Trump and Vance’s Official Portraits Are as Ugly as It Gets
Donald Trump and JD Vance debuted new presidential and vice presidential portraits Thursday and, boy, are they weirdly sinister.
Daniel Torok, the president-elect’s chief photographer, revealed the portraits on X Wednesday evening. “We are entering the GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA,” Torok wrote.
“They go hard,” wrote Trump’s transition team in a press release hyping the official portraits.
Clearly, the purpose of these photographs was to evoke some kind of masculine energy that would delight the manosphere. In Trump’s portrait, the president-elect went for a glowering stare reminiscent of his unsettlingly viral 2023 mugshot taken in Fulton County jail, which has appeared on everything from a commemorative $2 bill to NFT trading cards sold by the president-elect and his buddies.
This marks a significant departure from the toothy grin he sported in his portrait from 2017, signaling a new strongman Trump who wants everyone to think he’s really tough. To be sure, he does look kind of scary scary—but mostly because his partially cocked eyebrow manages to make his other eye appear somewhat collapsed.
There is also the shock of bright white light that makes the 78-year-old’s eyes appear the same color as his hair.
Meanwhile, Vance’s portrait showed off his startlingly blue eyes. Almost too blue, some felt.
Like Trump, Vance’s face also reflected a supernatural glow and a ghoulish gleam that painted his face in an entirely different color than his hands—something he could have in common with Trump, whose face is typically darkened to a burnt orange.
Despite their technical similarities, some online noted that the two portraits had extremely different vibes.