Donald Trump’s critics are enjoying the president’s Sunday night meltdown after he finally saw a portrait of himself that’s been hanging in Colorado’s state capitol building since 2019.
“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,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday night. “I would much prefer not having a picture than having this one.”
Former Republican attorney Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of the liberal news website MeidasTouch Network, wrote on X that Trump was “the most fragile, sensitive snowflake in history.” Another social media account, Republicans Against Trump, called the president “a petty, insecure baby” for alleging, without evidence, that the artist’s rendering of him was “purposefully distorted.”
To Washington Post art critic Sebastian Smee, the painting, by British-born Colorado Springs artist Sarah A. Boardman, is aesthetically below average — even “bad” — as Trump said. “It’s bland, wooden, slick and lifeless,” Smee said.
But Smee said the portrait still offers “a decent resemblance” of the 45th and 47th president, even if it’s not photorealistic in its attention to precision or accuracy.
Smee acknowledged that the portrait makes Trump look “jowly.” But does that mean the image is “distorted?” Again, to Smee, and to many viewers on social media Monday, the portrait offers “a decent resemblance” to the president.
That may be Trump’s problem: The portrait looks too much like him. Trump tried to suggest a political motivation behind not making him look better. He called Colorado’s Democratic governor, Jared Polis, “radically left.”
But Polis didn’t commission the portrait, according to Time magazine. The painting was the idea of Trump’s supporters, including a former Republican state senator who led a crowdfunding effort to raise $10,000 for it. They also chose Boardman to do the work.
Boardman created what she described as a “classical realist” portrait, like the others in the Capitol Rotunda, Time reported. Her painting would be “neutral” and depict Trump as “thoughtful, non-confrontational, not angry, not happy, not tweeting.” The portrait was unveiled at an event hosted by Republicans.
On X, Trump’s critics argued that Trump is angry because the portrait represents him as who he is — and who was in 2019. That is, a man in his 70s who has put on weight, including in his face and chin. Someone else described Trump, in the portrait and in real life, as “doughy.”
“Donald Trump is currently throwing a temper TANTRUM because his face looks too FAT in a portrait. I wish I was joking,” progressive YouTuber Jack Cocchiarella said not so delicately on X.
Trump’s fans shared their ideas of more accurate, artistic renderings of Trump, including one of a more commanding-looking Trump wrapped in an American flag and a notorious meme of the president with a buff boxer’s torso, wearing a heavyweight champion’s belt. But his critics countered that Boardman’s portrait is actually more “flattering” to Trump than he appears in real life.
In his Truth Social post, Trump also revealed what critics say may be his real issue with the portrait. He compared his portrait to one that Broadman did of Barack Obama. The 44th president’s portrait hangs next to Trump’s in the Capitol Rotunda, and Trump said his predecessor looks “wonderful.”
In this portrait, Obama definitely looks younger than Trump and younger than when he left office in 2017. Obama is depicted as slender, handsome and without the gray hair he acquired during his eight years in office. He also appears to be “neutral,” as Boardman might say.
“I think my favorite part of the Trump portrait story is that he said Obama looks great,” one X user said. “Damn right he does.”