Colorado Will Remove Portrait Trump Hates

UPDATE Mar 24, 2025 5:48 PM CDT

A portrait of President Trump at the Colorado Capitol that the subject claimed was "purposefully distorted" will be taken down and placed in storage, the Denver Post reports. Jarrett Freedman, a spokesman for Democratic state lawmakers, said Republican leaders asked for it to be taken down. "If the GOP wants to spend time and money on which portrait of Trump hangs in the Capitol, then that's up to them," Freedman said. The portrait was unveiled in 2019 after a Republican-led fundraising campaign raised almost $11,000.

Mar 24, 2025 10:49 AM CDT

President Trump doesn't just dislike the portrait of himself hanging in Colorado's state capitol—he thinks the artist made him look bad on purpose and wants it removed. As the Hill reports, the unusual demand came via Truth Social:

• "Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado, in the State Capitol put up by the Governor, along with all other Presidents, was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before," wrote Trump on Sunday night.

• The portrait in Denver has been hanging there since 2019, when it went up during Trump's first term. It was paid for with a GOP-led fundraising effort and approved by state Republicans before being hung, reports the Denver Post.
• Artist Sarah Bordman did the portrait, notes Politico. She also did one of former President Obama, and that one "looks wonderful," wrote Trump, "but the one [of] me is truly the worst. She must have lost her talent as she got older."
• The president said his supporters have been complaining, and thus he is "speaking on their behalf to the Radical Left Governor, Jared Polis" and imploring him to "take it down."
• The governor doesn't seem ready to comply. "Gov. Polis was surprised to learn the President of the United States is an aficionado of our Colorado State Capitol and its artwork," says a spokesperson's tongue-in-cheek reply. "We appreciate the President and everyone's interest in our capitol building and are always looking for any opportunity to improve our visitor experience."

(More President Trump stories.)