CSotD: Gold ‘n Vanity
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Statues of famous people are not unusual in the United States: There is a statue of “Rocky Balboa” in Philadelphia and a slew of statues of real-life athletes as well.
However, Wednesday’s dedication of a statue of Donald Trump on the grounds of his private club in Florida has drawn both praise and criticism, much of the latter stemming from the semi-religious ceremony in which the ribbon-cutters included religious advocates and the speech was from Mark Burns, “an American evangelical minister, televangelist and politician who is the pastor of the Harvest Praise & Worship Center in South Carolina.”
As controversy quickly emerged, Burns denied that the statue was like the Golden Calf erected and worshipped by the disillusioned followers of Moses.
However, not everyone was convinced. And triumphant boasting didn’t help.
To be honest, it’s not gold but, rather, bronze covered with gold leaf.
However, from the standpoint of political cartooning, the statue and its surrounding hoopla are interesting because of the number of times the motif of the Golden Calf had previously been raised by cartoonists.
Here’s a collection of prophecies from a collection of cartoonists.
Wuerker suggested calf-worship in 2015, when Trump was just a candidate and as Pope Francis visited the United States. And speaking of controverial statues, Francis used his visit to celebrate the consecration of St. Junipero Serra, whose statue, erected in California in 1975, was removed in 2025 in the wake of continued protests over the missions’ treatment of native people.
Two years later, Horsey used the Golden Calf motif to criticize what he felt was a near-idolatrous frenzy over then-President Trump by politically active Evangelical Christians in an emerging cult of personality.
Thompson echoed Horsey’s criticism a year later, not copying the earlier cartoon but simply drawn by the same cult of personality that was building up around Trump, who had a track record of violating Commandments and who insisted that any dissenting viewpoints from his own reflected not debate but, rather, “fake news.”
That same year, MacKay wondered aloud if Trump’s visit to North Korea, after which he said he wished his people were as loyal as Kim Jong Un’s, and extolled what he called “love letters” from the Dear Leader, had also inspired him with the idea of erecting statues of the Dear Leader.
The next year, Margulies offered his commentary as Christianity Today published an editorial calling for Trump to be removed from office. The magazine later offered a note clarifying its position, but unless you’re a subscriber, you’ll only see the first bits of either article.
However, Margulies seems to sum it up.
New Zealand artist Sandow Birk produced a series of lithographs in 2017 with Trump in the role of Rabelais’ bumbling giant, Pantagruel, and followed it up in 2019 with a second series that included this piece, in which greedy demons worship the Golden Calf, who is dumping on the Constitution and its Bill of Rights.
Marlette had an easy inspiration for his commentary when CPAC featured a golden statue (actually chrome-plated fiberglass) of Trump at their annual conference. While serious commentators fulminated over the grip that the then-ex-president had on conservatives, the satiric Babylon Bee drew a sarcastic lesson not from the Book of Exodus but the Book of Daniel.
Plante also drew upon the CPAC statue (a reasonable likeness, oddly enough) to make a point about Republican loyalty to Trump as well as to comment on what he saw as Trump’s narcissistic vanity.
In 2023, Jeff Gates created this illustration for an article in Fellowship Magazine — “the oldest, continuously-produced interfaith peace magazine in the United States” — that criticized Trump followers for “transforming the former president into a deity — a white supremacist Jesus.”
Note Trump in the foreground, his fist raised as he joins in the idolatry.
Another iteration of the original Golden Calf incident from Exodus, only this time it is the idol itself, rather than one of its followers, that cautions — perhaps commands — the faithful to turn their backs on their true faith and to worship the calf.
It’s always possible that a cartoon from years ago will linger in the subconscious, but it’s common for an idea to be obvious enough that more than one cartoonist draws it, sometimes on the same day.
Given the number of times Trump has been compared to the Golden Calf, it’s both likely to happen again and unlikely to differ greatly in how it is presented.
Another illustration, this for an article in the April 21 edition of the Polish weekly magazine, Politkya, which is protected by a paywall that doesn’t allow a non-subscriber to see the artist’s name, much less read the article, though its headline translates as “God in the service of MAGA. Why did the religious right bet on Trump? It’s a power struggle, not a faith struggle.”
Again, it’s only fair to note that statues of famous people are not unusual, and that Pastor Burns denies it is a golden idol, or even a bronze, gilded idol.
But, if nothing else, the number of cartoonists who have suggested that Evangelicals and MAGA Faithful are bowing down to a Golden Calf should make Trump’s circle shy away from making opposition cartoonists look like prophets.
Meanwhile, today’s headline is a pun based on a harsh lesson about being careful whom you trust and serve.
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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