Trump did not choose me, a fellow Republican, to be his Art Buddy! Instead, he chose Putin, a foreign murderer who kidnapped many Ukrainian Children and is giving them secret lessons. What kind of lessons? Art Lessons?
Alas I have a plot for my Bond book ‘The Royal Janitor’. A Russian leader wants to revive the Empire of the Romanovs who were great patrons of….The Arts! This leader kidnaps 300 Czech children because their parents were talented. They were planted all over Europe, and grew up in the homes of agents who got them in the the right creative circles where billionaires and politicians co-mingled. There plan is to
TAKE OVER THE ARTWORLD
“Flattery will get you everything!”
A portrait of the President of the United States is dearly loved by everyone but Democrats who notice the Republican tyrant has not aged.
“My artist guy said he would immortalize me!”
John Presco
Trump bemoans a portrait of him – but gets a new one from Putin
4 hours agoShareSave
James FitzGerald
BBC News
US President Donald Trump has been gifted a new portrait from his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin – while trashing an existing painting of him as “truly the worst”.
The new portrait has not been shown publicly. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described it as a “personal gift”, adding that only Putin himself could disclose further details.
Meanwhile, Trump took to Truth Social to criticise an earlier picture of him that hung in the Colorado State Capitol building until it was removed on Monday.
The US president has paid close attention to cultivating his image, and made headlines in January by unveiling an official portrait that was variously described by critics as serious or ominous.
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Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed receipt of the new work from Moscow, saying he had been asked to transport it back to Washington.
He described the work as a painting – a “beautiful portrait” by a “leading Russian artist” – but gave no further critique. Trump was “clearly touched by it”, he added.
The gift was confirmed by Peskov, as American and Russian negotiators again sat down for talks in Saudi Arabia as part of Trump’s drive to end the war in Ukraine.
The gift highlights the diplomatic thaw between the two nations after Trump returned to the White House in January.
In an interview, Witkoff – who met Putin 10 days ago – said the Russian president had been “gracious”. Putin told him, he added, that he had prayed for Trump after an assassination attempt against him last year.
That attempt on Trump’s life – which took place during a rally in Pennsylvania – gave rise to perhaps the most iconic image of him ever produced.
AP photographer Evan Vucci caught the moment that Trump, with a bloody ear, held up a defiant fist and told supporters to “fight, fight, fight”. That image was further mythologised by Trump, who used it to adorn the cover of a book.
- Decoding Donald Trump’s new official portrait
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‘Purposefully distorted’
Trump is yet to publicly comment on the image that was sent by Putin – but he left no doubt of the kind of portraiture he liked and disliked when delivering his views on the Colorado image.
The painting, which was presented to the building in 2019, was “purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before”, he wrote on Truth Social on Monday morning.
That was unlike the same artist’s depiction of Barack Obama, Trump wrote. Offering rare praise for his predecessor, Trump said Obama looked “wonderful” in his own portrait by the same artist, English-born Sarah Boardman.
Trump reportedly lost up to 30lb (13.6kg) during last year’s presidential campaign. He told reporters he had been “so busy” he had not “been able to eat very much”.
The Republican also used the portrait to make a political point – describing Colorado Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, as “radical” and “extremely weak on crime”.
But the portrait had nothing to do with Polis, US media pointed out. It was instead the result of a crowdfunding campaign that was launched by a Republican. The portrait was reportedly commissioned to fill an empty space that had briefly been filled with an image of Vladimir Putin by a prankster.
Following the backlash, a committee of leaders from both parties ordered the painting removed on Monday afternoon, according to a spokesman for Colorado’s House Democrats. It will be kept in a secure location “until further notice”.
The BBC has contacted Ms Boardman for comment. Discussing her work with the Colorado Times Recorder in 2019, she acknowledged that there would “always be anger at a president from one side or the other. It is human nature.”
Another portrait artist told the BBC he “would have painted things slightly differently”, but that presidential portraits were nuanced, and he had sympathy for the artist.
Robert Anderson, who created the official portrait of President George W Bush which hangs in the US National Portrait Gallery, said viewers tended to bring “baggage” depending on their feelings about the painting’s subject.
For that reason, the reaction to an artwork often had “very little to do with the quality of art”, he said.
Of Trump, Mr Anderson said: “I think it would be very difficult to paint him because he has a particular impression of himself which might be very different to that of many others – probably at least half of the country.”
A spokesman for Polis told 9News said the governor was “surprised to learn the president of the United States is an aficionado of our Colorado State Capitol and its artwork”.
The statement continued: “We appreciate the president and everyone’s interest in our capitol building and are always looking for any opportunity to improve our visitor experience.”
‘Truly worst’: Trump fumes over his not-very-flattering portrait by Colorado
Mar 24, 2025
12:35 pm
What’s the story
United States President Donald Trump has slammed a portrait of him in the Colorado State Capitol, calling it “purposefully distorted.” He has called on Governor Jared Polis to remove the artwork immediately.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump complained the painting is “the worst” he has ever seen.
The artwork was funded through efforts led by Republican state senator Kevin Grantham in 2019.
Artist’s work questioned
Trump’s criticism extends to the artist
“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,” Trump fumed.
Trump didn’t just criticize the portrait but also the artist, Sarah Boardman.
“The artist also did President Obama, and he looks wonderful, but the one on me is truly the worst,” he said.
You’re
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Public support
Trump claims Colorado residents share his sentiment
According to Trump, many Coloradans are of the same opinion about the portrait.
“I would much prefer not having a picture than having this one, but many people from Colorado have called and written to complain.” He added that they are actually angry about it.
He claimed residents of the Centennial State have called in to complain, and Polis, a Democrat, should address their concerns.
“Jared should be ashamed of himself!” he blasted.
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Portrait’s background
Funding and installation of Trump’s portrait
Presidential portraits in the US are funded not directly through taxpayers but through private donations.
However, after Democratic House staffer Katie March once hung a picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the President’s Gallery as a prank in 2018, action was taken against her.
Grantham then led efforts to raise funds for Trump’s portrait, which was installed in August 2019.
Ban Republican Voters From Art Shows
Posted on March 7, 2025 by Royal Rosamond Press
It’s time to BLAME all Republican Voters for the deaths in Ukraine occuring after the Sneak Attack on Zelensky in the Oval Office.. Its time to BAN Republicans from all art shows and art gatherings. Put up a sign saying;
REPUBLICSN VOTERS ARE NOT WELCOME. YOU KNOW BIDEN DID NOT STEAL THE ELECTION – DON’T YOU?
I awoke an Art Outlaw this morning. I can not apply for a grant from The National Endowment of The Arts. My James Bond Books – ARE ART PIECES! I recall Zelensky saying he sees the bust of Churchill is back in the Oval Office. Is this what engaged Holy Nut Man Vance, and triggered an attack on the attire of a President of a Nation under attack by a Murderer?
If there are any Cultited Respublican left in America, and they have a personal desire to view art, they should be reminded…….
“YOU KNOW BIDEN DIDN’T STEAL THE ELECTION. YOU’RE NO DUMMMY!”
Mass produce these two sign and hang them in galleries across America.
There is an attempt by Treacherous Republican Voters to put The Dictator’s Head on Mount Rushmore, that is the masterpiece of Gutzon Borglum, whose patron was Jessie and John Fremont, the first Republican Presidential Candidate – WHO EVERY REPUBLICAN VOTER BETRAYED! How can they say America has been made great again, when they DEFILE and POLUTE everything John and Jessi Benton stood for. I will enjoin the lawsuit against the NEA. This bannoshment Victoria and Starfish from the NEA, has created a ZARDOZ moment. Allow me to put new words from The Head;
“GUNS ARE GOOD! ART IS EVIL!”
John Presco ‘The End Time Elijah’
The greatest artist to come out of Nebraska – by far – iThe greatest artist to come out of Nebraska – by far – is Gutzon Borglum, who created Mount Rushmore. Gutzon and his family lived in Omaha and Fremont City. When they moved to Los Angeles, my kindred, Jessie Benton-Fremont, became his patron. She sent Gutzon to famous art schools in Europe. Gutzon did a bust of Jessie, and a portrait of John Fremont. who created Mount Rushmore. Gutzon and his family lived in Omaha and Fremont City. When they moved to Los Angeles, my kindred, Jessie Benton-Fremont, became his patron. She sent Gutzon to famous art schools in Europe. Gutzon did a bust of Jessie, and a portrait of John Fremont.
ACLU, Theater Companies File Lawsuit Against National Endowment for the Arts
The lawsuit claims that new grant requirements prohibiting promoting “gender ideology” violate First and Fifth Amendment rights.
GOP bill would add Trump’s face to Mount Rushmore
by JACKSON WALKER | The National News DeskWed, February 5th 2025 at 11:01 AM
Mount Rushmore and President Donald Trump (Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (TNND) — Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., last week proposed new legislation which would see President Donald Trump enshrined on Mount Rushmore.
The one-page bill directs the secretary of the interior to arrange for the “carving of the figure” of Trump on the memorial. The representative said such a measure would honor Trump’s “transformative impact on America” and “the historical significance of his leadership.”
“President Trump’s bold leadership and steadfast dedication to America’s greatness have cemented his place in history,” Rep. Luna wrote. “Mount Rushmore, a timeless symbol of our nation’s freedom and strength, deserves to reflect his towering legacy—a legacy further solidified by the powerful start to his second term.”
“He will be forever remembered among the great like Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt,” she added.
New President’s Art Buddy
Posted on January 21, 2021 by Royal Rosamond Press
At 8:10 A.M. I sent President Joe Biden an offer to be his ‘Art Buddy’. You can say I am carrying on a Family Tradition. I offered to be Trump’s ‘Art Buddy’ and got no response. I employed the bust of Winston Churchill to make my point. This work is now back in the news as of this morning. I put this controversy in my novel ‘The Royal Janitor’.
John Presco
President: Royal Rosamond Press
Dear Mr. President: When Trump won, I sent him a message offering to be his ‘Art Buddy’. On my blog, Royal Rosamond Press, I showed a pic of President Obama contemplating the bust of Winston Churchill who helped found the British Defence Staff Washington so that there would always be a bond between our two Nations. I just read this work of art has been removed from the Oval Office. In the last five years, I have tried to find out the fate of BDS, to no avail. Can you give me a report? Also, I became a Republican after Obama won a second term because I saw the terrible division coming. I am kin to John Fremont and his father-in-law Senator Thomas Hart Benton whose statue was going to be removed from the Hall of Statues, but the bill to do so confused his with his grand nephew, the muralist, Thomas Hart Benton, who is the third cousin of the muralist, Garth Benton, who was married to my famous sister, Christine Rosamond Benton, a world famous artist. I have voted for Democrats as a Republican, and am considering running in 2025. I am a historian and theologian who has been ordering extremists to get out of my families party and respect our family traditions. I would like to form, or be on the People’s Art Committee in order to make your decorating schemes more Democratic – and orderly – not to mention more meaningful. History and art lessons can be given on a Presidential site, that inform all Americans – and the world – of the movement of our National Treasures. Indeed, let us form a Adopt a Work of Art program. We tend to protect works of art that we feel we own – if only in part.
Downing Street has said it is up to President Biden how he decorates the Oval Office, after it was reported that a bust of Winston Churchill, lent by the UK government, has been removed.
“The Oval Office is the president’s private office, and it’s up to the president to decorate it as he wishes,” Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said, adding: “We’re in no doubt about the importance President Biden places on the UK-US relationship, and the prime minister looks forward to having that close relationship with him.”
Johnson’s relaxed attitude is in marked contrast to his criticism of Barack Obama, when the former president moved the Churchill bust aside.
Writing in the Sun in 2016, Johnson, then London mayor, and the author of a Churchill biography, called Obama’s decision a “snub,” suggesting it may have been because of “the part-Kenyan president’s ancestral dislike of the British empire”.
Winston Churchill bust ‘not on display’ in Joe Biden’s Oval Office (telegraph.co.uk)
Art Buddy Gone Bad!
Posted on January 19, 2021 by Royal Rosamond Press
In the last ten years I tried to make several people my Art Buddy, but, they betrayed me, stabbed me in the back – and became my Judas.
Trump’s staff have apparently looted the White House. If these objects of art are not returned by sundown tomorrow, I will send an e-mail to Interpol.
John Presco
President: Royal Rosamond Press
A Newspaper For The Arts
A pheasant took flight from the White House Thursday afternoon.Toted by Debbie Meadows, wife of White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, the taxidermy bird was moved out of Meadows’ West Wing office, among other boxes and souvenirs from his time in the administration, and placed into the trunk of a waiting SUV.With just days left in the Trump administration, the White House complex is abuzz with signs of the end of one presidency and the beginning of another, staffers pushing carts with empty and full boxes, aides bidding farewell to their departing colleagues, and some walking out with large framed photograph mementos — a jolting air of normalcy in the wake of last week’s deadly insurrection at the US Capitol and the anticipation of more violence around Wednesday’s inauguration.Questions abounded Thursday after a trio of unidentified masked officials walked a bronze bust of President Abraham Lincoln outside the front door of the West Wing. To whom did it belong? And where, precisely, was it off to?Items such as the Lincoln sculpture were on loan from the official White House collection and part of a documented process wherein thousands of pieces of art, decorative art, sculpture, china, silver and other items are historicallypreserved.
Workers move boxes onto a truck on West Executive Avenue between the White House and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. These items are available for the incoming president and first lady to select at the start of a new term, as the Trumps did in 2017.
I wrote the President and suggested I become his art buddy. Did he listen to my advice? No! Today, POTUS is a living work of art.
John Presco
Melania Needs an Art Buddy
Posted on November 29, 2018by Royal Rosamond Press
I rescind the offer to be President Trump’s ‘Art Buddy’. I transfer this offer to the First Lady. I suspect Donald uses the image of his foes in prison as his computer wallpaper.
Jon
The President’s Art Buddy?
Posted on January 22, 2017by Royal Rosamond Press
President Barack Obama shows Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom a bust of Sir Winston Churchill in the private residence of the White House, July 20, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
To: The President of the United States of America
From: Jon Presco
President: Royal Rosamond Press
Dear Mr. President
Last…
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Bust of Sir Winston Churchill moved back into Oval Office on Trump’s first day
Joe Sommerlad
Tue, January 21, 2025 at 11:06 AM PST
3 min read7
https://s.yimg.com/rx/ev/builds/1.12.8/pframe.htmlYahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.
Generate Key Takeaways
Donald Trump has reinstated a bust of Sir Winston Churchill in the Oval Office, having also brought the sculpture back into the room in 2017.
Despite a hectic schedule after being sworn in, Mr Trump found some time to rearrange furniture in the White House and promptly ordered the return of the sculpture on Tuesday. Made by Sir Jacob Epstein, it was originally gifted to George W Bush by the British government in 2001.
Democrat Barack Obama subsequently caused a minor diplomatic rift by shifting the bust to a table outside the White House’s Treaty Room when he took office in 2008, giving its spot to one of Dr Martin Luther King Jr instead.
His doing so prompted criticism from then-London mayor Boris Johnson, the future PM and Churchill biographer, who suggested that Mr Obama had been motivated by an “ancestral dislike of the British Empire”.
Mr Trump reinstated it when he succeeded President Obama, making a point of posing in front of it with then-UK prime minister Theresa May during her visit to the White House in January 2017, a week after his first inauguration.
When Mr Trump was ousted four years ago, Joe Biden moved it out again to make way for busts of civil rights activists Rosa Parks and Cesar Chavez.
Churchill is now once more perched on a side table on the right-hand side of the Oval Office’s fireplace.
The president has often been flatteringly compared to Churchill by his admirers, notably American Spectator magazine and TV presenter Piers Morgan, who once gifted him a replica of Churchill’s trademark Homburg hat as an interview stunt.
Former Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly also advised Mr Trump to study Churchill last year to win over the American public.
Mr Trump has also not been shy about drawing the parallel himself, telling a campaign rally in Michigan in September 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic: “As the British government advised the British people in the face of World War II, ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’. That’s what I did.
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“When Hitler was bombing, I don’t know if you know this, when Hitler was bombing London, Churchill, great leader, would oftentimes go to a roof in London and speak.
“And he always spoke with calmness. He said we have to show calmness. No, we did it the right way and we’ve done a job like nobody.”
His move to bring back the sculpture was predicted earlier this week by Trump ally and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who told The Daily Express: “Is Donald Trump going to return the Winston Churchill bust to the Oval Office?
“Good Lord, yes. On day one? Of course he is. Don’t be ridiculous. And that says it all.
“This is the most pro-British president since [Dwight] Eisenhower. We’ve got somebody who is very, very much his mother’s son.
“His mum may have left the Western Isles when she was young but she kept that affiliation. Trump as a teenager came to Scotland a lot and spent a lot of time there.”
Mr Trump is certainly proud of his connections to Britain through his mother Mary Anne MacLeod’s Scottish roots and owns the 18-hole Trump International Golf Links course in Aberdeenshire, as well as the Trump MacLeod House and Lodge.
Artistic Development of Gutzon Borglum
Posted on August 23, 2013 by Royal Rosamond Press
The greatest artist to come out of Nebraska – by far – is Gutzon Borglum, who created Mount Rushmore. Gutzon and his family lived in Omaha and Fremont City. When they moved to Los Angeles, my kindred, Jessie Benton-Fremont, became his patron. She sent Gutzon to famous art schools in Europe. Gutzon did a bust of Jessie, and a portrait of John Fremont.
Charles Lummis the editor of ‘The Land of Sunshine’ and ‘Out West’ was a great promoter of Gutzon and the Fremonts. There is a good chance my grandfather, Royal Rosamond, knew Lummis because he published his poems and stories in Out West..
In 1970, I went with Rena Easton to the art department at the University of Nebraska where she unveiled a life-size clay sculpture of her boyfriend. I later did two paintings of Rena Christensen. One of them inspired my sister to take up art, and she became the world famous artist, Christine Rosamond Presco. She later married Garth Benton, the cousin of the famous artist, Thomas Hart Benton, the grandson of Senator Thomas Hart Benton, the father of Jessie Benton, and father-in-law of John Fremont, the first presidential candidate of the Republican Party.
Royal was bid to write by the artists, Jack and Fanny Cory. Fanny did covers for the Saturday Evening Posts, as did Philip Boileau, the son of Susan Benton who had a salon in Paris and may have sponsored Gutzon in France.
GIANT Grapes of Wrath and Fraud
Posted on June 9, 2021 by Royal Rosamond Press
“We know when we are not wanted, Mr. Buck. We got enough oil, water, tree, and agriculture trouble. We are cashing in our chips. You tell Miss Pierrot – we want nothing to do with that damn gallery. What do we know about art, anyways? When the bank took our land, we knew we were licked!“
It Could Have Been Chinatown | Rosamond Press
The artist, Thomas Hart Benton, did illustrations for John Steinbeck’s ‘Grapes of wrath’. Had my niece, Drew Benton, seen them? Drew needs to do a painting of how she escaped death, when she ended up in the ocean next to my sister. Did she feel afraid down in that cove, in the ‘Jaws of Death’? How much does she know about Dunken The Frog? She can end the Fraud!
Drew and I are kin to Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor – and thus all members of the Getty Family – who The Buck Boys tried to hurt – especially the Governor of California, who I am going to send a message after this post. In theory, Drew and I own the Rich California Literary Deposit. This Benton is old enough to understand. Liz starred in the movie ‘GIANT’ which is the companion book and movie to ‘THE BIG TREES’………with – WELLS FARGO STAGECOACH!
THE NINE MUSES sent me my BIG STAR as I stood on the Venice Pier. Time to cash in my chips. I’m going to try to sellf my Books and Movies directly to Amazon, who have a line of wine.
John Presco
President: Royal Rosamond Press
Battle For Buck’s Beverly Hills | Rosamond Press
Non-Disclosure Mad Man | Rosamond Press
Europe After 8:15
Posted on December 30, 2019 by Royal Rosamond Press
Last night Santa Claus gave me a gift. I found a little Bohemian Book on the internet titled ‘Europe After 8:15’ that is written by several authors, and illustrated by my kin, Thomas Hart Benton, who illustrated Steinbeck’s ‘Grapes of Wrath’. Benton’s illustrations resemble the work of my later sister, Christine Rosamond Benton, especially he ‘Story Teller’ series. Christine was married to the muralist, Garth Benton, a third cousin of Thomas Hart Benton.
Rosamond Press 
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