The anti-Trump newspapers find so many Trump scandals you can't actually tell if some of these things are a scandal. On the front of Monday's Style Section, The Washington Post reported thje president has added a statue of Thomas Jefferson to the Rose Garden. Scandalous? Well, The Post found an art expert to suggest this Jefferson thing reminds them of North Korean communist dictators. Whaaaaat?
The byline on the story is Dan Diamond, White House reporter, and Olivia George, who's "a National Political Reporter focused on political violence and domestic extremism." So a Jefferson statue is for Domestic Extremists with a violent streak? The Post typically employed anonymous sources:
President Trump installed a statue of Thomas Jefferson in the Rose Garden last week, according to people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the yet-to-be-announced move — continuing Trump’s effort to remake the White House and Washington. https://t.co/rqNWASt145
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 20, 2026
Diamond and George explained: "The bronze, life-size statue depicts the nation’s third president seated with a draft of the Declaration of Independence. It was sculpted by George Lundeen, who told The Washington Post that he received a congratulatory call from Trump this month."
They noted there are now five statues there, three of them on loan from "conservative" collector Harlan Crow, last starring in a Clarence Thomas travel scandal from the liberals at ProPublica.
The Post quoted Trump appointee Rodney Mims Cook: “I think he’s spot-on after the billions in Patrimony we destroyed after George Floyd died,” referring to damage done to monuments during the riotous post-Floyd protests.
Then they turned to a very bitter critic:
“All told, the statues dating to his second term are of negligible artistic value,” Maxwell Anderson, the former president of the Association of Art Museum Directors, wrote in an email. Anderson also drew comparisons between Trump’s preferences and what he said were similar practices by dictators who led North Korea and the Soviet Union.
“President Trump’s embrace of an official classicizing style in art and architecture finds its closest equivalent in authoritarian regimes,” Anderson wrote.
This last line was highlighted in bold italic type in the newspaper. How a statue of Jefferson inspires thoughts of Kim Jong-Il is anyone's guess.
Then they reported on how Trump dared to promote statues of Founding Father Caesar Rodney (an “enslaver”) and of Christopher Columbus:
Two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations said Trump — who has faced his own share of protests — has in the past privately said he identified with figures such as Columbus, who was hailed for centuries as a great explorer before his role in colonization and enslavement made him controversial.
Just for their own fun, the Posties recalled: "Several satiric statues have appeared around Washington mocking Trump before being swiftly removed." They've promoted every satirical sculptural attack on Trump.
