The golden statue of former President Donald Trump, which attracted many people’s attention at CPAC, was made in Mexico.
The artist and American ex-pat Tommy Zegan travels with the sculpture from Rosarito, just south of Tijuana near the U.S. border, to CPAC in Florida.
Politico reports that Mr. Zegan made the statue, which weighs more than 200 kg, more than six months with the help of three others. He then took it to Tampa, Florida, where it was painted in chrome, and from there drove a U-Haul truck to CPAC in Orlando.
He manages to enter the conference without any credentials, as tickets are sold out as he pulls past the massive fixture, which is made of fiberglass.
Mr. Zegan told Politico: “If anyone offers me $ 100,000, I will take it.”
Mr. Zegan made another version of the stainless steel statue that cost about $ 50,000. He hopes to sell it for more than $ 1 million. If he’s unsuccessful, he wants it to be in a possible Trump Presidential Library.
He told Politico that Mr. Trump’s executive assistant, Rhona Graff, ‘tries to get me to the right people’.
Zegan added that last year he was on Mr. Trump’s birthday Mar-A-Lago tried to enter to present the original sculpture to him, but he failed to reach security.
He told Politico: ‘I was not a big Trump supporter when he ran. I mean I voted for him because I’m not going to vote for Hillary. So I voted for him, but I did not really care for him. I used to watch ‘The apprentice‘but I would turn it off halfway. I thought, ‘This is stupid.’ ‘
The statue was placed in the exhibition hall of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Orlando where the conference is being hosted. Mr. Trump is expected to speak during the conference on Sunday. According to CNN, it ended up in the position of a conservative non-profit organization called Look Ahead America.
Zegan told CNN that he created the statue in response to other works of art mocking the 45th president.
He said: “When I both saw the images of naked Trump and Trump on a toilet, I said, ‘You know what? I can do better.'”
Mr Zegan said the steel version is being stored in Tampa.
“It’s museum quality and it’s the one I’m finally hoping for in the Trump library. It’s literally invaluable,” he said.
The statue depicts Trump wearing a suit jacket and tie, shorts in the style of the American flag and slippers.
Mr. Zegan added: “The coat and tie is the fact that he is a professional, he is a businessman. The red tie symbolizes that he is a Republican. The red white and blue is that he is a patriot. “The fact that he wears a belt and shorts is that he is at the age where he should be retired. He should be on the beach now.”
But when asked if he wants Trump to act in 2024, Zegan told CNN he would be “ecstatic.”
“If he wants it to happen, it will happen,” he said.