A statue of President Donald Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein holding hands mysteriously appeared on the National Mall in Washington, DC, this morning, September 23. The anonymous monument, billed as a cheeky tribute to the pair’s chummy alliance in recognition of Friendship Month, comes weeks after congressional Democrats released a purported birthday scrapbook gifted to Epstein on his 50th birthday in 2003.
In the apparently satirical portrayal, the two billionaires stand on one foot in a giddy stance, as if skipping away together from the United States Capitol. One of the artists behind the dual effigy told the Daily Beast that the 12-foot-tall (~3.7-meter-tall) work was produced by an anonymous group using the moniker The Secret Handshake. Hyperallergic has been unable to contact the group, which appears to have no online presence.
Plaques accompanying the installation read: “In honor of Friendship Month, we celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his ‘closest friend,’ Jeffrey Epstein. Voice Over: There must be more to life than having everything.”
The final line comes directly from a letter released to the public earlier this month that Trump allegedly signed in a birthday book gifted to Epstein by his accomplice and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell in 2003. The message is formatted as an imagined script within an outline of a woman’s body, opening with a voice-over and devolving into Trump’s alleged final remark: “May every day be another wonderful secret.”
Parts of the dialogue appear on a plaque on the plinth of the statue, alongside the president’s alleged signature. (Trump has denied authoring the letter.)
The installation is across the street from the Capitol. In photos shared on social media, Henry Merwin Shrady’s 1922 Ulysses S. Grant Memorial on Capitol grounds can be seen in the background.
The monument popped up as Arizona holds a special election that could force the House of Representatives to formally vote on the release of the Epstein files.
Tuesday’s installation builds upon a series of satirical artworks critiquing Trump, right-wing politics, and the January 6 insurrection that have cropped up around the United States over the last year. Last October, a bronze-colored turd appeared on the National Mall, and that same month, in Philadelphia, a crudely gesturing Trump likeness called attention to his infamous “grab them by the pussy” remark. It is unclear whether the artist or artists responsible for the most recent installation also authored these previous works.
