Politics - News Analysis

Republican Lawmaker Furious About Painting That Shows Trump Grabbing a Woman By the…You Know What

A controversial painting currently on display at an art gallery in Minneapolis has one Republican lawmaker very angry, because the painting depicts Donald Trump groping a woman by her private parts.

According to Minnesota City Pages, the painting by Jim Denomie is called “Standing Rock 2016,” and it depicts the activists who showed up to the Standing Rock pipeline protests in North Dakota in 2016.

In one section of the painting, Trump is seen groping a woman who is described as “Lady Justice,” while his predecessor, Barack Obama, is depicted as a “sitting duck.”

Joshua Heintzeman, a Republican member of the Minnesota House of Representatives who represents a Northern Minnesota district, posted to his Facebook page this week a picture of the painting, along with his opinion that the painting contains “a number of very controversial depictions.”

He added that Trump’s depiction was “especially offencive [sic],” then added the following warning to other artists.

“If ‘artists’ create this kind of thing on their own time fine,” he wrote, “but not on my dime.”

Denomie did indeed receive a $10,000 grant from Minnesota’s State Arts Board. Per City Pages, another Minnesota Republican legislator, Sen. Carrie Ruud, commented on the Facebook thread that “this project met all specifications set forth by the constitution and the Arts Board.”

Ruud added that the grant was presented before the art was created, meaning that the work itself was never approved or disapproved by any government entity.

“With all due respect, this isn’t about censorship,” Heintzeman commented back. “This is about Minnesota taxpayer money, $10,000, being used for a repulsive depiction of our President.”

The Legacy Amendment, passed by Minnesota voters in 2008, makes public grants available to artists in that state, per the Minnesota Historical Society website.

Here is the full painting:

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