American Idolatry

   
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​AMERICAN IDOLATRY

       While I was scrolling through one of the online news sites yesterday my eye was caught by this  picture of a silly-looking golden Donald Trump statue, which I took to be just another piece of Trump lampoon art,

...akin to countless other ghastly Trump-inspired creations, such as the Trump Baby which floated over London for a while,

...or the Naked Donald Trump statues created by an activist street artist that for a while were popping up on streets in cities around the country.

​    But no. Much to my surprise - and I expect to the surprise of a whole lot of other consumers of internet news - this statue-thing is no mocking satire of a big-headed billionaire former president who is  the avatar of self-serving greed and materialism and who is idolized like a false god by his followers. No, it was created, rather, as a tribute to Donald Trump by its proud artist, a Trump zealot named Tommy Zegan,

...to manifest the greater honor and glory of Donald Trump.

​   The Golden Trump is currently on display as the artistic centerpiece of  this year's meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, the annual Mecca of the Republican Party,

,...that is taking place this weekend in Orlando Florida in a venue with a stage shaped like the Nordic Rune that was displayed on  Nazi uniforms and now shows up on White Supremacist uniforms.

      After its run at the CPAC, the statue will be donated by the artist to the Trump Presidential Library if the Library will have it.
        And how are the attendees at the CPAC reacting to this ugly, garish piece of gold-colored chrome and fiberglass? Are they appalled, offended, enraged to see their beloved leader caricatured with a gigantic shiny head, a fairy wand, caught without his trousers in over-sized screaming American flag shorts and sporting beach-bum flip-flops on his fat feet?
       Hecks, au contraire.  They love their ridiculous-looking Golden Trump,

...have thoroughly embraced it,

...absolutely adore it.

      Now, I can't shake the suspicion that this so-called Trump-loving artist Tommy Zegan might well be a naughty undercover satirist who is taking CPAC and the whole of the Trump-worshipping Republican Nation for a grand ride. But then again, who knows? Maybe Zegan did in fact create his Golden Trump in full sincerity. There's no denying that Donald Trump has proven to bring out the most unthinkable of human persuasions and behaviors.
       Still, one need not be a Biblical scholar to see a certain reference to another famous golden idol that was likewise a big - if temporary - hit in its time.

       I can't help but think that the Republicans ought to drag their Golden Trump to the top of a high cliff and throw it over so that it smashes into a thousand pieces. Except of course, that Golden Trump is made of fiberglass and chrome and so it's a pretty indestructable idol that likely wouldn't be broken even if it were bounced down  the Denali.
       The Republicans are going to spend a long time wandering in the desert.   
​

References​
​https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/27/golden-trump-statue-mexico-cpac