statue in front of the us capitol

[moonshinegnomie]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/06/18/dictator-approved-sculpture-national-mall/?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=wp_homepage

[Bettie]

1. Different story, no paywall...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/eight-foot-tall-dictator-approved-sculpture-appears-on-national-mall/ar-AA1GZaBG

Remember the poop statue? The curly-swirly pile of doo that sat atop a replica of former House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-California) desk? The work of protest art placed on the National Mall last October in mock tribute to the Jan. 6 rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election?

Well, the artists responsible for the political poo plop appear to have struck again. This time with a work called “Dictator Approved,” an 8-foot-tall sculpture showing a gold-painted hand with a distinctive thumbs-up quashing the sea foam green crown of the Statue of Liberty. It sits at the same location on the Mall near Third Street NW as the poop statue did last fall.

The artwork’s creators intended “Dictator Approved” as a rejoinder to the June 14 military parade and authoritarianism, according to a permit issued by the National Park Service. The parade, the creators wrote in the application, “Will feature imagery similar to autocratic, oppressive regime, i.e. N. Korea, Russia, and China, marching through DC.” The purpose of the statue, they continued, is to call attention to “the praising these types of oppressive leaders have given Donald Trump.”

Plaques on the four sides of the artwork’s base include quotes from world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin (“President Trump is a very bright and talented man.”), Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (“The most respected, the most feared person is Donald Trump.”), former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro (“We do have a great deal of shared values. I admire President Trump.”) and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un (“Your Excellency.” A “special” relationship. “The extraordinary courage of President Trump.”).

[Kid Berwyn]

2. A big gold thumb's up trumps liberty.

That is so NAZI. And the bitter truth of the present situation.

Now that is art.

[niyad]

3. KNR

[RainCaster]

4. It needs a TACO

[electric_blue68]

5. Fierce! 👍

[littlemissmartypants]

6. In 1986, I was fortunate enough to be on Governors Island for Liberty Weekend.

Liberty Weekend* was a four-day celebration held to mark the 1984–86 restoration and the centenary of the Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World) in New York City.[1] It began on July 3, 1986, and ended on July 6.

My dad was stationed there, and many extended family members came to New York for the weekend.

There was an abundance of amazing food and music, and there were performances of every imaginable kind. I met lots and lots of celebrities, performers in music, movies and politicians.

French President François Mitterrand was also there. He was one person who I did not meet that weekend. A few years later, I met him face to face, shook his hand, and we spoke briefly in French at the anniversary of the battle at Yorktown in the early 1990s.

But Liberty Weekend was a great experience, an enormous patriotic celebration, and almost overwhelming.

Daddy was even one of the sailors on the Eagle during Operation Sail as part of the sailing of the tall ships in an enormous flotilla.

Henry Kissinger was drunk driving a golf cart around the island, and a very loose perimeter of SS agents was following him around, trying not to get run over.

He drove through my parents' yard and stopped. Because of that, some of my relatives weren't allowed out of the house, and some others of us weren't allowed in, so he delayed our big family luncheon that day.

One of Henry Kissinger's SS agents gave me a Marine One matchbook, which is one of my prized possessions. I had asked him a question, flirting, but he wouldn't answer for good reason. So, he made a bold gesture by giving it to me, and I'll never forget how handsome he was.

I had just graduated from grad school, feeling free as a bird and having fun.

What a great time we had! There are so many wonderful memories!

This statute says things about us as a nation that I never would have believed if anyone had suggested it that weekend.

I am a very proud patriot, and these cretins in this regime are really trying my patience.

I don't believe that I have many years left, maybe ten. I'm trying to "remember the good things," as Daddy used to always say.

I also know that none of us can afford to look away. We are living in dangerous times, and we, the people, are the people we've been looking for.

Thanks so much for sharing this, moonshinegnomie.

❤️

The USCGC Eagle:


A partial picture of the flotilla:


*About Liberty Weekend:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Weekend



About the Eagle:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Eagle_(WIX-327)

[FailureToCommunicate]

7. Great story! Thanks!

[littlemissmartypants]

8. Thank you, FailureToCommunicate. ❤️