Gold Trump statue at CPAC draws inevitable Biblical comparisons

There’s a gold statue of Trump being wheeled around CPAC.

Yes, it’s just as bizarre as it sounds. The Conservative Political Action Conference starts today in Orlando, Florida, - in person - and to top things off, there’s a gold statue of Trump being wheeled around.

Video of the statue being wheeled in the hall that CPAC is being held in was posted on social media on Friday by Bloomberg reporter William Turton.

CPAC is the US’ largest right-wing conference, and attracts Republicans as well as other, more explicitly unsavory elements of the right-wing political spectrum – it usually features speeches, panels, talks, parties, and in previous years, appearances by Trump himself.

The exact origins of the statue are unclear - although it’s likely it was made for the conference. The statue of Trump is wearing star-spangled beach shorts, flip flops and a red tie.

People can be heard ooh’ing and aah’ing over the statue. The statue itself has attracted a lot of attention online too.

Some have pointed out that it seems pretty strange for a demographic of people who skewered Christian – and made a big deal out of their faith – to not recognise the parallels between the gold statue and one of the Ten Commandments, which was ‘thou shalt not worship false idols’.

In the Bible, there were several references to golden idols as false idols. One was the golden calf, which was seen as an affront to God. The other was a statue of a King, which was ninety feet high and which was also condemned in the Bible.

People also pointed out that it wasn’t just some figurative statement - it was a literal golden statue.

Trump is expected to speak at CPAC this year, where it’s expected that he will directly criticise president Joe Biden and potentially announce another presidential run in 2024. It’s likely he’ll spend a lot of his time discussing his second impeachment trial too, but perhaps he’ll be distracted by his reflection in the shiny gold statue.

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