Journalist Leslie Stahl’s interview with President Trump on 60 Minutes didn’t yield much information people didn’t already know. However, one seemingly explosive revelation came in the unexpected form of... a painting.
Trump covered a lot of ground in the interview, including the threat of war with North Korea, allegations of Russian and Chinese election meddling, and migrant family separations. However, what really caught people’s attention was a striking portrait hanging in the West Wing, depicting Trump sharing a drink with a number of historical GOP presidents including Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and both Bushes.
Trump did not, however, commission the painting by artist Andy Thomas entitled ‘The Republican Club’. Instead, it was a gift from Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA).
“He was very complimentary,” Thomas said of Trump’s response to the artwork. “He made a comment that he’d seen a lot of paintings of himself and he rarely liked them.”
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Amateur online art critics were more scathing and derisive than complimentary of the painting which shows a smiling Trump enjoying a glass of Diet Coke. Many compared the work to ‘Dogs Playing Poker’, by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge, though most seized the opportunity to deride Trump’s taste.
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