The Story Behind Donald Trump's Odd Portrait with Former Republican Presidents
On Sunday, President Donald Trump sat down for his first 60 Minutes interview since entering office — and an odd painting in the background stuck out to attentive viewers.
The painting, which has since gone viral, depicts Trump and former Republican presidents looking jovial over drinks and conversation. This colorful portrayal of Trump crowding around the table with Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln, Richard Nixon, Theodore Roosevelt, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Dwight Eisenhower and Gerald Ford — called The Republican Club — hangs in the White House.
Artist Andy Thomas, who has made a similar portrait of past Democrat presidents unwinding together, painted the work, according to USA Today. He says he knew that GOP Rep. Darrell Issa had given a print of the work to Trump, The Daily Beast reported, but Thomas did not know that Trump had it displayed in such a prominent place.
Now on 60 Minutes: There's less than a month until the mid-term elections. Hear what President Trump has to say about some of the issues that will likely be motivating voters at the ballot. pic.twitter.com/4WYnh3t0hy
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 14, 2018
oh my god, it's hanging in the white house pic.twitter.com/wrq8eo7Bvx
— Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) October 15, 2018
Thomas was watching a Kansas City Chiefs game at home in Carthage, Missouri, when the 60 Minutes interview aired and friends started calling, TIME reported.
“I was ecstatic,” he told TIME. “A lot of times gifts aren’t really hung up, they’re just pushed in a closet somewhere. To find out it’s actually hanging is really a treat.”
Since I see the Republican painting in my timeline. Here is the Democrat and the Republican paintings together. Both were painted by the talented Andy Thomas
CC: @Asher_Wolf pic.twitter.com/dr3RA6Rx6k— Steve Ragan (@SteveD3) October 15, 2018
Two weeks ago, Trump called Thomas about the painting. “He basically said, ‘Most portraits of me I really don’t like,’ ” Thomas recalled. “And he’s right. He’s hard to paint. There’s some bad ones out there.”
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“Trump has that one thing where he sticks his chin up and smiles really big, and it’s great for a caricature but not necessarily flattering to him,” Thomas explained. “I had to find a photo where it looked like he’s actually heard something funny, so it looks like a genuine smile.”
According to Thomas, Trump steered their conversation to his performance as president, Thomas’ friends’ opinions of the administration and an upcoming Missouri Senate race. “I’m thinking, ‘I’m a damn artist, what is he asking me about this for?’ ” Thomas said.
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On Thomas’ website, The Republican Club is sold for between $155 and $1,700.
I’ll give him this: a jar of just the pink and red starbursts is probably one of the first things I ask for if I’m president pic.twitter.com/tVY240c8xZ
— Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) October 15, 2018
The 60 Minutes interview also revealed that Trump keeps a jar of only pink and red Starburst candies on a desk at the White House.
WaPo: Kevin McCarthy had a staffer sort through Starbursts and pull out the cherry and strawberry flavors for a gift to Trump: https://t.co/qO42WEK1tE pic.twitter.com/Ks4axaTRUI
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) January 15, 2018
The Starburst appears to be a gift from House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. According to Newsweek, McCarthy gave Trump a jar of cherry and strawberry Starburst candies last year after learning they were the president’s favorite flavors.
