Kamal Ghorui
TOI Correspondent from Washington: In a city where monuments are usually carved in stone or cast in bronze, a new installation has boldly gone where no presidential tribute has gone before: into the toilet. Yes, a 10-foot golden toilet commode —titled with regal restraint “A Throne Fit for a King”—has appeared on the National Mall, courtesy of the guerrilla art collective known only as Secret Handshake. It is, according to its snarky creators, a tribute to Trump’s priorities. The sculpture satirizes the realtor-turned-President’s much-discussed White House renovations—particularly his decision to renovate the Lincoln bathroom and build a ballroom while the nation is wrestling with inflation and war.A plaque at the site helpfully explains the artistic vision, praising Trump as a “visionary who looked down, saw a problem, and painted it gold.” If the golden throne feels like a punchline, it’s only the latest in what has become a full-blown comedic universe of Trump satire. Earlier this month, Secret Handshake unveiled a towering sculpture depicting Trump and the late Jeffrey Epstein reenacting the iconic ship bow scene from the movie Titanic.Dubbed “King of the World,” the piece cast Trump in the Leonardo DiCaprio role—arms outstretched, wind in his trademark hair—while Epstein played his Kate Winslet counterpart. Before that came “Best Friends Forever,” a statue of Trump and Epstein skipping hand-in-hand like overgrown toddlers at a playdate.Taken together, the installations reveal something larger than any single sculpture: the meme-fication of a President who is the butt of jokes which are now turning into a joke of butts. He is, depending on whom you ask, either a misunderstood genius of branding or a walking meme template with a spray tan. His critics see him as the ultimate satirical muse—a man whose real-life pronouncements often sound like parody, requiring artists only to nudge reality a few inches further into absurdity.Indeed, the internet has embraced this ethos with gusto. Trump appears daily as everything from a Roman emperor to a fast-food mascot to a sentient gold-plated bathroom fixture. The potty installation also includes rolls of toilet paper branded with Secret Handshake’s name—because in modern political discourse, even the punchlines come with merch.Reactions to the artworks have been predictably polarized. Both Trump critics and his supporters snap selfies on it for different reasons. Critics applaud the installations as sharp political commentary and a triumph of free expression. Supporters meanwhile assert that he triggers the libs so hard they spend millions on golden toilets just to own him. Devoted to his bottom.line, some are even selling bootleg T-shirts featuring the toilet with the slogan “Even His Crap Is Classy.”
