Portraits of POTUS
Poet Dale K. Nichols lends some rhyme and rhythm to the pro-democracy movement. Proceeds from paid subscriptions go to support pro-democracy organizations.
Welcome to this issue of Never Trump Poetry, brought to you by poet Dale K. Nichols and editor Michael Broder. On the day after the “Hands Off” protests around the country and around the world, Dale brings us up to speed on the saga of a presidential portrait that—until recently—hung in the Colorado state capitol.
Dale K. Nichols
Portraits of POTUS
Captain Chaos The MAGA Messiah The Gilded Toad The Golden Pariah The Walking Ego The Cheeto-in-Chief The Flaming Burrito The Narcissist Thief The Emperor Who Has No Facts The Diplomat Who Has No Tact The Orange-Haired Clown With The Big Red Tie The Two Faced Man Always Caught In A Lie The Petulant Child Screaming, “Me, Me, Me!” With The Tiny Little Piggy Going Wee, Wee, Wee These Portraits of POTUS and more on display In the National Rogues Gallery… Free to see everyday
Editor’s Note:
As AP News reported on March 24,
A painting of Donald Trump hanging with other presidential portraits at the Colorado state Capitol will be taken down after Trump claimed that his was “purposefully distorted.”
Trump shared an image of the portrait [on Truth Social] and complained about the painting, saying it was bad and blaming it on Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis—whom the president insulted as being “radically left.”
In response to this news, Michael Moore in a March 30 post on Substack requested:
I’m calling on all Americans to get out your pastels, your acrylics, your easels, your construction paper, your crayons, your glue-sticks, old toilet-paper rolls, a bag of stale Cheetos, the newspaper from the bottom of your bird cage and your child-safe scissors—whatever artistic tools you have at your disposal, I’d like for each of you to take a few minutes today to create a true and unflinching portrait of Donald Trump (who some say is the maybe the greatest president we’ve ever had, a lot of people are saying it in fact)—and the greatest president deserves the greatest portrait!
Moore received an avalanche of portraits, and in a follow up post on April 4, began posting these portraits on Substack. Please feel free to take a look. They are quite something to behold!
—Ed.
About the team
In the words of Dale K. Nichols, Poet
Whatever I might feel about the merit of particular aspects of the MAGA agenda, I believe that Trump, as the movement’s standard-bearer and chief instigator, is a clear and present danger to the future of America and our way of life. That we the people decided to elect him to a second term points to certain dark undercurrents in our nation’s psyche that had been pushed to the shadows for decades until they were recently coaxed back into broad daylight. For those of you who are Harry Potter fans, I believe that Tom Riddle has reemerged as Lord Voldemort, and we Muggles are in the midst of an ugly Wizarding War that has already suffered many casualties.
In the words of Michael Broder, Editor
I started Indolent Books in 2015 as a haven for poets over 50 without a first book and a welcoming literary space for women, people of color, queer and trans writers, and others who do not fit molds or conform to expectations. I am drawn to Dale’s ability as a poet to reach a general readership with his message of resistance to autocracy and his activist support for democracy. While I am indeed a Harry Potter fan, my pop-culture metaphor for the Orange Menace is Burgermeister Meisterburger, the sadistic, oppressive, and abusive mayor of Sombertown who despises toys—and will arrest anyone who plays with or owns a toy—in the classic 1970 stop-motion Christmas television special, Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town.