It’s one of those controversies that would be unthinkable for any president besides Donald Trump: Earlier this week, the president complained about a portrait of him hanging in the Gallery of Presidents in Colorado’s State Capitol while also blaming Colorado’s Democratic governor, Jared Polis, for the unflattering portrait.
It turned out, however, that the portrait had been hanging in the Colorado Capitol for nearly six years and had been a local controversy during Trump’s first term when the entity tasked with raising money for it failed to do so.
At one point, staffers even snuck in a portrait of Vladimir Putin in its place, but later, a crowdfunding effort led by a Republican state legislator got the painting done, and it doesn’t appear that Polis, who was in his first term as governor at the time, had anything to do with the selection or commissioning of the portrait.
Now, a day after Trump’s complaint, the portrait is coming down.
A portrait of President Donald Trump hanging at the Colorado state Capitol will be taken down after Trump claimed it was “purposefully distorted,” state officials said Monday.https://t.co/gI4Do3HFrf
— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) March 24, 2025
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
Per the Denver Post, “the General Assembly’s executive committee — composed of legislative leadership from both parties — signed a joint directive to legislative staff Monday afternoon to remove the portrait,” a removal was scheduled to take place Monday night. The portrait will therefore be placed “in a secure and appropriate location… until further notice,” the newspaper said.
“If the GOP wants to spend time and money on which portrait of Trump hangs in the Capitol,” House Democratic spokesman Jarrett Freedman said of the decision, “then that’s up to them.”
As for Gov. Polis, he appears to have laughed off the whole situation.
“Gov. Polis was surprised to learn the president of the United States is an aficionado of our Colorado State Capitol and its artwork,” the governor’s press secretary Shelby Wieman told the newspaper on Monday. “We appreciate the president and everyone’s interest in our Capitol building and are always looking for any opportunity to improve our visitor experience.”
The governor appeared on CNN Tuesday but addressed tariffs:
Colorado will continue to take a stand against Trump’s tariff tax which will raise costs on everyone and create more uncertainty for businesses and hardworking people. pic.twitter.com/2pz1jmEbfD
— Governor Jared Polis (@GovofCO) March 24, 2025
It’s unclear if a new portrait will be commissioned to replace the one taken down.
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
