaration of Independence on the Fourth of July. USDA is the only federal agency located on the National Mall. The banners on the building's façade observe these moments in American history and acknowledge the vision and leadership of USDA's founder, Abraham Lincoln, and the best advocate of America's farmers and ranchers, President Trump.
Several angles of the building are publicly viewable on Getty Images using the keywords "USDA building 2025."
In addition, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins posted several images and a video of the banners, official USDA social media accounts posted the image and other sources independently captured similar images. Therefore, we rate this claim true.
On May 14, Rollins posted several images on her X account showing workers putting the two banners in place. She wrote (archived): "163 years after Lincoln founded @USDA, President Trump's bold vision is ushering in a Golden Age for our farmers."
A day later, she posted an image of both banners draped over the USDA building, writing, "Happy 163rd birthday to the USDA!" Lincoln founded the department on May 15, 1862, according to the official USDA site.
In a joint post by both Rollins and the official USDA Instagram account, a video also briefly displayed an image of the banners on the building. "This isn't just a milestone — it's a rebirth," the post read.
Other sources, including D.C. TV station WUSA, independently verified the existence of the banners. "We sent one of our photojournalists to investigate a Reddit post showing the banner and we saw it for ourselves just a few hours ago," the station reported.
Commenters across social media compared Trump's banner (archived) to the practice of publicly displaying images of dictators by authoritarian regimes throughout history.
(X user @marlene4719)
In sum, the images showing giant banners bearing the faces of Trump and Lincoln on the USDA building in Washington, D.C., were authentic, as confirmed by various news sources and the USDA itself.