Graphic artist Charles Leazott is the man behind the design of the doctored presidential seal that was posted behind Donald Trump as he spoke at an event for Turning Point USA.
The Daily Beast reported that Leazott was as surprised as anyone to see that his artwork had been used to punk the president, but he says that the person who used it as a backdrop was “either wildly incompetent or the best troll ever — either way, I love them.”
Leazott, 46, who calls himself a former Republican, believes there is no way that this was an accident. He explains that he created the image with a Russian two-headed eagle holding golf clubs with the words “45 is a puppet” in Latin two years ago and forgot about it until it made the news.
“It’s been chaos… this is not what I expected when I woke up today… This was just a goofy thing for some people I knew.”
Leazott explains that the image wasn’t something anyone would have just stumbled upon. He believes it’s something you have to look for this. He believes there is “no way” this was an accident.
The graphic artist explains that the drawing, which also included the eagle’s talons gripping a wad of cash was in response to his distaste for Donald Trump.
Our hero, thanks @OneTermDonnie Charles Leazott #Huzzah https://t.co/AXGfmMn416
— Gregg W (@Gman512) July 26, 2019
Leazott, who lives in Richmond, explains to The Washington Post that the doctored presidential seal was never meant for public consumption and admits it is “the most petty piece of art I have ever created.”
Still, Leazott admits that now a photo of Trump standing next to the fake presidential seal is the screensaver on his computer. As a result of this unexpected windfall, the artist has now created T-shirts with the logo and revived his website OneTermDonnie. Leazott says that a percentage of all sales will go to the ACLU. By Thursday afternoon, all of the T-shirts had sold out.
The graphic artist explains that while it’s nice that people are buying the merchandise, the coup de grace is that he was able to stick it to Trump in such a public way.
“It’s cool people are buying this, that’s great and all. But I’ve got to be honest, I am so tickled in the most petty way possible that the president of the United States, who I despise, stood up and gave a talk in front of this graphic. Whoever put that up is my absolute hero.”
