Did Evangelical Leaders Pray Over the Golden Trump Statue at CPAC?

No.

By
29

An image purportedly showing evangelical leaders at CPAC praying over a golden statue of Donald Trump went viral on social media over the weekend.

https://twitter.com/Mocraig13/status/1366176055720091654

The statue is real: It was created by artist and Trump supporter Tommy Zegan, who named the piece Trump and His Magic Wand,” a reference to Barack Obama asking in response to Trump’s promise to bring back American manufacturing jobs “What magic wand do you have?” Zegan displayed the statue at the Conservative Political Action Conference hoping to sell it for $100,000, and while Trump and his Magic Wand was a popular backdrop for photos at the conference, the viral image above is the product of Photoshop.

The original photo—which can be seen in this article from the Associated Press—shows faith leaders praying with Trump at the Miami-based King Jesus International Ministry during a January 3, 2020 rally for Trump held at the megachurch. 

At least one social media user who shared the image thought the joke was obvious.* University of Washington professor Carl T. Bergstrom said in a tweet that he’d “thought the reference was clear, but it’s causing confusion” so he deleted the tweet. 

Keep reading with a free account
Create a free Dispatch account to keep reading Get Started ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN
29
By
Comments (29)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. Avatar photo
    Erlend N

    I’m flummoxed at the idea that the golden calf analogy seems to have been lost on the artist who crafted this piece in reference to an obscure taunt by Obama. Taking a page from Kevin Williamson at NR, I thought that Trump supporters were “trolling” all the critics who compared them to cultists. Instead they seem to have unwittingly lent some serious rhetorical ammunition to their critics by creating a graven image of their idol.

    Collapse
  2. Avatar photo
    Tom B.

    Relatively easy to tell it's a Photoshop, though a good one -- the golden Trump idol is not nearly YUUUGE enough. (See https://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2021_09/3454102/210303-trump-statue-cpac-al-1202_9b6e43384ac0f79f4b9d6f7ad293e15b.fit-1240w.jpg for comparison).

    I still find the unaltered picture creepy though.

    Collapse
  3. Avatar photo
    Bada Bing

    Trump- " Most people don't know this but my Mother identified very much with Mary as she was also a virgin when I was born."

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Anne W (Raw5254)

      I didn’t realize I was going to be laughing so much this morning!

      Collapse
  4. Scroop Moth

    Thank you, Dispatch, for setting the record straight. There are simple souls among us wondering, “Did Evangelical Leaders Pray Over the Golden Trump Statue at CPAC?”

    But maybe this Tweet deserves only one Pinocchio — if Evangelical leaders are, in fact, idolatrous, according to their own teachings.

    Who is “Mo Bella” and should readers care if her Tweets disseminate hilarious photoshopped pictures?

    Collapse
  5. Nickson

    I’m very disappointed by this Fake News “article” from the failing Dispatch. I have done MINUTES of careful research on the World Wide Web and seen many Pictures of Militant Radical Christians praying over the Golden Calf of Trump. This Radical Right Writer is clearly a Servant of the Orange Outrage and expects us to believe Him? SAD!

    Collapse
  6. Christopher Jones

    Have you seen Carl Bergstrom’s reply to your post about him? Seems like your post is not really accurate with respect to your comments about him.

    Hope you post a correction because at least with respect to your comments about him, your post is pretty sloppy and not the quality of reporting what we’ve come to expect from the Dispatch.

    https://twitter.com/ct_bergstrom/status/1366937249611309057?s=21

    Collapse
    1. Christopher Jones

      Thanks for posting the correction. Everyone makes mistakes. Acknowledging them is a sign of a responsible media organization.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        Victor Clairmont

        Ooo I see the correction cool cool.

        Collapse
  7. Avatar photo
    Victor Clairmont

    Lies. Lies everywhere!

    Collapse
    1. Scroop Moth

      Yes, the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        Victor Clairmont

        IMAGGGINE A VAIN THING!~~~~

        IMMAAAAAAAAAAAA----AAAAA----AAAGINE a vain THING!

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNcZgu9yFjU

        Collapse
        1. Scroop Moth


          Thanks, for a light-voiced bass that’s well done, better than Samuel Ramey who made a ton of money bellowing this aria.

          Collapse
          1. Avatar photo
            Victor Clairmont

            But I loved Ramey!

            Collapse
      2. Mrobertchase1

        And Handel even set it to music.

        Collapse
        1. Scroop Moth

          Which set their bonds asunder!

          Collapse
  8. Avatar photo
    Everybody Digs Bill Evans

    Still, that statue was hideous. It really looked like a joke more than anything.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

      In fairness, the subject of the statue was Donald, not Melania....

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        Anne W (Raw5254)

        👏🏻🤣

        Collapse
  9. CWB3

    It’s a shame that the line between “well that’s a relief to know they didn’t do that” and “yeah I wouldn’t put it past them” is so blurry when it comes to evangelical Christian conservatives ongoing love affair with a sleaze like Trump.

    Collapse
  10. Avatar photo
    Pat Riot

    The real photo is even more ridiculous: evangelical leaders praying over a man who they know had sex with two porn stars while married to his wife, bragged about spying on naked girls on the radio and avowed that he could grab any woman by the genitals because he was rich.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Matmos

      Such a person could definitely use some prayers but I am guessing that’s not the kind he got.

      Collapse
    2. Avatar photo
      Pastorfbt

      Maybe they didn't pray to an idol but they might as well have

      Collapse
Load More