US President Donald Trump was lambasted on social media after a photo in a White House handout showed him working during the government shutdown.

Online commenters pointed to Trump's stiff posture and empty desk.

Trump's desk has previously been busier, but his workspace lacks the family photos that previous presidents often showcased.



Your desk can shine a light on some of your work habits and personality traits.

So it's not surprising that a recent photo of US President Donald Trump spawned several reactions on social media.

The photo, in a White House handout, shows Trump sitting at the Oval Office's Resolute Desk, the surface of which is mostly clear, aside from a phone. Trump is leaning forward in his chair, apparently listening to a phone call, while wearing a white "Make America Great Again" hat.

Some Twitter users speculated about whether the president was getting much done at all, pointing to his stiff posture and empty desk.

Honor Sachs, a history professor at Western Carolina University who wrote "Home Rule: Households, Manhood, and National Expansion on the Eighteenth-Century Kentucky Frontier," compared Trump's workspace with that of previous presidents, including Barack Obama's tidy workspace and Teddy Roosevelt's paper-strewn desk.

Twitter/drhonor

Business Insider also found some photos of past president's desks — photos that, of course, aren't definitive portrayals of their typical workspaces. It's relatively easy to move objects around and clear things when it comes time to sign a bill or pose for a photo op.

But it's clear that Trump's White House workplace setup lacks one element that past presidents have prominently featured: family photographs.

Here's a look at some of the desks of previous US presidents.