Opinion: Dems need to take time to keep Trump’s portrait out of Colorado Capitol

If you go to the Colorado Capitol, you’ll see an empty space on a wall where a portrait of President Donald Trump once hung. That space should remain empty.

Why in the world would we hang a new portrait of Trump there? He’s threatening our democracy. Lying about elections. Glorifying a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol. Undermining the legitimacy of the courts. Violating the separation of powers. Acting like he’s a dictator, not a president.

Trump doesn’t deserve wall space anywhere, much less in our Capitol.

Democratic leaders in Colorado are saying that they have better things to do than fight with Republicans over whether to remove the Trump portrait and hang a new one in its place.

“If the GOP wants to spend time and money on which portrait of Trump hangs in the Capitol, then that’s up to them,” wrote state House Democrats in a statement to the Associated Press.

Susan Lontine sat on the state Legislature’s Capitol Building Advisory Committee when it approved the existing Trump portrait in 2018.

Lontine recalls that “everyone was happy” about the initial painting. Then-state Rep. Dan Pabon (D-Denver) and former state lawmaker Dorothy Butcher (D-Pueblo) even donated to commission the Trump portrait.

To block a new portrait, Democratic lawmakers would appear to have to get a vote of the entire Legislature, chewing up valuable time.

Some Democrats say this isn’t justifiable. 

I see the point. It starts with, how does Colorado fund the basic government we rely on? There’s a billion-dollar deficit on the table, and the federal government is in flames. 

But most of the country, including a lot of Trump voters, are looking for ways to resist the Trump madness. 

Blocking a new portrait from hanging at the Colorado Capitol isn’t substantive, but it would help make the point — which isn’t being made loudly enough — that the normal rules of respect for this president are out the window. He’s the president, but he doesn’t deserve a place anywhere near Joe Biden, Barack Obama, or George Bush. 

No law requires it. 

In fact, the guidelines about art at the Capitol argue against a Trump portrait being there.

The overall goal of art and memorials at the Colorado Capitol is to reflect the “enduring cultural and historical values the Capitol and its grounds represent to the citizenry of Colorado,” according to the written guidelines of the State Capitol Advisory Committee.

“Enduring cultural and historical values.” Trump? Democrats should take some time and reject any new Trump-approved portrait that Republicans want to hang under the gold dome. And explain why they don’t want it.

Editor’s note: This opinion column first appeared on the Colorado Times Recorder website.