The sculpture, titled The Orange Plague, was unveiled on Tuesday by Danish artist Jens Galschiøt at the Parliament building in Strasbourg. The 2.6-meter work shows a naked Trump, covered in gold leaf, perched on the shoulders of a frail man, holding a golf club and a scale of justice. One plaque reads: “I am sitting on a man’s back. He is sinking under my load.” POLITICO was present at the inauguration, where visitors clamored for miniature replicas of the sculpture, which were distributed in various colors. The statue is prominently located at the entrance to Parliament’s Winston Churchill building, before the corridor that links the offices of MEPs and Commission officials to the plenary chamber. Galschiøt said the work aimed to confront Trump’s policies and start a debate about how the US president was “destroying the world’s only chance to counter the climate catastrophe.” Left-wing Danish MEP Per Clausen, who invited the artist, defended the installation in a statement. “If someone is so sensitive that they cannot tolerate this sculpture… then it has no place on the world stage,” he said. Fico has cultivated ties with Trump and met with him at Mar-a-Lago in January to discuss closer cooperation, including on civil nuclear energy. He has praised the MAGA movement as “a vision that resonates urgently not only in the United States but around the world.” The sculpture was previously displayed at protests in Copenhagen and at the COP30 summit in Brazil. It is scheduled to appear at next month’s COP31 conference in Antalya, Türkiye. Trump has not commented on the facility. Gerardo Fortuna contributed to this report.
