The gold statue of former President Donald Trump, which caught the attention of many people at the CPAC, was made in Mexico.
American artist and former boss Tommy Zegan traveled with the sculpture from Rosarito, south of Tijuana, near the border with the United States, to the CPAC in Florida.
Politico said Zegan built the statue, which weighs over 200 pounds, for six months with the help of three other people. He then took him to Tampa, Florida, where he was painted in chrome, and from there he drove him to the CPAC in Orlando in a U-Haul truck.
He managed to enter the conference without any credentials, as the tickets sold out while pulling the huge statue, which is made of fiberglass.
Mr. Zegan told the Politician: “If someone offered me $ 100,000, I would take it.”
Zegan made another version of the statue in stainless steel, which cost about $ 50,000. He hopes to sell it for more than $ 1 million. If he is unsuccessful, he wants it to be in a possible Trump Presidential Library.
He told Politico that Trump’s executive assistant, Rhona Graff, is “trying to get me with the right people”.
Zegan added that he tried to enter Mar-A-Lago last year on Trump’s birthday to present him with the original sculpture, but failed to get through security.
He told Politico: “I was not a big supporter of Trump when he ran. I mean, I voted for him because I wouldn’t vote for Hillary. So I voted for him, but I didn’t care much about him. I used to watch ‘The Apprentice‘but I would hang up 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 held. Trump is expected to speak at the conference on Sunday. According to CNN, he ended up at the booth of a conservative nonprofit 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, “Two years ago, when I saw all those statues of Trump and Trump naked in a bathroom, he said, ‘You know what, I can do better.'”
Zegan said the steel version is being stored in Tampa.
“It’s museum quality, and that’s what I hope to achieve at the Trump library. It is literally priceless, ”he said.
The statue depicts Mr. Trump wearing a jacket and tie, American flag-style shorts and flip flops.
Zegan added: “The jacket and tie are 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 is wearing thongs and shorts is that he is at the age he should be retired. He should be on the beach now. “
But when asked if he wanted Trump to run in 2024, Zegan told CNN he would be “ecstatic”.
“If he wants it to happen, it will happen,” he said.