Donald Trump Has a Painting Where He’s Surrounded by Laughing Republican Presidents
Why though? Also Honest Abe would not stand for your crap, Donald.
In a 60 Minutes special, the President stood in front of a painting that featured Donald Trump sharing a table with Republican presidents who came before him. The problem? Well, there’s a lot of problems, but the first being that Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln would not be considered Republicans by today’s standards.
This picture reminds me of those pictures where someone painted James Dean hanging out with Marilyn Monroe and the Rat Pack. Or, better yet, those poker games where dogs are smoking cigars and having a drink.
Having fanart in your home is fine and dandy and that is, essentially, what this painting is? However, considering the recipient of this art, let’s take a closer look.
The only real accuracy of association comes from Trump’s close proximity to Richard Nixon in the painting. Ironically enough, they placed him right next to Nixon, and Trump is almost smiling at him as if he looks up to the man. Perhaps another accuracy is that these presidents would indeed be laughing in such a scene—not not with Trump, but at him.
One other revelation from tonight’s @LesleyRStahl interview with @POTUS is ‘The Republican Club’ portrait by cowboy painter Andy Thomas is on a wall in the @WhiteHouse. https://t.co/KZZy60RQBw pic.twitter.com/AbCdDHFjHB
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) October 15, 2018
The portrait isn’t the only thing that has people talking. Many are focusing on what Trump had around that office. Which was a jar of red and pink Starbursts because when you’re president, apparently you get to make wild demands.
I’ll give him this: a jar of just the pink and red starbursts is probably one of the first things I ask for if I’m president pic.twitter.com/tVY240c8xZ
— Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) October 15, 2018
To be honest, I’d ask for all green M&Ms, but still, this is what we’ve come to. Our president is so egotistical that he hung a portrait on the wall of the White House that shows him sharing a drink with presidents who do not deserve to be in association with Trump. While I do not agree with a great majority of their political stances and motives, these were still presidents who were intelligent and would not have spent their time tweeting insults at the “fake news” and mocking sexual assault survivors.
Trump’s high-profile fanart reflects back on what Trump wants out of this presidency: validation. It isn’t about doing a thankless job, it is about going down in history as ‘the best.’ From the first day—when Trump’s press secretary insisted that the inauguration crowd “was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe,” despite all evidence to the contrary—Trump has been obsessed with self-aggrandizement and little else.
I’ve got a counter hot take on the Trump portrait. It’s good. A portrait should reveal something about a subject, and with Trump’s approval of this print, with old presidents in thrall to him, it reveals Trump craving the respectability and status he doesn’t have. pic.twitter.com/DEeM8Ke66w
— Rob Manuel (@robmanuel) October 15, 2018
Maybe we should take the painting down and then take it out back and burn this monstrosity. If it must remain hanging in the White House, let us hope that Abraham Lincoln rises from the dead and comes after Trump for trying to associate himself with Lincoln. Especially following the recent comments Trump made on his meandering, convoluted way to paying homage to Ulysses S. Grant. Quoth the president:
Robert E. Lee was a great general. And Abraham Lincoln developed a phobia. He couldn’t beat Robert E. Lee.
Interestingly, in Trump’s fanart, Lincoln is faced away, so that the viewer can’t see his face. Maybe the artist knew it was a step too far to depict Abraham Lincoln laughing and palling around with Donald Trump.
We can imagine what Lincoln’s face might look like gazing upon Trump, and he isn’t smiling.
(image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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