DENVER: A painting of Donald Trump hanging with other presidential portraits at the Colorado state Capitol will be taken down after Trump claimed that his was “purposefully distorted,” according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.
House Democrats said in a statement that the oil painting would be taken down at the request of Republican leaders in the Legislature. Colorado Republicans raised more than $10,000 through a GoFundMe account to commission the oil painting, which was unveiled in 2019.
Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, a Republican, said that he requested for Trump’s portrait to be taken down and replaced by one “that depicts his contemporary likeness.”
“If the GOP wants to spend time and money on which portrait of Trump hangs in the Capitol, then that’s up to them,” the Democrats said.
The portrait was installed alongside other paintings of US presidents. Before the installation, a prankster placed a picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin near the spot intended for Trump.
Initially, people objected to artist Sarah Boardman’s depiction of Trump as “nonconfrontational” and “thoughtful” in the portrait, according to an interview with Colorado Times Recorder from the time.
But in a Sunday night post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he would prefer no picture at all over the one that hangs in the Colorado Capitol. The Republican lauded a nearby portrait of former President Barack Obama – also by Boardman – saying “he looks wonderful.”
“Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado, in the state Capitol, put up by the Governor, along with all other Presidents, was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before,” Trump wrote.
The portraits are not the purview of the Colorado governor’s office but the Colorado Building Advisory Committee. The ones up to and including President Jimmy Carter were donated as a collection. The others were donated by political parties or, more recently, paid for by outside fundraising.
The Legislature’s executive committee, made up of both Democratic and Republican leadership, signed a letter directing the removal of Trump’s portrait. Lundeen, the Republican senator who requested it, noted that Grover Cleveland, whose presidential terms were separated like Trump’s, had a portrait from his second term.
Boardman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. In interviews from the time with The Denver Post, Boardman said it was important that her depictions of both Obama and Trump looked apolitical.
“There will always be dissent, so pleasing one group will always inflame another. I consider a neutrally thoughtful, and nonconfrontational, portrait allows everyone to reach their own conclusions in their own time,” Boardman told the Colorado Times Recorder in 2019.
Trump’s Sunday night comments had prompted a steady stream of visitors to pose for photos with the painting before the announcement that it would be taken down.
Aaron Howe, visiting from Wyoming on Monday, stood in front of Trump’s portrait, looking down at photos of the president on his phone, then back up at the portrait.
“Honestly he looks a little chubby,” said Howe of the portrait, but “better than I could do.”
“I don’t know anything about the artist,” said Howe, who voted for Trump. “It could be taken one way or the other.”
Kaylee Williamson, an 18-year-old Trump supporter from Arkansas, got a photo with the portrait.
“I think it looks like him. I guess he’s smoother than all the other ones,” she said. “I think it’s fine.”
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Trump’s portrait to be taken down at Colorado Capitol after president claimed it was ‘distorted’
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Trump’s portrait to be taken down at Colorado Capitol after president claimed it was ‘distorted’
- Trump’s Sunday night comments had prompted a steady stream of visitors to pose for photos with the painting before the announcement that it would be taken down
Japanese women MPs want more seats, the porcelain kind
TOKYO: Nearly 60 women lawmakers in Japan, including Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, have submitted a petition calling for more toilets in the parliament building to match their improved representation.
Although the number of women politicians rose at the last election — and despite Takaichi becoming the first female prime minister in October — Japanese politics remains massively male-dominated.
This is reflected by there being only one lavatory containing two cubicles for the lower house’s 73 women to use near the Diet’s main plenary session hall in central Tokyo.
“Before plenary sessions start, truly so many women lawmakers have to form long queues in front of the restroom,” said Yasuko Komiyama from the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party.
She was speaking after submitting the cross-party petition signed by 58 women to Yasukazu Hamada, the chair of the lower house committee on rules and administration, earlier this month.
The Diet building was finished in 1936, nearly a decade before women got the vote in December 1945 following Japan’s defeat in World War II.
The entire lower house building has 12 men’s toilets with 67 stalls and nine women’s facilities with a total of 22 cubicles, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.
Gender-rigid Japan ranked 118 out of 148 this year in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report. Women are also grossly under-represented in business and the media.
In elections, women candidates say that they often have to deal with sexist jibes, including being told that they should be at home looking after children.
Currently, 72 of 465 lower house lawmakers are women, up from 45 in the previous parliament, as are 74 of the 248 upper house members.
The government’s stated target is to have women occupy at least 30 percent of the legislative seats.
Takaichi, an admirer of former British premier Margaret Thatcher, said before becoming premier that she wanted “Nordic” levels of gender balance in her cabinet.
But, in the end, she appointed just two other women to her 19-strong cabinet.
Takaichi, 64, has said she hopes to raise awareness about women’s health struggles and has spoken candidly about her own experience with menopause.
But she is still seen as socially conservative.
She opposes revising a 19th-century law requiring married couples to share the same surname, and wants the imperial family to retain male-only succession.
The increasing demand for female loos can be seen as a sign of progress for Japan although it also reflects the nation’s failure to achieve gender equality, Komiyama said.
“In a way, this symbolizes how the number of female lawmakers has increased,” Komiyama told reporters, according to her party’s website, adding that she hoped for more equality in other areas of life.
Although the number of women politicians rose at the last election — and despite Takaichi becoming the first female prime minister in October — Japanese politics remains massively male-dominated.
This is reflected by there being only one lavatory containing two cubicles for the lower house’s 73 women to use near the Diet’s main plenary session hall in central Tokyo.
“Before plenary sessions start, truly so many women lawmakers have to form long queues in front of the restroom,” said Yasuko Komiyama from the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party.
She was speaking after submitting the cross-party petition signed by 58 women to Yasukazu Hamada, the chair of the lower house committee on rules and administration, earlier this month.
The Diet building was finished in 1936, nearly a decade before women got the vote in December 1945 following Japan’s defeat in World War II.
The entire lower house building has 12 men’s toilets with 67 stalls and nine women’s facilities with a total of 22 cubicles, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.
Gender-rigid Japan ranked 118 out of 148 this year in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report. Women are also grossly under-represented in business and the media.
In elections, women candidates say that they often have to deal with sexist jibes, including being told that they should be at home looking after children.
Currently, 72 of 465 lower house lawmakers are women, up from 45 in the previous parliament, as are 74 of the 248 upper house members.
The government’s stated target is to have women occupy at least 30 percent of the legislative seats.
Takaichi, an admirer of former British premier Margaret Thatcher, said before becoming premier that she wanted “Nordic” levels of gender balance in her cabinet.
But, in the end, she appointed just two other women to her 19-strong cabinet.
Takaichi, 64, has said she hopes to raise awareness about women’s health struggles and has spoken candidly about her own experience with menopause.
But she is still seen as socially conservative.
She opposes revising a 19th-century law requiring married couples to share the same surname, and wants the imperial family to retain male-only succession.
The increasing demand for female loos can be seen as a sign of progress for Japan although it also reflects the nation’s failure to achieve gender equality, Komiyama said.
“In a way, this symbolizes how the number of female lawmakers has increased,” Komiyama told reporters, according to her party’s website, adding that she hoped for more equality in other areas of life.
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