Michael Moore Invites You to a Contest: Painting The Donald

Have you been feeling just a little moral outrage lately about the current goings-on by he new regime in Washington D.C.? 

Lately, I have been pushing art and satire as one great way to name Evil, shed light on Evil, and laugh at Evil.  (The demonic, I learned years ago, lacks any sense of humor.)  Of course, the art of Hildegard and Luca Signorelli in depicting the archetype of the antichrist has been a big part of that push.  And the satire of Mersault.  And in yesterday’s DM, the opera on Anti-Krist by Langgaard now playing in Berlin.

Then lo and behold!  Michael Moore has just opened a contest to do your own portrait of The Donald.  He titles it: “Donald Trump Wants a New Portrait of Himself: A Call to Artists and Non-Artists Everywhere.” 

Here is his reasoning.  Recently the Donald complained on his “Truth Platform” about a portrait of him that had been hanging on the wall of the Colorado State Capitol since 2019 along with portraits of other presidents.  He said it was “purposefully distorted to a level that even I have never seen before.”  Moore does not agree—he thinks “the only thing ‘distorted’ about it is the man inside it.” 

Whatever.

Trump blames the Governor of Colorado, but actually the portrait was commissioned by the state’s Republican Party. They chose the artist and raised the money to pay her.  What inspired Donald to rise up was that his hand-chosen Middle East envoy, Steve Wikcoff of Signalgate fame, was visiting Putin, who gifted him with a portrait of Trump painted by a leading Russian artist.  He was glad to take it back to Trump since it was Trump’s favorite subject for a painting. 

Moore tells the story of how, years ago, he learned that the “bigots of Arkansas” had organized a massive protest demanding a college shut down their theater department’s production of Tony Kushner’s prize-winning “Angels in America.” The college did just that…until Moore led a campaign to write the college president and aroused the media about the issue. Sure enough, under that pressure, the president of the college backed down.  The play went on. 

Another example of the power of art, in this case theater. 

Here is Moore’s current campaign in his own words: Trump needs a new portrait, and I know just the people to create one.  EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!… Take a few minutes today to create an unflinching portrait of Donald Trump (who some say is the greatest president we’ve ever had). 

Send it to Moore and he will do his best to get it hung in the Colorado State Capitol.

Moore reminds us that Trump himself said that the previous painting, now removed from the Colorado statehouse, is “truly the worst”-so your painting cannot possibly be the worst.  It might even be the best.  He adds:

Go forth and create!

I can’t wait to see and to share how you capture the true essence of the “man.”

In times like these, Art can be a great healer.*  Amen.

How’s that for resistance?

* Michael Moore, “Donald Trump Wants a New Portrait of Himself: A Call to Artists and Non-Artists Everywhere,” on MichaelMoore.com

See Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society.

And Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ.

And Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors To Awaken the Sacred Masculine.

And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.

And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.

Banner Image: “Trump’o’Lantern.” This very orange jack-‘o-lantern is one of thousands of artistic pumpkins at the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular, Louisville, 2016. Photo by Don Sniegowski on Flickr.

Queries for Contemplation

Are you going to take Moore up on his offer?  There are many ways to resist and to ring the bell about political buffoonery and the antics of antichrist and antichrist movements, aren’t there? 

Recommended Reading

Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society

Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them. 
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science.  A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics

Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election

Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE. 
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE. 
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.

The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine

To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature,  to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God

Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality

Matthew Fox lays out a whole new direction for Christianity—a direction that is in fact very ancient and very grounded in Jewish thinking (the fact that Jesus was a Jew is often neglected by Christian theology): the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an extended and deeply developed way.
“Original Blessing makes available to the Christian world and to the human community a radical cure for all dark and derogatory views of the natural world wherever these may have originated.” –Thomas Berry, author, The Dream of the Earth; The Great Work; co-author, The Universe Story

Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth

Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.
“I am reading Liberating Gifts for the People of the Earth by Matt Fox.  He is one that fills my heart and mind for new life in spite of so much that is violent in our world.” ~ Sister Dorothy Stang.