A giant inflatable “Trump rat” set for display a stone’s throw from the White House inspired an entire article from The Washington Post Tuesday.
“[S]tanding 15 feet tall and puffed out by hot air, is Trump Rat,” writes Michael Cavna, in a game-changing piece at The Washington Post. “There’s the tangerine-tinted skin. The buttercream half-bouffante. The long red tie. Everything looks like standard-issue Trump caricature — till you get to the teeth.”
It’s not hard to imagine the uproar a giant, inflatable Dumbo caricature of former President Barack Obama would create. And just think of the uproar if The Post wrote a lighthearted take of the color of the skin or the puff of his hair. It’s a clear double standard even through Cavna’s playful tone throughout the article.
But no one should worry that this rat will look like those cheaper versions “that unions bring to protests.” “This Trump rat was custom made,” the inflatable rat’s creator, John Post Lee, said in the soft-hitting interview. Lee describes himself as a political “humanist,” which is English for unequivocally liberal.
Cavna notes that Lee was “moved… to do something meaningful, and also something cathartic to help myself.” He began his masterpiece shortly after the election, he says– “probably, when my Ambien prescription ran out.”
“Trump was no more than a sleazy, mean-spirited real estate developer that we were all wise [to] . … He represented a vulgar, tawdry opulence, stylewise — the-Gilded Age dictator-in-exile eclectic modernism” quipped Lee, a New Yorker of 35 years and familiar with Trump since the 1980s.
The inflatable rat made its debut outside Trump tower in New York. Since then, the ACLU put him in touch with the National Park Service (funded by American taxpayers), which granted Lee permission to inflate the giant effigy just under a mile from the White House at Dupont Circle.
No need to worry, however: This Trump rat inflatable, Lee says, “is not intended to be a symbol of anger or hate, like some inflatable effigy.” The Trump rat merely “arrives as tall satirical commentary” for whom Lee refers to as “‘the ridiculer in chief’.”
Lee insists that his artistic exegesis is not about partisanship, “but about decency.”
So how long will this expression of non-hate, but mere satirical commentary enlighten all of us with its presence?
“As long as Trump is in office,” Lee says, “Trump Rat lives.”
Follow Will Ricciardella on Twitter and Facebook
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.