Artist statement by Scott Feinblatt:
Sometimes what a person doesn’t say is just as telling as what they do say. This has been a recurring theme in The Trump Administration Show. While he has been quick to decry facts (inauguration figures, Russia’s involvement in election, tax cuts since Reagen, etc.), institutions (free press, the Ninth Circuit Court, the FBI, etc.), groups (Democrats, Mexicans, Woman’s Marchers, etc.), and individuals (Chuck Schumer, John McCain, Meryl Streep, etc.) when they do not fit his fantasy narrative, during important moments, Trump’s lack of condemnation for institutional racism (during Charlottesville riots / murder), foreign enemies (Russia in its ongoing political meddling), and ineffective gun legislation (following massacres in Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, Parkland, etc., etc.) have revealed the prejudices of a man who is ethically compromised andmorally bankrupt. Following the recent school shooting on Valentine’s Day, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the nation’s eyes once again looked to the president for hope. His response was as flaccid as it was predictable; he blamed the FBI, the community, and, ironically, inefficent mental health policies — ironic since Trump, himself, signed into law a repeal of a measure meant to restrict firearm purchase by people with mental illnesses. The murder of 17 people at this Florida high school marked the one year anniversary of Trump’s elimination of this preventative measure.
Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is Editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).