Posted on 09/25/2025 5:27:28 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
A statue of President Trump holding hands with Jeffrey Epstein appeared briefly on D.C.'s National Mall this week, only to be removed after less than a day.
The bronze-painted installation, titled Best Friends Forever, depicts the two men smiling at each other, each with an arm and leg raised as if in mid-frolic.
"In Honor of Friendship Month, we celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his 'closest friend,' Jeffrey Epstein," reads the plaque, emblazoned with hands making a heart shape.
September is widely recognized as friendship month.
Trump has repeatedly downplayed his relationship with Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in jail in August 2019. But it remains a sore spot for the president, as his administration faces continued calls to release the Epstein files, a trove of documents from various investigations into the disgraced financier.
A group called The Secret Handshake claimed responsibility for the statue after it arrived on the National Mall on Tuesday morning. And while a National Park Service permit issued for the statue — obtained by NPR — allowed it to remain there until Sunday evening, eyewitness video showed U.S. Park Police hauling it onto a truck before sunrise on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior told NPR that the statue was removed "because it was not compliant with the permit issued," though did not specify how.
The Secret Handshake is accusing the Trump administration of illegally removing the statue as part of its crackdown on speech it disagrees with, on the heels of ABC's temporary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show under pressure from the Federal Communications Commission.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
FREE SPEECH FREE SPEECH FREE SPEECH
Socialists. Keepin’ it CLASSY, as always.
Who has MONEY for this kind of stupidity? Bronze and marble don’t come cheap. Follow the money.
This far-left commie BS shouldn’t have been allowed to be put up there anyway. Someone in the D.C. Parks and Recreation sitcom crowd needs their butts thrown in jail. This is a communist propaganda campaign billboard for the DemonRAT Party of Death and Destruction. Get it off the property I pay taxes for.
I don’t think actual bronze. Spray painted bronze.
Artist asked to be notified if removed. Right now doesn’t know where the statue is
There is nothing inherently offensive about the statue other than trump didn’t like it.
Will be interesting to see how this violated permit terms
Meanwhile James o Keefe got a former DOJ investigator on the record about Epstein. It has caused a storm. Men still continue to fall for the hot girl ploy. He even had a backpack with a logo on it.i think FBI but can’t remember .
“because it was not compliant with the permit issued,”
Permit, schmerment. The left has shown us that statues we find problematic can be removed by an angry mob, no problem. Now, to find the one’s responsible for this eyesore and shove it up their bum.
“There is nothing inherently offensive about the statue other than trump didn’t like it.”
The statue is a blatant lie in light of all known facts. And all lies are offensive - no exceptions.
More in this from CNN
Group had security watching over statue. They have been allowed to view it. It is damaged.
The dispute is likely that it is over six feet tall with base. Person who got permit says the office has always been fine to deal with in past.
They are suppose to give 24 hour written notice to revoke permit
Sounds like a Soros sponsored event to me.
Not good enough to remove . In June WH said you have freedom to display your art
The official reason is likely the fact that although Statue is less than six feet the installation is not . They still have to give written 24 hour notice which they did not do. This gives artist time to remove
And they damaged the art
They had security watching the Statue. Unclear if security was just a bunch of leftists or actual security.
Do you really think 2 to 5 people could pull up in one to 3 pick-up trucks and assemble that thing if it was actually bronze and marble? It is almost certainly bronze spray painted paper mache (or similar), and the base is likely pine framing lumber covered with "Re-Bath" plastic sheeting.
Although it is in support of a lie, it is still clever and well done. I laughed at South Park's lampoon of Charlie Kirk, So did Charlie. One of the best ways to defuse lies like this is to laugh at them. Laughing downgrades the intended insult, particularly since a primary goal is to incite anger.
The bigger take away for me is NPR writing that was "removed as fast as it appeared" although it lasted from Tuesday to Sunday. Later in the story one can read that NPR was the organization that obtained the permit for the statue. I cannot think of a better gaggle of weasels POS organization to de-fund.
Misreading. Npr got a copy..they aren’t the original permit holders
I am also seeing a discrepancy with your notion that it has been up since Sunday
Oops sorry..I misread the bit about installation since Sunday
So, this was on the Mall? That is public property, right?
How does one get a “permit” to put something up on this non-private property in our nation’s capital and leave it up for more than hours or a single day?
What kind of crap is this?
Someone on this thread referred to this as “art”.
“They damaged the art”
A lie is not art; it is a lie.
If someone posts graffiti that is a lie, and the graffiti is painted over to erase the lie - who is injured?
CNN has a pic of the head split in two. You can see not a bronze statue
It is protest art. Your reason isn’t sufficient.
Our side needs to start a anti-statue Cancel Culture Club. If the RATS can tear down statues of American Soldiers who fought for the South, we should be able to tear down and destroy their dumbass statue of their alleged “Hitler”.
It is art. Protest art. In June WH said in the US you have freedom to display your art no matter how ugly .
I have looked at some of the protest art that has been allowed there Some are more than 6 feet tall.
But this one likely was removed due to height requirement on permit.
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