The Guardian, an English daily, asks the same question this column asks in its headline, but for different reasons. My views in a moment. First, it’s the Brit’s turn. They report that while the bust of Churchill by Jacob Epstein came to Trump with “great fanfare” as an emblem of a special tie between Prime Minister Theresa May’s England and the president’s America, it carries “a subversive secret” - something that Epstein loved and Trump does not - all that is “radical, humane and liberal.”
The Frankenstein monster
Epstein was the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland and viewed Churchill, the Brits’ leader during WWII, as a hero for aiding in shutting down the death camps.
In contrast, the Guadian pointed out that Trump couldn’t bring himself to mention Jewish suffering in a recent statement about the Holocaust. The newspaper also cited other Epstein works besides the bust of Churchill that would be alien to Trump, like the robotic-looking “The Rock Drill,” which the sculptor considered a metaphor for the growing inhumanity in the world, the “terrible Frankenstein monster that we have made ourselves into.” Another Epstein sculpture cited goes to Trump’s reputation as a sexual predator - “Adam” - a large pink gorilla-like figure with an outsized phallus posed in a sort of mindless frenzy that critics have called “barbaric.”
Man’s inhumanity
My reason for why Churcill is out of place in Trump’s office starts with heroes.
He doesn’t believe in them. When the Times of London asked him to name his, he said that he didn’t have any, that “the concept of heroes is never great.” Where does that leave Churchill? British historian Max Hastings makes clear where: ‘It was Churchill’s inspiration that prevented Brtain from joining the rest of Europe in surrendering to the might of of Nazi Germany.” Is it any wonder that the Guardian would conclude, “Trump doesn’t deserve this bust”?
Stand down, Donald
One may well wonder who Trump will inspire beside his base supporters. Here’s yet another reason why the bust of Churchill is inappropriate for The Oval Office. A recent report from England shows that 1.7 million people petitioned Prime Mininster May to ban the president from speaking before their Parliament, owing to his mindless ban against Muslims.
Mindlessness seems to be an insignia. At a press conference on Feb. 10, an Israeili reporter noted an increase in anti-Semitism in the U.S. and asked Trump if he contributed to that. He answered with stats about his election returns.
