Politics

Trump Erects Yet Another Tacky Gold Monument to Himself

VANITY FORE

A ginormous, golden Donald Trump now towers over his Miami golf club.

Donald Trump’s new statue at his golf club in Miami stands 22 feet tall, including its pedestal.
Adam Schupak/Golfweek

World leaders will be greeted by a giant golden statue of Donald Trump when they travel to Miami for this year’s G20 summit, a new photo shows.

Golfweek revealed Tuesday that the 15-foot-tall statue, a bronze figure coated in gold leaf, now stands atop a seven-foot pedestal at the president’s Trump National Doral Miami golf club—just in time for the course to host the PGA Tour’s Cadillac Championship this week.

Sculptor Alan Cottrill, 73, examines his gold-leafed bronze statue of Donald Trump at his studio in Zanesville, Ohio.
Sculptor Alan Cottrill, 73, examines his gold-leafed bronze statue of Donald Trump at his studio in Zanesville, Ohio. Eric Cox/REUTERS

The towering statue, known as “Don Colossus,” is “prominently positioned overlooking the resort’s golf courses, where its gold-leaf surface interacts dynamically with the South Florida light,” sculptor Alan Cottrill said in a news release.

Golfweek wrote that the effigy has become the “talk of the tour.”

Donald Trump’s new statue at his golf club in Miami stands 22 feet tall, including its pedestal.
Donald Trump’s new statue at his golf club in Miami stands 22 feet tall, including its pedestal. Adam Schupak/Golfweek

Cottrill, 73, was paid $300,000 for the bronze rendering and another $60,000 to add the gold leafing, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

After settling a payment dispute with the crypto group that commissioned the statue, Cottrill says he wrapped the statue like a mummy, put it in a trailer, and drove it more than 1,100 miles from rural Muskingum County, Ohio, to Miami last week.

The statue depicts the president with his arm raised, similar to the pose he struck shortly after he was shot at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The statue depicts the president with his arm raised, similar to the pose he struck shortly after he was shot at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Eric Cox/REUTERS

The statue shows Trump in a pose similar to the one he struck shortly after his ear was grazed by a bullet when he was shot at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, during his 2024 presidential campaign. Now, instead of a giant American flag waving behind him, the golden statue is flanked by a trio of palm trees.

Golfweek writes that not everyone seems to be a fan. Its dispatch from the course reads, “When a tournament photographer asked a few Tour staff people if they wanted a group photo by the statue, he received a collective, ‘No.’”

“‘Ok, I didn’t know you were all so woke,’” the photographer responded, according to Golfweek.

The Cadillac Championship will be the first PGA tournament at the course in over a decade. The G20 summit at the resort is scheduled for two days beginning on December 14, and may even include Russia’s Vladimir Putin if Trump gets his way.

Images of Donald Trump's Presidential Library.
An early rendering of Donald Trump's presidential library also features a gigantic gold statue. X

Don Colossus may not be the only gold Trump statue in Miami for long. Renderings for Trump’s presidential library in the city’s downtown district also feature a humongous hunk of golden Trump.

Nor is the golf club addition the first-ever Trump statue.

A statue of Donald Trump was featured at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida.
A statue of Donald Trump was featured at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida. OCTAVIO JONES/REUTERS

The 2021 CPAC conference also featured a golden Trump that guests could take photos with—albeit one much smaller than what is now towering over the president’s Doral course.

Vanity projects have always been a defining feature of Trump’s life. In addition to his name being prominently featured on the buildings he has built, on Tuesday, The Bulwark revealed that the president is putting his face on newly issued U.S. passports—because featuring his headshot on all new National Park annual passes was apparently not enough.