That Painting of Trump Having a Diet Coke With Abraham Lincoln Is Now Hanging in the White House
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Donald Trump liked a painting of him having drinks with Abraham Lincoln, Richard Nixon and Teddy Roosevelt so much that he called the artist on the phone and then put a print of it in the White House.
Called “The Republican Club,” the print of 10 Republican presidents sitting around a table could be seen briefly in the background of Trump’s interview with “60 Minutes” Sunday, and an image of that moment went viral on social media.
oh my god, it's hanging in the white house pic.twitter.com/wrq8eo7Bvx
— Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) October 15, 2018
As all this was playing out, was at his home in Carthage, Mo., watching the Kansas City Chiefs play the New England Patriots on TV while working on a painting of a train robbery in the Old West. (It’s a favorite subject of his: “Lots of horses, lots of action.”)
Thomas’ phone began to ring, as friends reached out to tell him, but he assumed they were just pollsters asking about the Missouri Senate race. Finally, his wife came down to show him on the computer.
“I was ecstatic,” he told TIME afterward. “A lot of times gifts aren’t really hung up, they’re just pushed in a closet somewhere. To find out it’s actually hanging is really a treat.”
It’s unclear how the print made its way into the White House, but Thomas said Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California had told him recently that he’d be showing it to Trump.
Thomas is not a very political person, but he’d done a portrait of Issa a few years ago and the two have kept in touch. But he was surprised two weeks ago when he came in from mowing the lawn and his wife and business partner, Dina, told him that Trump would be calling shortly.
“He basically said, ‘most portraits of me I really don’t like,'” Thomas said. “And he’s right. He’s hard to paint. There’s some bad ones out there.”
As he often does, Trump then asked Thomas how he was doing as president and what his friends and neighbors think about him, as well as how he thinks the heated Senate race between Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill and pro-Trump Republican Josh Hawley will end.
Thomas said he was a bit surprised at that turn in the conversation.
“I’m thinking, ‘I’m a damn artist, what is he asking me about this for?'” he recalled.
As a cowboy painter who , Thomas said it was nice to hear back from one of his subjects directly. He’d once met a cousin of Bill Clinton’s who told him, secondhand, that he liked the portrait, and Richard Nixon’s niece once praised his painting.
But Thomas was proud that Trump had recognized the work he put into one of the toughest parts of the painting: the president’s smile.
He said he’s found that some presidents have a natural smile: Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama. But others, like Trump, have more of a forced campaign smile that doesn’t look right in a painting. He found it particularly hard to get Nixon right the first time he painted him.
To get Trump’s smile, Thomas said he looked at thousands of photos.
“Trump has that one thing where he sticks his chin up and smiles really big, and it’s great for a caricature but not necessarily flattering to him,” he said. “I had to find a photo where it looked like he’s actually heard something funny, so it looks like a genuine smile.”
Tags
Who is online
83 visitors
They left out the fact that they are all laughing at Trump.
When did the GOP claim Teddy Roosevelt as one of their own, despite the fact that he was a progressive who beat Taft(R.) to take up residence at 1600 Penn' Ave.
Who is the woman to the right of Reagan in the background?
Sorry epistte, I have to disagree with you here, Teddy Roosevelt never beat Taft in any election, he supported Taft when Taft ran for president and, Roosevelt was a Republican when the party was progressive.
I was referring to this.
Roosevelt was a progressive would not be possible to be a Republican in the 21st century GOP. He supported universal healthcare.
Un-named, represents any woman that would be able to sit at the table, not yet elected. (but eventually will be)
Sarah Palin would be obvious as the first female GOP VP candidate but I doubt that the GOP would freely admit to that self-immolation festival 10 years later. It doesn't look like Caribou Barbie.
Well, of course he wouldn't be accepted in today's Republican Party but, most Republicans, even the conservative ones, from before Reagan wouldn't be accepted in the party of today, they aren't the "right kind of conservative".
Sara Palin would never become a president, she just don't have the cahones for the job.... (much less the brains)
I personally wouldn't let her clean my cat's litter box, but she was the closest GOP female that came close to being in the White House.
Personally I think Betty or Barb would've made great presidents....
(that would be Betty Ford or Barbra Bush)
I'm not sure how I feel about this. Part of me likes it. Part of me thinks I'm looking at dogs playing poker.
What part of you is embarrassed that Trump hung it in the White House?
I wouldn't hang it in the White House. I'd find some Republican bar in D.C. and let them hang it.
Flea market or roadside.
I actually agree with you.
Dude, I wouldn't hang that in my garage.
Or bathroom.
Looks to me like Ike just told a dirty joke and everyone got the punch line, but Trump....
(of course Ike would never tell a dirty joke in public, and that's the truth of it, he had too much integrity)
It could have been Teddy telling the joke also, that would be much more believable .....
The seeded article omits some interesting things about the artist and the painting:
Yep....
And that would be FDR telling the dirty joke......
And the woman in the background, doesn't look like Hillary. Yes a woman should be at either table, and eventually will be....
LBJ has lost a lot of weight. I didn't even recognize him. Who is the geezer in the grey pinstripes between Slick Willy and JFK?
Woodrow Wilson.
trump just can't help himself. Asking the man what he and his neighbors think of him. He is so self absorbed. A personality disorder.
I will say that the artist is talented. Just not a great subject matter.
I noticed it said it was a print and not the original.
Yes, even though articles claim that it's a "painting" (meaning oil paints). However, prints can be worth tens of thousands of dollars. I own some rare, limited edition prints that are very valuable.
This particular painting and its "Democratic" predecessor are mediocre at best, IMO. Prints for sale as follows:
Yeah, depends on how many were made or in circulation. I have a couple that were signed and numbered. One is like 300 something out of a thousand.
Like I said, the artist is really good. I just don't like either one of them.
Putting people with past, deceased leaders seems very...I can't think of the right word, so I will say narcissistic, which is not the right word since they did not do it themselves.
I could find a use for it.
The top dart got him in his behind.
yep !
Anyone else notice how nearly every Republican other than Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon appear to have their right hand in their pocket? Is it some Illuminati reference or are they all just winking at each other while playing pocket pool?
Party game. The last guy with his hand out of his pocket has to drink.
Painting reminds me of another group portrait of Dogs Playing Poker. (Note what the white dog in front is doing with his left hind leg).
Here's an interesting bit of trivia about this painting and similar ones:
15 Things You Should Know About Dogs Playing Poker
Thanks to Dogs Playing Poker , painter Cassius Marcellus Coolidge (a.k.a. C.M. Coolidge) has earned the dubious distinction of being called "the most famous American artist you’ve never heard of." But while critics might sniff at his contribution to the art world, the history of his greatest works is rich.
1. Dogs Playing Poker is not one painting, but a series.
Coolidge's earliest explorations of dog paintings were made for cigar boxes. Then, in 1903 . . .
Cassius Marcellus Coolidge was the artist, and that was the first in a series he did for Brown & Bigelow a promotional merchandiser.
Coolidge's first painting was "Poker Game" painted in 1894......
The one you posted was titled "A friend in Need" the first in the series for the company.
Did Trump pay for this painting or did he use campaign funds like he has done before?
"I'm not a baby. I'm the president and you're not."
President Donald J Trump.
I hope Trump keeps talking like he did on 60 Minutes last night every day between now and the election. He makes a fool out of himself every time he is interviewed by someone other than Fox. Trump is the living proof of the saying "give him enough rope and he will hang himself". He's still got 21 more days to say stupid things before the elections.
I'm surprised he didn't stick his tongue out when he said this.