Trump Spirals Out Over Unflattering Portrait In Most Unhinged Social Media Rant Yet

Another day, another whiny social media meltdown from Donald Trump. This time, it's about a painting of him that is hanging in the Colorado state capitol. In a post on Truth Social, Trump complained about the portrait, saying: "Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado, in the State Capitol, put up by the Governor, along with all other Presidents, was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before.... many people from Colorado have called and written to complain. In fact, they are actually angry about it!" He then asked the Colorado governor to remove the picture, saying that he was doing so for those Coloradans who didn't like the painting.

Trump didn't include any evidence of the reported complaints that he'd received from Coloradans. But Trump's losing it over the painting has certainly opened him up to plenty of ridicule on social media. One person pointed out on X (formerly known as Twitter), "No one would have known this painting ever existed if he wasn't so insecure to bring it up." Another wrote, "Trump's tantrum over a portrait in Colorado's Capitol is peak pettiness."

Others joked about why Trump's portrait didn't look quite right. "It doesn't look like him because there's not enough orange on his face. Is that why he's upset? He actually looks normal in the picture," one person said. And some people have taken to editing the Colorado portrait, making his face look rounder, similar to the JD Vance memes that have been circulating online.

After Donald Trump's complaint about the painting, he provided some other images on Truth Social that he felt were better / more flattering portrayals including his official inauguration portrait, which looks a lot like his mugshot and which he has hung on display outside the Oval Office. From the timing of Trump's post, it seems like the painting might have been recently unveiled; however, it's been in place for years. We're not exactly sure what brought it to Trump's attention now.

In 2018, a portrait of Russian president Vladimir Putin was temporarily, and unofficially, put on display near the blank space where Trump's painting would eventually hang in the "Gallery of Presidents" in the Colorado Capitol. It was brought in surreptitiously by a political activist, who was helped by a staffer for a Democratic Colorado representative. This moment brought attention to the missing Trump portrait, and it was thought to have helped spur fundraising, which was spearheaded by Republican State Senator Kevin Grantham. He launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise over $10,000 for the portrait. This came after the Colorado Citizens for Culture Committee, who were initially in charge of fundraising, hadn't yet gotten any donations for the picture.

Donald Trump's portrait was painted by Colorado artist Sarah Boardmanand put on display in August 2019. At the time of the portrait's unveiling, Boardman said: "My portrait of President Trump has been called thoughtful, non-confrontational, not angry, not happy, not tweeting. In five, 10, 15, 20 years, he will be another president on the wall who is only historical background and he needs to look neutral" (via Newsweek). Apparently Trump didn't see any of that nuance in the painting.

Boardman also painted the portrait of Barack Obama that hangs next to Trump's in the Colorado Capitol. Trump seemed to like Boardman's painting of Obama more than his and voiced that in his Truth Social post, and it may have been that difference in quality that helped fuel his ire since Trump has had bad blood with Obama for years.

Despite Trump not liking it, the painting reportedly got the thumbs up from state Republicans before it was unveiled. There's no public response yet from Grantham over Trump's critique.