Washington:
US President Donald Trump lashed out at “radical left” Colorado Governor Jared Polis on Sunday, accusing him of displaying a “purposefully distorted” and “truly worst” portrait of him in the state Capitol.
“Jared should be ashamed of himself,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post blaming the Democratic governor.
The painting was actually not commissioned by Governor Polis – it was funded and installed through a 2019 effort led by a Republican state senator.
“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 said.
Trump compared his portrait to former President Barack Obama’s, which he said looked “wonderful.”
“But the one on me is truly the worst. [The artist Sarah Boardman] must have lost her talent as she got older,” he wrote.
He added that many Colorado residents had reached out to him in anger over the portrait. “I would much prefer not having a picture than having this one,” Trump wrote. “I am speaking on their behalf to the Radical Left Governor, Jared Polis, who is extremely weak on crime … to take it down.”
The Colorado Governor’s Office responded to Trump’s post with a statement to FOX31, saying he was “surprised” at the former president’s interest in the Capitol’s artwork.
“Gov Polis was surprised to learn the President of the United States is an aficionado of our Colorado State Capitol and its artwork,” the statement, in part, read.
Despite Trump’s claim that Polis was responsible for the painting, its funding and installation were spearheaded by a Republican state senator in 2019. The portrait was part of an ongoing effort to include all US presidents in the Capitol’s gallery, a process that typically takes years. For instance, former president Obama’s portrait, despite being fully funded within his first year in office, took more than three years to be installed.
Others who attended its unveiling in 2019 had a different view. Trump supporter Jerry Grotkier, who travelled from Colorado Springs for the ceremony, praised the painting at the time. “I think it does him great justice. I’ve seen unattractive portraits of him with a big, fat chin and whatever. He’s the Energizer Bunny that we’ve all been waiting for,” he told The Associated Press.