NYC living statue shows Trump desecrating graves of war dead, COVID-19 victims

A “living statue” depicting President Trump desecrating the graves of coronavirus victims and American war dead was on display in Manhattan on Tuesday.

The living statue performed by actors using accessories adorned with gold paint depicts Trump driving a golf cart over graves while Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity ride along in the backseat.

The Trump Statue Initiative (TSI) is behind the latest artistic stunt, using actors and relevant accessories as a way to “share their point of view on our 45th President’s most notoriously self-serving, narcissistic, and racist moments,” according to the group’s website.

The installation comes as the president battles media coverage blasting him over remarks he made in 2018 while visiting the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France, where he allegedly called American war dead “losers” and “suckers.”

Filmmaker and Oscar award nominee Bryan Buckley told The Hill the inclusion of the American war dead gravestones was an afterthought addition to this installation, noting how it was added at the last minute to fit the “apropos” event of Trump’s allegations of disrespectful rhetoric.

“The Atlantic story broke and … it was interesting to me because Trump ended up with two really telling moments of his disrespect for American lives, you know, whether they’re a veteran who is a hero or someone who is a citizen,” Buckley told The Hill.

TSI has hosted living statute installations in three cities across the U.S. this year, showcasing performance art in Portland, Ore., New York City and Washington, D.C.

The initiative recently partnered with an artist called Chalk Riot led by Chelsea Ritter-Soronen, who recently installed chalk art near U.S. Postal Service boxes in the District that depicts shadows of mailboxes with phrases like “I will fight racism on Nov. 3.”

Buckley also said the initiative is experimenting with digital projector art in New York City, putting quote bubbles above mailboxes and giving the inanimate objects “voices,” suggesting opposition to the USPS’s current management by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.

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