Donald Trump appears to wield his own version of the Midas touch: anything he fixates on seems destined to be covered in gold.
His most recent gilded homage stands far from the White House and exposes something he would rather keep concealed.
There’s one snag, though. The artist didn’t create the piece to honor Trump, and the accompanying plaque reads more like a confession he would never sign.
The towering sculpture drew instant attention this week inside the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, where lawmakers from across the European Union gather to debate and enact laws.
Stretching over eight feet tall, it gleams in the exact way Trump favors. Yet online audiences are fixated on what Trump attempted to hide beneath his broad jackets.
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The piece was crafted by Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt, a political artist who has spent decades planting his sculptures in public squares around the world to highlight injustice.
The Orange Plague, also known as King of Injustice, is clad in 23-karat gold leaf, according to CNN.
But it isn’t the gold that has people talking.
The statue portrays Trump naked, with a protruding belly, perched atop the shoulders of a frail man who seems on the verge of bowing under the load.
Trump grips a long golf club while the figure beneath him strains under the weight.
The plaque spells out the joke: “I am sitting on the back of a man. He is sinking under my burden. I will do anything to help him. Except stepping down from his back.”
On his website, Galschiøt described Trump as one of the “greatest threats” to democratic values, the rules-based world order, and the fight against climate change.
The gilded figure also nods to The Emperor’s New Clothes, Hans Christian Andersen’s fable about a vain ruler who parades through town naked while the people pretend not to notice.
Danish parliamentarian Per Clausen invited the artist to bring the statue to Parliament, insisting that he isn’t worried about how the POTUS might respond.
Clausen told German broadcaster DW that anyone with a skin too thin to tolerate the sculpture has “no place on the world stage.”
The statue is slated to travel to the COP31 United Nations climate conference in Turkey next month.
A copper version appeared at a climate march during COP30 in Brazil last November, and protesters also handed out mini 3D-printed versions.
As of Wednesday, neither Trump nor the White House had commented on the statue that has social media buzzing.
Many users on X praised the artist’s work. “Quite grotesque … it’s perfect,” one wrote. Another suggested it should be moved to the National Mall in DC so Americans could appreciate it firsthand.
Another X user called it “a good monument to place at his ballroom after it’s torn down.” A fourth summed up the sentiment with a simple, “The poor man’s burden.”
Not everyone was sold on the stunt. A critic who said they dislike Trump “a lot” argued that Parliament should focus on substantive debate and dismissed the spectacle as “not smart.”
Galschiøt isn’t the first artist to turn Trump’s fondness for gold against him. An anonymous collective calling itself the Secret Handshake has almost turned the National Mall into its own gallery.
In June 2025, the group installed Dictator Approved, a colossal golden thumbs-up crushing the Statue of Liberty’s crown.
This March, it unveiled King of the World, a nearly 12-foot statue painted in gold of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein reenacting the famous Titanic bow scene.
Weeks later, a gold-painted toilet appeared near the Lincoln Memorial with a plaque reading A Throne Fit for a King.
The White House did not find the Titanic tribute amusing.
Spokesperson Abigail Jackson fired back, noting, according to The Hill, a complaint about when wealthy Democratic donors would sculpt Democrats who kept pursuing Epstein’s money and meetings after his conviction.
Trump’s fixation on gold has made him an easy target at home as well. He brushed off Laura Ingraham when she asked why he didn’t opt for silver during a tour of his gilded Oval Office.
Even Barack Obama could not resist poking fun at the gold “Oval Office” sign Trump added to the White House.
This time, the joke is on Trump, and Europe watches with front-row seats.
🇪🇺🇺🇸 Naked statue of Trump named ‘Orange Plague’ unveiled at European Parliament building in Strasbourg. — The Independent https://t.co/J28hDKgbZX
— Mega Geopolitics (@MegaGeopolitics) October 7, 2026
