The other day, Donald Trump sent a “truth” post to his “Truth Social Media Platform” whining about, of all things, a painted portrait of him that’s been hanging on the wall of the Colorado State Capitol since 2019. Why did this portrait finally catch his attention now?
Here’s what Trump said about the portrait:
“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. The artist also did President Obama, and he looks wonderful, but the one of me is truly the worst. She must have lost her talent as she got older.”
And here is the portrait:
Well, if it looks like a Donald, and it pouts like a Donald, then it’s probably a Donald. And that’s a Donald. The only thing “distorted” about this portrait is the man inside it.
Also, the Governor of Colorado has nothing to do with the painting. It was commissioned by the state’s Republican Party. They chose the artist, and they raised the money and paid her to paint it.
For the past six years, the portrait of Donald has been on the wall in the Capitol Rotunda in Colorado, right next to the portrait of Obama and under a portrait of Bush (Jr.) and Clinton (Bill). It’s part of the “Gallery of Presidents” which features pictures of each of our nation’s presidents — all of them dudes and all but one of ‘em white dudes. Talk about distorted.
Anyway, Donald doesn’t like his picture, and I have a sneaking suspicion why. Two days before Trump tweeted out of the blue about this obscure 6-year-old portrait, his “Middle East Envoy,” Steve Witkoff, went on Tucker Carlson’s internet tv show and, during their extended chat, Witkoff told Tucker how during a recent visit to the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin gifted Witkoff with a portrait of Trump:
“President Putin had commissioned a beautiful portrait of President Trump from the leading Russian artist and actually gave it to me and asked me to take it home to President Trump.”
Trump, with nothing better to do than sit around watching Tucker Carlson’s internet tv show — while his generals and intelligence directors talked about how stupid he is on an unsecured group chat — he likely watched this interview, heard about the portrait, and googled some version of “Trump Putin Portrait” — which would have directed the President to news articles from 2019 about how activists in Colorado had placed a portrait of Putin in front of the empty space on the wall where Trump’s portrait was supposed to be in the Colorado Capitol Rotunda — and that the Putin portrait was then replaced by this “distorted” one of Trump (again, commissioned by the state’s Republican Party). So after Witkoff tells his story to Tucker, Trump googles the details and sees to his horror a perfectly realistic painting of his own face, and loses his mind, demanding that it be removed.
Which brings me to all of you — and the return of our once-beloved “Mike’s Mission” where I would occasionally post on my website a call for all of us to take on some crazy evil the right wing was up to. Back in the day, a university in Arkansas was set to open their theater department’s production of “Angels in America”, a brilliant play by Tony Kushner that drove the Christian Right insane. And sure enough, the bigots of Arkansas had organized a massive protest against the college, demanding that they cancel the production. And that’s exactly what the college did. When I read this, I decided to put out a call that everyone needed to contact the University President to halt this censorship. I included his phone number and email address. Thousands contacted him, his office swamped with calls and letters. Some in the national media picked up the story, and within a few days the University reversed course and allowed the play to open. A sweet little victory. I did more of Mike’s Missions and we had similar victories. It was the early years of the internet and social media and I liked what I saw in terms of how it could be a force for political change.
Today I thought it might be time to bring back the occasional “Mike’s Mission” for some of the smaller crazy things that seem to happen every day now. Things that will take each of us just three minutes of our time to make our voice heard, especially if it’s for people in places like Arkansas where the haters there believe they have free reign to run roughshod over our rights and our supposed American values.
So here is our “Mike’s Mission” for today. In the second half of his tweet, Trump whines:
“I would much prefer not having a picture than having this one, but many people from Colorado have called and written to complain. In fact, they are actually angry about it!”
Trump demands the portrait be taken down. But we cannot leave him as a hole in the wall. He deserves better — some would say, “The Best!”
Trump needs a new portrait, and I know just the people to create one — EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!
I’m calling on all Americans to get out your pastels, your acrylics, your easels, your construction paper, your crayons, your glue-sticks, old toilet-paper rolls, a bag of stale Cheetos, the newspaper from the bottom of your bird cage and your child-safe scissors —whatever artistic tools you have at your disposal, I’d like for each of you to take a few minutes today to create a true and unflinching portrait of Donald Trump (who some say is the maybe the greatest president we’ve ever had, a lot of people are saying it in fact) — and the greatest president deserves the greatest portrait!
I know every single one of you has the skill required to depict Trump as he truly appears, without distortion.
When you are done — send me a photo or scan of your exquisite artwork to:
I will share some of the perfect portraits that you send me in the coming days. I cannot wait to see what you come up with. Here’s one to get you started, from the Substack of Ann Telnaes:
And — look on the bright side — Trump cannot be upset with whatever work of art you create. He, himself, said that the one previously hanging in Colorado was “truly the worst” — and if that’s true (and we have no reason to believe it is not since Trump said it in a “Truth” post), whatever you create will, by definition, be better!
Some might even say that your portraits will “Be Best.”
Go forth and create!
I can’t wait to see and to share how you capture the true essence of this “man.”
Our panel of art judges will choose a number of them and send ‘em on to Trump and the state of Colorado.
In times like these, Art can be a great healer.
P.S. For those if you who think we should be doing something more serious today because the world has gone to hell in a handbasket:
a) It’s important during even our darkest days that we still try to have some fun and to not lose our sense of humor (another great healer); and…
b) “Serious” is what we are doing on April 5th, next Saturday — nationwide protests everywhere to demand an end to the killing of our democracy and the dismantling of our government. All of us must show up! Find a protest near you here: https://www.fiftyfifty.one or https://handsoff2025.com.
In the meantime, send me your best scribbling of what Trump really looks like and I’ll try to get it hung in the Colorado State Capitol!
** In order to have a troll-free, hate-free comments section — and because if there’s one thing I know about my crazy haters, they would rather spend an eternity in hell with Marjorie Taylor Greene than send me $5 if forced to become a paid subscriber — my Comments section here on my Substack is limited to paid subscribers. But, not to worry — anyone can send me their comments, opinions and thoughts by writing to me at mike@michaelmoore.com. I read every one of them, though obviously I can’t respond to all. The solution here is not optimal but it has worked and my Comments section has become a great meeting place for people wanting to discuss the ideas and issues I raise here. There is debate and disagreement, but it is refreshing to have it done with respect and civility, unfettered by the stench of bigotry and Q-anon insanity.
This post has been syndicated from Michael Moore, where it was published under this address.