The president railed against an image he claims was “purposefully distorted,” but was actually commissioned by his own supporters.
President Donald Trump spent part of his Sunday railing against a portrait of himself that’s been hanging in the Colorado State Capitol for nearly six years.
“Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado, in the State Capitol, put up by the Governor, along with all other Presidents, was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before,” he griped on his Truth Social website.
Trump said a portrait of President Barack Obama created by the same artist, Sarah Boardman, “looks wonderful.”
But the president slammed the image of himself as “truly the worst.”
Check it out in this 2019 photo taken after the unveiling:
The president insisted that “many people” have called and written to complain about the image, which he blamed on Gov. Jared Polis (D).
“Jared should be ashamed of himself!” Trump said as he demanded that Polis take the portrait down.
But Polis wasn’t behind the painting, which was commissioned in 2018, before he took office, after a prankster placed a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin in a spot where an image of Trump should have been, but wasn’t.
There was no image of Trump at the time because no money had been raised to commission it.
When that story went viral, Kevin Grantham ― a Republican who was president of the Colorado Senate at the time ― raised more than $10,000 via crowdfunding for the portrait.
At the unveiling in 2019, the artist Boardman said her image was meant to stand the test of time.
“In five, 10, 15, 20 years, he will be another president on the wall who is only historical background and he needs to look neutral,” she said, according to Colorado Public Radio.
She also described her process to the Colorado Times Recorder in an interview conducted as she worked on the piece.
“When I start to paint a portrait, it is the portrait, likeness, and ‘essence’ of the subject which I strive to portray,” she said. “Any personal feelings about any subject are not relevant and are left outside the studio per my training to ‘leave those emotions at the door’.”
Six years later, however, Trump’s emotions appear to be getting the better of him as he railed against the portrait.
The president’s critics mocked him over the meltdown:
Source: Huff Post
