Good morning,
You probably heard that the US and Ukraine have signed a monumental minerals deal, but the real geopolitics is going on behind closed doors, as US president Donald Trump gazes at himself in a Russian portrait.
"I hope it will play its role and bring peace to the world," the Russian painter, Nikas Safronov, solemnly told Reuters in an interview on Thursday (1 May).
It's a painting of Trump fist-pumping the air after the failed assassination attempt against him in July 2024, which Russian president Vladimir Putin sent him in March.
"I went to a nearby church and prayed for him [Trump] ... then I started to make sketches," Safronov said, recalling his inspiration.
For those unfamiliar with his oeuvre, imagine a style with the technical finesse of those pictures of dogs playing poker that you see in old hotels, but with less intellectual depth, and added sycophancy – such as this example of Putin cosplaying a Renaissance king.
Trump’s Russia envoy Steve Witkoff found the Trump fist-pump portrait “beautiful” and said Trump himself was “clearly touched by it”.
Wiktoff showed his critical acumen also in the Palais de l'Élysée in Paris in April: “This gold detailing … this is fabulous,” he said of one of its 18th century salons.
“You know what this looks like? This actually looks like president Trump’s club at Mar-a-lago,” his epiphany went on.
Meanwhile, Trump has started redecorating the White House to look like his Florida mansion, for instance, by putting gold cherubs in the Oval Office.
"They’re gold, all gold. It’s angels," he told reporters in April.
And Putin likewise has a tacky private palace, complete with golden toilets.
As the Ukraine geopolitics play out, it remains to be seen which side of history Trump is on, or if Safronov's portrait will play a pivotal role in world events.
Maybe he wasn't sycophantic enough, and if he'd only painted Trump as a fist-pumping Egyptian pharaoh instead, it would have been game over for the West.
Or if he'd added a cheerleader with a "Mar-a-lago face".
But the fact Trump and Maga share the same taste as Putin and the greatest art (Safronov) which Putinism could produce should give pause for concern amid the Ukraine minerals optimism.
Morality is also matter of taste, according to German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
"Justice ... is by all means a matter of taste, nothing more", he said in The Gay Science, in a red flag on the new Russo-American affinity.
And if Nietzsche was right, then maybe the EU Council should also commission Safronov to do a piece for its summit chamber in Brussels, for instance one of Trump riding on a unicorn bare chested - to act as a warning to EU leaders of what they’re dealing with.
– Andrew Rettman, foreign affairs editor
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