By Colonel (Ret) Ann Wright
On a motorized float designed and built several weeks into the Trump administration for the Rose Monday celebration before Lent in Cologne (Koln), Germany, the likeness of President Trump vividly illustrates what is becoming more of his view toward the world and toward citizens of the United States.
Trump Giving the Middle Finger to the World
On the float, Trump has the world perched on his middle finger, a derogatory symbol known world-wide.
With Trump and Vance’s mega-bully job on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, February 28, 2025, Trump’s image of giving the finger to not only Zelensky, also the leaders of the European community who met with Zelensky one day later on March 1 in London seems to symbolize Trump’s view of European leaders.
As the Guardian reported: “Zelenskyy came to the White House to sign a deal for US involvement in Ukraine’s mineral industry to pave the way for an end to the three-year war. The president has inspired many by refusing to flee Kyiv when Russia launched its invasion – “I need ammunition, not a ride” – delivering nightly addresses to rally his people and visiting his troops on the frontlines.”
The Guardian ironically characterized Trump as: “a profile in courage who dodged military service in Vietnam because of alleged bone spurs and who hid in the White House during the 6 January 2021 riot. Trump has reportedly described soldiers who die in combat as suckers and losers. He was impeached for trying to strong-arm Zelenskyy in 2019 and last week called him a dictator.”
Statue of Liberty Knocked Flat on Her Stomach
Also on the float is a replica of the Statue of Liberty, a statue that is known from a poem by Emma Lazarus and placed as a plaque on the statue as a beacon of hope to those fleeing oppression:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost (tossed) to me.”
Ironically, the inspiration for the poem came from Emily Lazarus’ involvement in aiding Jewish refugees from eastern Europe. After seeing the conditions in which many of these people lived, she expressed her empathy and compassion through the lines of the poem.
On the float, the Statue of Liberty has been knocked down onto her stomach, no doubt in reference to Trump’s idea of sending Palestinians away from their lands as a part of the Israeli genocide of Gaza and ethnic cleansing of the West Bank, as well as a symbol of Trump’s deportation of migrants, calling them "criminals," surely meaning to inflame his blindly loyal MAGA base.
The Statue of Liberty also is no doubt offended by Trump’s proposal to sell a pathway to U.S. citizenship by offering a $5 million “Gold Card” visa to investors, replacing the 35-year-old EB-5 visa for investors who spend about $1 million on a company that employs at least 10 people.
Lady Justice on her knees
Lady Justice is depicted as kowtowing on her knees to the hundreds of Trump's executive directives...except the courts are finally standing up to his pronouncements that are negatively affecting every aspect of our federal government's ability to help its citizens.
While the anointed, but not confirmed, Trump’s alter ego, "Special Employee" Elon Musk, is supervising the destruction of many federal agencies and neuters those that do not fall into line with his mega-financial exploits with Telsa and Space X!!!
One Small Float Says It All About Trump and His Policies
It's amazing that on one small float in Germany as a part of the celebration of the Easter season, the worldwide effects of Trump and his administration are portrayed with stunning accuracy.
About the Author: Ann Wright served 29 years in the U.S. Army/Army Reserves and retired as a Colonel. She was a U.S. diplomat for 16 years and served in U.S. Embassies in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia. She resigned from the U.S. Department of State in March 2003 in opposition to the U.S. war on Iraq. She is the co-author of “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.”
