The interesting part isn't the statue, it's that it apparently was put up conforming to all regulations, but (again, apparently) the Park Services broke their own rules, removed it early, without proper notification to the persons who placed it, and damaged it (maybe somewhat intentionally from description given?).
The story is about the fact that the US government seems to have yet again removed politically protected speech because it was insulting to the current administration.
I'm sure the Free Speech Absolutists will speak up about this violation of the First Amendment any minute now....
The Park Service says it was removed because it didn't match what was described in the permit application. They say it was taller than the permit said it would be.
This isn't the first statue the same group has placed there that was critical of Trump and the others all stayed up [1][2] so at least as of about 3 months ago you could put up artwork there that is critical of the administration.
Whether that has changed or it really was just the Park Service being sticklers about the rules remains to be seen.
The interesting part isn't the statue, it's that it apparently was put up conforming to all regulations, but (again, apparently) the Park Services broke their own rules, removed it early, without proper notification to the persons who placed it, and damaged it (maybe somewhat intentionally from description given?).
The story is about the fact that the US government seems to have yet again removed politically protected speech because it was insulting to the current administration.
I'm sure the Free Speech Absolutists will speak up about this violation of the First Amendment any minute now....
crickets
The Park Service says it was removed because it didn't match what was described in the permit application. They say it was taller than the permit said it would be.
This isn't the first statue the same group has placed there that was critical of Trump and the others all stayed up [1][2] so at least as of about 3 months ago you could put up artwork there that is critical of the administration.
Whether that has changed or it really was just the Park Service being sticklers about the rules remains to be seen.
[1] https://www.yahoo.com/news/dictator-approved-statue-national...
[2] https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/24/politics/trump-epstein-statue...
I imagine the description of the Trump statue's height was accurate … but the risers added another inch or two to give it more "presence".
That's some creative / fun protesting!