A gilded statue mocking U.S. President Donald Trump’s Vietnam-era draft deferment appeared on Washington’s National Mall on Monday, two days before Veterans Day, The Guardian reported.

The installation, titled The Foot Soldier, depicts Trump seated and rubbing a bare foot. It was placed near the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden by the Secret Handshake, an anonymous artists’ group, according to reporting by The Guardian’s Ariana Baio.

The work targets Trump’s 1968 diagnosis of bone spurs, which allowed him to defer the Vietnam War draft after graduating from college. Its plaque sarcastically describes him as “a soldier in spirit who marched to the front lines of dodging the draft, armed with a perfect diagnosis of bone spurs.”

The installation also includes “Toey,” a six-foot-tall costumed toe character that the artists described as an interactive element.

Trump has long faced allegations that he used the diagnosis to avoid military service. The Guardian cited earlier New York Times reporting alleging that a Queens foot doctor provided the diagnosis as a favour to Trump’s father, as well as former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s 2019 congressional testimony alleging deliberate draft avoidance.

Responding to the installation, White House spokesperson David Ingle attacked the artists as “Democrat activists” and said Trump “will never waver in fighting for and protecting the American people.”

The Secret Handshake said the statue and mascot would remain on the National Mall through Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

Sources