Did people at CPAC worship an idol of President Donald Trump?
That’s the claim on social media after photos of the hilarious image went viral. Memes of a statue created in bobblehead-style and meant to poke a little fun at critics of the former president began circulating on Thursday and ramped up to a fury on Saturday.
Clad in American flag shorts, a blue blazer and sporting his iconic red tie, a golden Trump in flip-flops holds a pocket constitution in one hand and in the other a plastic straw wand with a star on top.
Artist Tommy Zegan is an artist who lives in Mexico. He told Politico Playbook on Saturday that he spent more than six months creating it with some friends. They then drove the statue to CPAC in Florida where it elicited laughs and lots of selfies.
However, some didn’t see the joke in the huge bobblehead.
Social media on the left, often criticized for not having a sense of humor when it comes to conservatives, circulated images of the statue including one of a guy who appeared to be prostrating himself before it. Some posters said he was “worshipping” the statue and offered up Bible lessons from childhood Sunday school classes. The man pictured actually said it was meant as a joke as when people offer others praise for a personal milestone by bowing and joking “I’m not worthy.”
The liberal news site Heavy.com even captioned the photo like this: “A man jokingly bows to the Trump statue at CPAC 2021.”
But Instagram and Twitter users were flooded by memes that began comparing it to the Old Testament account of the golden calf.
Its come down to this. Worshiping the Golden Impeached @ ACU https://t.co/q6VxHPUnQZ
— Al Cardenas (@AlCardenasFL_DC) February 26, 2021
The golden calf, of course, is from the Old Testament story of Moses leaving the Israelites to their own devices when he climbed Mount Sinai. The Israelites, wanting a physical God they could worship, melted down the booty looted from the Egyptians and created the statue. When Moses returned, God smote the people killing 3,000 of them for their faithlessness and idol worship.
Zegan disagreed with the characterization of his statue as an idol.
“It’s not an idol,” said Zegan told Mediaite in an interview today.
The former youth pastor for nearly two decades asserted he would not be swayed by critics. “I know the biblical definition of an idol. This is not an idol,” he laughed. “This is a sculpture.”
The Trump statue is not the first golden image of the real estate tycoon. A huge statue of Trump in a golf cart appeared in New York. The work was part of the “Trump Statue Initiative” meant to bring condemnation on the president, according to the liberal Untapped New York.
Over a period of months, golden statues of Trump appeared around the Big Apple, serving as a gathering point for some to heap derision on the 45th President.
Unlike the CPAC statue, however, it failed to generate the outcry on the right, who apparently have a better sense of humor.
–Dwight Widamann| Metro Voice
