• wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
    0·
    2 months ago

    Replacing a historical stone monument that could have stood for centuries with cheap, tacky brass that will corrode in a few decades without maintenance?

    So much winning. Dude doesn’t understand how monuments work.

  • RidderSport@feddit.org
    0·
    2 months ago

    That looks like it’s made by that sculptor that made the bust of Ronaldo. Holy hell of tackiness, like was that statue ever gold-plated?

  • Enkrod@feddit.org
    0·
    2 months ago

    I know gold is gaudy and it looks… plasticy somehow, entirely fake, just like Trump.

    But when those statues were built, they were made of bronze and then fire-gilded.

    This is how they looked in 2008:

    The statues were actually due for a re-gilding… but I think it should not have been done in gold leaf! Much too shiny. But making them golden was not Trumps idea. And Obama had absolutely nothing to do with these statues.

    I am far more concerned about how this shitposter-administration announced the work:

    Interior secretary Doug Burgum had recently ordered the regilding of the statues as part of the department’s “auramaxxing [of] Washington, D.C. ahead of America’s 250th birthday”.

    And that the no-bid contract (so you know it’s corruption) balooned over budget from 2.4 to 5.1 million dollar.

    • MrMakabar@slrpnk.netEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      It is a generally accepted show of wealth, which is a big part of his brand. Decent countries do not tend to do that. For public projects there are creative ways of making something look good, but you need creative artists for that. The issue is that artists very often struggle for a bit, which means they have some tendency to be critical of asshole governments. So dictators tend to fall back to copying old art with more gold and in bigger. Some also do new foreign artists in big.

      For private style it is beneficial to be seen as being rich in a corrupt dictatorship. As in people believe that a rich person has contacts with the right people, which can make their life miserable. That is why they might not ask for a bribe or similar.

        • Enkrod@feddit.org
          0·
          2 months ago

          I do not understand this comment.

          Are you saying decent countries gilt everything as a show of wealth?

          • glimse@lemmy.world
            0·
            2 months ago

            I’m saying it’s only some wealthy people who are into it and they exist everywhere, it’s not a US thing.

            Plus…historically, plenty of countries did exactly that. Famously. Statues, furniture, rooms. It’s not like Trump is the originator

            If anywhere could claim it as their aesthetic nowadays, it’d be the UAE.

      • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
        0·
        2 months ago

        It’s not a very good show of wealth since it’s not even real gold. Just brass, or gold-plated nickel.

        The size is a dead giveaway. Real gold tends to have daintier appearance because less is more. No one would waste 24k gold on something so unseemly.

        This is beyond ostentatious. Gaudiness is tacky. Real wealth can afford better taste.

        Trump is the cheapest rich person I’ve ever seen.

  • DupaCycki@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 months ago

    He may be the worst one so far, but if you genuinely respect any US president - you have a serious problem.