Halloween Anti-Trump Pirate Ship Display Created By History Professor [Pics]
Halloween 2017 trick or treaters in the Hartford, Connecticut, area tonight will see an elaborate, 50-foot-long, 10-foot-high, anti-President Trump Halloween pirate ship “docked” on the front lawn of a local history professor’s home.
The ship, labeled the Constitution, is captained by a caricature of Donald Trump above a sign reading “the mad king.” The ship also depicts a skeleton of ex-FBI Director James Comey and a DACA beneficiary forced by Russian sailors to walk the plank.
Not exactly a happy Halloween for the losing candidate in the presidential election, a Hillary Clinton likeness holds a sign (or a book) that reads “why I lost.” Next to the ship is what apparently is meant to be Abraham Lincoln in a small dinghy named “sorrow” and holding a sign that reads “what’s become of my party?” There is also a mock graveyard next to the pirate ship with implied criticism of Trump’s immigration policies.
Central Connecticut State University Professor Matthew Warshauer has been creating the increasingly more elaborate Halloween displays made of cardboard and Styrofoam in front of his house on a very busy street in the center of West Hartford for about 20 years. The Halloween artwork started getting political after 9/11 to protest the actions of President George W. Bush and VP Dick Cheney in the Iraq War.
On his website, the professor calls this year’s effort the “Trumpian Ship of State” and explains that the specifics came to mind the day after the 2016 presidential election as a way to foster dissent and discussion.
“Like so many Americans, I was horrified and deeply concerned for the future of our nation and the world. My immediate thought was that the American ship of state had gone horribly off course. But what could I really do about it? … Build a HUUUUGE ship. A tremendous, tremendous ship. And, what should it be called? Why, the USS Constitution, of course! … But what type of ship should it be? Again, the answer is so simple – a pirate ship – because that’s what Trump and his merry band are, pirates, and they’re pillaging our nation.”
Based on the social media response, Trump supporters in the alternative seemed likely to conclude that Halloween, like entertainment and sports, is another aspect of American culture that liberals and progressives are needlessly politicizing.
Prof. Warshauer says he tries to “use the fun of Halloween to provide an historical and political lesson.”
Last year, Warshauer lampooned then-candidate Trump’s border wall as detailed in the clip below.
The time-lapse video below shows how the professor with friends and family put together the wood-framed, anti-Trump Halloween 2017 display in early October.
[Featured Image by Robert Jonathan for the Inquisitr]
