That Trump picture isn't just propaganda boot-licking, it has negative artistic merit. The Mussolini picture can be used as an example of mediocre Cubism, at least.
Speaking of those unscalable fences that are going up, I thought it somewhat ironic that all the members of the crew that I observed putting up a section near the Memorial Bridge were speaking Spanish.
Trump displays all of the behaviors listed in the poll because he is the perfect narcissist. The whole world and his every experience has been filtered through that lens: The only value of anyone or anything is what it does for him, and nothing else matters. "Right and wrong" doesn't mean to him what it does to the rest of us, it means "advantageous to him or not." In the same way "true and false" means "what he wants to be be true and what he does not," there is no standard outside of him. He can't see it any other way, and why "service" makes no sense to him. This is why I chose "selfish" over "evil." Except for those who cross him and therefore deserve punishment, it's not his point to hurt others. Other people simply don't count, and hurting them is not a "thing."
Trump wanting to rename Veterans Day as Victory Day at first sounded to me like another of his dumb, pointless changes. Then it dawned on me that honoring those who served would be meaningless to him, and a waste of a holiday. What matters to him is that we won! America won, and by America, of course, we mean him. A holiday honoring him, now we're talking!
That piece of dreck is ironically a perfect rendering of Trump, laughably amateurish and vulgar. It is an immature 12-year-old boy’s idea of a cool painting. Hanging it in the Portrait Gallery for all to snicker and laugh at, made all the more grotesque for being hung alongside dignified portraits, also would have been a valid choice for the gallery’s director.
The whole nasty affair show’s Trump to be petty and infantile. His thinking that this junky painting is a fine work of art shows his stupidity. And he’s selfish to want a political image of himself hung in the Portrait Gallery. Which one best describes Trump? I pick infantile, because the pettiness, the stupidity, and the selfishness spring from Trump’s arrested development.
As for evil, Trump’s every word and action demonstrate his pure evil. He is a soulless psychopath. I’d also say Trump is a sadistic, sodomistic necrophile, but that’s beating a dead horse. (With thanks to Woody Allen.)
Wow, that is one amazingly shitty painting. A true waste of canvas, pigment, and frame. Shocking that the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery didn't welcome it and display it prominently.
You could have included "All of the above" on your poll which would have received 100% of respondents votes and made it far more accurate. You also forgot to include many of his best qualities such as: Shitty, brainless, disgraceful, criminal, turd-like, odiferous, etc. He is definitely multifaceted.
It is worth noting that Julian Raven has subsequently rejected Trump. From Maura's article:
Despite his eagerness to help the Trump administration to end Sajet’s career at the Portrait Gallery, Raven is not a Trump supporter anymore.
He says he voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, but not in 2024, because of his disapproval of the president’s role in the events of Jan. 6, 2021. At the time, he called for the Portrait Gallery to hang a black cloth over the photograph of Trump the museum had put on display. He publicly called for Trump’s resignation.
The president “disgraced the office of the presidency,” Raven told The Post. “He should have been held to account.” Raven called Trump an “amoral transactional pragmatist,” saying he prays for him and the Trump family.
But, “listen, I’m an artist,” says Raven, chuckling. “I mean, I was hoping my portrait would have received at least some attention, positively.”
If Trump wasn’t president I would say Petty or Selfish. But given that he is the leader of a world power and is bringing all the other qualities to bear in the policies he is trying to enact, I say Evil. Him, Steven Miller, and the others he has gaslighting the American people on a daily basis.
Yes, but even the same action can be more than one. His firing the director of the National Portrait Gallery was evil and stupid (because it was probably illegal and will be reversed), but his reason was petty and infantile.
It's not a question of illegality or reversal. The attempted firing is not being implemented because Trump is not her boss and the Smithsonian is a private institution.
Right. I didn’t mean to imply that he was only one thing in each situation. He’s definitely all of those things all at once, and individually (or more prominently) in certain situations.
Though I can't imagine how you'd discern it, it would be interesting to learn if people who personally have interacted a lot with young children -- parents, family members, preschool teachers, etc. -- were more likely than the general population to describe Trump as "infantile." Over and over, his whiny petulant complaints about "bad people" who are "nasty" and "not nice to me" sound as if he is three years old on a playground! So does his impulse to grab countries that don't belong to him, just because "he" is bigger and wants them.
I keep yearning for some omnipotent Granny to grab him by his ear and march him off to sit alone on a bench until he can apologize to wronged playmates, share his toys, and play cooperatively with others. If not -- off to bed with no supper for you, Buster!
Having been a preschool teacher for many years, I did not choose infantile to describe Trump, though he does remind me of an elementary schooler on the playground who didn't get his way. I did not want to insult all the delightful infants and very young children I have met during my lifetime by calling him infantile. He is in his own category,
The difference is, it is perfectly appropriate to behave in an infantile manner at an infantile age! Concerning real tots, "infantile" is a descriptor, not a slur. A child tries out all sorts of behaviors as he learns the ways of the world and works out how to control what is in her own sphere. Eventually that child prunes away the inappropriate behaviors ... unless the child eternally is allowed to get away with them and thus never grows up emotionally.
But for someone who literally has more power than almost anyone in the world to whine and pout and bully is just pathetic! I would be ashamed to admit to having had anything to do with rearing the overgrown Toddler-in-Chief.
"Over and over, his whiny petulant complaints about 'bad people' who are 'nasty' and 'not nice to me' sound as if he is three years old on a playground!"
I think of Trump as a pathetic buffoon with evil instincts. It takes a multi-billion dollar effort by Fox "News" and the right wing propaganda machine to prop him up and he still manages to come off as a preening idiot. When he fails at one thing (tariffs, Elon Musk, the One Big Beautiful Bill) he drums up a diversion (immigration protests in L.A.). We'll probably be back on Canada and Greenland soon. But his unfailing principles are only doing things that increase his wealth (the open graft) or power (declaring emergencies to impose tariffs, send in troops or pardon contributors). He is predictable.
The title of that "piece of work" alone disqualifies it from being hung in any gallery ( except a rogues gallery). Unafraid of breaking any laws, and unashamed of all the ones he has broken may be true, but that makes him all the more disgraceful., disgusting and unfit for viewing.
Petty x powerful = evil.
💯
That Trump picture isn't just propaganda boot-licking, it has negative artistic merit. The Mussolini picture can be used as an example of mediocre Cubism, at least.
Speaking of those unscalable fences that are going up, I thought it somewhat ironic that all the members of the crew that I observed putting up a section near the Memorial Bridge were speaking Spanish.
A lot of people want to disrupt that mess a la Tianneman Square. This is the only part that could be worthwhile.
Trump displays all of the behaviors listed in the poll because he is the perfect narcissist. The whole world and his every experience has been filtered through that lens: The only value of anyone or anything is what it does for him, and nothing else matters. "Right and wrong" doesn't mean to him what it does to the rest of us, it means "advantageous to him or not." In the same way "true and false" means "what he wants to be be true and what he does not," there is no standard outside of him. He can't see it any other way, and why "service" makes no sense to him. This is why I chose "selfish" over "evil." Except for those who cross him and therefore deserve punishment, it's not his point to hurt others. Other people simply don't count, and hurting them is not a "thing."
This is really well put, Connie.
Trump wanting to rename Veterans Day as Victory Day at first sounded to me like another of his dumb, pointless changes. Then it dawned on me that honoring those who served would be meaningless to him, and a waste of a holiday. What matters to him is that we won! America won, and by America, of course, we mean him. A holiday honoring him, now we're talking!
I chose selfish for similar (but not so coherent) reasons. Every one of those other traits has to defer to its center, which is Trump.
I've seen Velvet Elvis pictures that are more artistic.
To me, this picture takes a way-back seat to Dogs Playing Poker. There isn't even a contest.
That piece of dreck is ironically a perfect rendering of Trump, laughably amateurish and vulgar. It is an immature 12-year-old boy’s idea of a cool painting. Hanging it in the Portrait Gallery for all to snicker and laugh at, made all the more grotesque for being hung alongside dignified portraits, also would have been a valid choice for the gallery’s director.
The whole nasty affair show’s Trump to be petty and infantile. His thinking that this junky painting is a fine work of art shows his stupidity. And he’s selfish to want a political image of himself hung in the Portrait Gallery. Which one best describes Trump? I pick infantile, because the pettiness, the stupidity, and the selfishness spring from Trump’s arrested development.
As for evil, Trump’s every word and action demonstrate his pure evil. He is a soulless psychopath. I’d also say Trump is a sadistic, sodomistic necrophile, but that’s beating a dead horse. (With thanks to Woody Allen.)
Does the portrait gallery contain only portraits of dead people? If so, tell Trump to hurry up and die and they'll add his portrait.
I saw the Obama portraits there so, no.
Wow, that is one amazingly shitty painting. A true waste of canvas, pigment, and frame. Shocking that the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery didn't welcome it and display it prominently.
You could have included "All of the above" on your poll which would have received 100% of respondents votes and made it far more accurate. You also forgot to include many of his best qualities such as: Shitty, brainless, disgraceful, criminal, turd-like, odiferous, etc. He is definitely multifaceted.
It is worth noting that Julian Raven has subsequently rejected Trump. From Maura's article:
Despite his eagerness to help the Trump administration to end Sajet’s career at the Portrait Gallery, Raven is not a Trump supporter anymore.
He says he voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, but not in 2024, because of his disapproval of the president’s role in the events of Jan. 6, 2021. At the time, he called for the Portrait Gallery to hang a black cloth over the photograph of Trump the museum had put on display. He publicly called for Trump’s resignation.
The president “disgraced the office of the presidency,” Raven told The Post. “He should have been held to account.” Raven called Trump an “amoral transactional pragmatist,” saying he prays for him and the Trump family.
But, “listen, I’m an artist,” says Raven, chuckling. “I mean, I was hoping my portrait would have received at least some attention, positively.”
If Trump wasn’t president I would say Petty or Selfish. But given that he is the leader of a world power and is bringing all the other qualities to bear in the policies he is trying to enact, I say Evil. Him, Steven Miller, and the others he has gaslighting the American people on a daily basis.
No wrong answers, for sure! Could likely pick one at any given moment of the day….
You've made me wish I'd given more thought to my choice. thankfully we won't be graded, and there are no wrong answers since they all describe him.
Really impossible to choose just one. He’s is all of those things. It just depends on the situation as to which one is more applicable.
Yes, but even the same action can be more than one. His firing the director of the National Portrait Gallery was evil and stupid (because it was probably illegal and will be reversed), but his reason was petty and infantile.
It's not a question of illegality or reversal. The attempted firing is not being implemented because Trump is not her boss and the Smithsonian is a private institution.
And she’s still showing up for work every day.
Right. I didn’t mean to imply that he was only one thing in each situation. He’s definitely all of those things all at once, and individually (or more prominently) in certain situations.
I’ve seen velvet Dogs Playing Poker prints that look better than that trump finger painting.
Though I can't imagine how you'd discern it, it would be interesting to learn if people who personally have interacted a lot with young children -- parents, family members, preschool teachers, etc. -- were more likely than the general population to describe Trump as "infantile." Over and over, his whiny petulant complaints about "bad people" who are "nasty" and "not nice to me" sound as if he is three years old on a playground! So does his impulse to grab countries that don't belong to him, just because "he" is bigger and wants them.
I keep yearning for some omnipotent Granny to grab him by his ear and march him off to sit alone on a bench until he can apologize to wronged playmates, share his toys, and play cooperatively with others. If not -- off to bed with no supper for you, Buster!
Having been a preschool teacher for many years, I did not choose infantile to describe Trump, though he does remind me of an elementary schooler on the playground who didn't get his way. I did not want to insult all the delightful infants and very young children I have met during my lifetime by calling him infantile. He is in his own category,
The difference is, it is perfectly appropriate to behave in an infantile manner at an infantile age! Concerning real tots, "infantile" is a descriptor, not a slur. A child tries out all sorts of behaviors as he learns the ways of the world and works out how to control what is in her own sphere. Eventually that child prunes away the inappropriate behaviors ... unless the child eternally is allowed to get away with them and thus never grows up emotionally.
But for someone who literally has more power than almost anyone in the world to whine and pout and bully is just pathetic! I would be ashamed to admit to having had anything to do with rearing the overgrown Toddler-in-Chief.
Exactly!
"Over and over, his whiny petulant complaints about 'bad people' who are 'nasty' and 'not nice to me' sound as if he is three years old on a playground!"
Exactly why I voted "infantile."
I think of Trump as a pathetic buffoon with evil instincts. It takes a multi-billion dollar effort by Fox "News" and the right wing propaganda machine to prop him up and he still manages to come off as a preening idiot. When he fails at one thing (tariffs, Elon Musk, the One Big Beautiful Bill) he drums up a diversion (immigration protests in L.A.). We'll probably be back on Canada and Greenland soon. But his unfailing principles are only doing things that increase his wealth (the open graft) or power (declaring emergencies to impose tariffs, send in troops or pardon contributors). He is predictable.
I decided it was time to go with "evil." He's hurting people for his own amusement.
No write-ins allowed? I would have added sociopathic.
That sorta fits under evil, person without a conscience who only acts for his own benefit while recklessly hurting others.
The title of that "piece of work" alone disqualifies it from being hung in any gallery ( except a rogues gallery). Unafraid of breaking any laws, and unashamed of all the ones he has broken may be true, but that makes him all the more disgraceful., disgusting and unfit for viewing.