# Trump's portrait of Kaiser Wilhelm **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 9, 2023, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264 "2023-06-09T20:04:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/1 "2023-06-09T20:04:19Z")
This article about [the scene at Bedminster](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/09/us/politics/trump-indictment-club-bedminster-nj.html?unlocked_article_code=5tRTb389mfvMp9SZEbU7WqJi51YcPJ6XYVjNMvzuUeau2elekk_7N8zW3wy0b40Xby2EMxUOtHKs8y_fmA0Wf5xlguW2hJZqhOp_RYywaE8xjEUFywyBaXw0NrDaBwxKcQAARRFq99K7Rf6VgynJACVlxLfLDYdFkwk2qOzxqkLr_Tpf0lGAiCKgMIjpW4z-Ls-ZhfEJj31huR2LSGRMMSI8XIkr70ehpI9Awl8GdQ28o5GJ4amRMvorJx_0d490FbTbFASp8qGDhkz0V62XARk_k6I_HmCjF9J_aUAun8CBTksIKgXr0bLbGWTcNfnNTaqFpyriQMmm8WyR8HuuCUoGbyPHybLYZSeOlfYVYEY&smid=url-share) when Trump was told about his indictment says > As speculation intensified ahead of the Justice Department’s notification of the indictment, Mr. Trump’s team pretaped a video of the former president reacting to the expected charges in a speech direct to the camera — and standing in front of what appeared to be a version of a painting of President Theodore Roosevelt and Kaiser Wilhelm II, Germany’s leader during World War I. I’d love to see a photo of that! I googled Trump and Kaiser Wilhelm and there are a lot of articles during the time he was in office comparing him to the Kaiser. But I’d like to see him and the Kaiser portrait on location at his club. Can anyone find it? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/2 "2023-06-09T20:07:42Z")
Over here: > [@How has the disgraced former President Trump pissed you off today?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-has-the-disgraced-former-president-trump-pissed-you-off-today/942178/3763): > > Did anyone else notice the hand gesture Teddy Roosevelt appears to be making in the painting behind Turmp? [[image] ](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/_xoTFTpQNIn4kDbBH4I7cw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTY0MDtoPTUxMw--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_independent_635/445eeb910c051d8da80a0cfa90a2eeec) That’s not an accident. Roosevelt is behind Trump’s head. [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FyJOay2WYAE5nrf.png) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FyJOay2WYAE5nrf.png) ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/3 "2023-06-09T20:09:29Z")
Yeah but where’s the Kaiser portrait? 🤪 Or is the guy in the top-hat the Kaiser? eta: I guess that’s the Kaiser. So case solved! Next question, who painted this and what is it purportedly showing? Is TR telling the Kaiser to go shove it? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/4 "2023-06-09T20:15:46Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > who painted this Apparently this guy: > **[Jean Leon Gerome Ferris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Leon_Gerome_Ferris)** > > Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (August 8, 1863 – March 18, 1930) was an American painter best known for his series of 78 scenes from American history, entitled The Pageant of a Nation, the largest series of American historical paintings by a single artist. > Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ferris was the son of Stephen James Ferris (1835-1915) : a portrait painter who was a devotee of Jean-Léon Gérôme (his teacher after whom he was named), and also an admirer of Mariano Fortuny. He grew up around art... ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/5 "2023-06-09T20:18:30Z")
Thanks! I also found [this explanation](https://www.bridgemanimages.com/en-US/ferris/president-theodore-roosevelt-of-the-united-states-of-america-and-the-german-kaiser-wilhelm-ii-in-the/oil-on-canvas/asset/41668) which says > President Theodore Roosevelt of the United States of America and the German Kaiser Wilhelm II, in the dispute over the German Blockade of Venezuela, 1902 attempt to make Venezuela’s President Cipriano Castro to recognise his country’s financial obligations; Roosevelt (1858-1919); Wilhelm (1859-1941); British warships also involved; Roosevelt corollary to the Monroe Doctrine; I’m not going to try to understand T’s state of mind re: this painting. It’s interesting that lots of people have compared T to the Kaiser and that he has this painting on his wall. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/6 "2023-06-09T20:23:04Z")
Just to point out that the painting behind tanTrump is not the same **Skywatcher** linked to in his quote from “the disgraced former President…”, but a copy, and a mediocre one at that. All the surfaces are very flat and the rug does not keep the room together, but has vanished. Oh, it has a signature by the paper basket. And a gilded frame (probably stolen). That is not an accident either, and not the first time he has shown off a stolen picture or a badly copied one he claims is the original [(cite)](https://www.insideedition.com/fake-hues-renoir-painting-hangs-trump-tower-knock-art-institute-says-37341). ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/7 "2023-06-09T20:23:08Z")
Wiki link to [the Venezuelan crisis of 1902-1903.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_crisis_of_1902%E2%80%931903) Now to figure out what it’s doing in Bedminster. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/8 "2023-06-09T20:28:34Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > I’m not going to try to understand T’s state of mind re: this painting. I doubt Trump had any hand in picking this picture for the conference beyond, “Something old timey and presidential.” But to the extent that someone in his org put some thought into this particular image, I’d suspect its the association with Roosevelt that they’re aiming for. T.R. was, in many ways, what Trump pretends to be: a bombastic populist who was genuinely interested in cleaning up corruption and who put the common good ahead of corporate and political interests. The painting represents exactly what Trump wants people to see him as. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/9 "2023-06-09T20:32:55Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’d suspect its the association with Roosevelt that they’re aiming for. And not the Kaiser’s right hand? I could be wrong, but my mind went to the worst possible explanation, and trump thought (or someone thought for him) that it’d make a nice dog whistle. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/10 "2023-06-09T20:48:43Z")
I don’t know who Kaiser Wilhelm would be a dog whistle for, tbh. Does he have any currency as a far right symbol? I’d like to think I’m better informed than the average Nazi, and I wouldn’t have known who that was without the caption, so I’m not sure how useful this would be as a dog whistle. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/11 "2023-06-09T20:50:43Z")
The [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_crisis_of_1902%E2%80%931903) says > Fourteen years later (during the 1916 a presidential campaign when he was calling for the United States to enter the World War against evil Germany), Roosevelt claimed that Germany’s acquiescence to arbitration came from his threat to attack the German ships in Venezuelan waters using Dewey’s fleet. Historians have been debating Roosevelt’s veracity for a century. According to historian [George Herring](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Herring) in 2011 No evidence has ever been discovered of a presidential ultimatum. This story is very interesting. Apparently the U.S. allowed Germany to militarily intervene in Venezuela (the Venezuelan dictator assumed the US would prevent it). Ultimately there were negotiations between Germany/Britain and Venezuela. Then at the outset of WWII, Roosevelt took credit for the negotiations taking place, i.e. rewriting history. to make it sound like he had forced the Kaiser to back down. I assume someone must have given this painting to Trump? I wonder who? Anyhow that’s just a guess. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/12 "2023-06-09T20:52:38Z")
That painting is a poor likeness of Kaiser Willy. Der _real_ Wilhelm: [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/UCXHBzq.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/UCXHBzq) The Kaiser and Trump have in common a vast ego, unstable temperament and quickness to take offense, but the Kaiser was also considered quite intelligent. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/13 "2023-06-09T21:23:40Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I don’t know who Kaiser Wilhelm would be a dog whistle for, tbh. His right hand appears to be making that “white power” gesture that looks like an ok symbol. At least I think that’s what is meant by > [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > And not the Kaiser’s right hand? I could be wrong, but my mind went to the worst possible explanation, and trump thought (or someone thought for him) that it’d make a nice dog whistle. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/14 "2023-06-09T22:12:02Z")
Looks to me like Monty Python missed a golden opportunity by never writing a sketch with Graham Chapman as the Kaiser. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/15 "2023-06-09T22:18:04Z")
[Don’t be silly](https://www.thisdaytrivia.com/thumbnail/Graham-Chapman-as-the-Colonel.jpg). I found it amusing that after visiting Germany, Enver Pasha (the Ottoman Empire’s Minister of War in WWI) copied the Kaiser’s mustache. [![](https://imgc.allpostersimages.com/img/print/posters/unknown-ismail-enver-pasha-enver-pasha-1881-1922-ottoman-military-officer-c1914_a-L-15776600-14258382.jpg) ](https://imgc.allpostersimages.com/img/print/posters/unknown-ismail-enver-pasha-enver-pasha-1881-1922-ottoman-military-officer-c1914_a-L-15776600-14258382.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/16 "2023-06-09T23:31:22Z")
That’s a mustache that can only be worn by a man who knows that no-one would dare laugh in his face. ---
**Author:** ![loriloolee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@loriloolee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/loriloolee)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/17 "2023-06-10T01:12:36Z")
That’s was my first thought too. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/18 "2023-06-10T01:36:48Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > That painting is a poor likeness of Kaiser Willy. Der _real_ Wilhelm: That paint is indeed a poor likeness of Willy. In particular, it doesn’t show Wilhelm’s withered left arm and hand, which he had from birth. [https://blogs.bl.uk/untoldlives/2014/02/treating-the-kaisers-withered-arm.html](https://blogs.bl.uk/untoldlives/2014/02/treating-the-kaisers-withered-arm.html) ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/19 "2023-06-10T06:48:22Z")
The second figure in the painting isn’t Wilhelm II but the German ambassador to Washington, Theodor von Holleben. [Theodor von Holleben - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_von_Holleben) ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264/20 "2023-06-10T12:34:15Z")
Interesting too, that the reason the Trump family is in the USA is because his grandfather skipped the country to avoid being arrested in Germany for avoiding the WWI draft. I don’t imagine the Kaiser figures prominently in the family’s list of respected figures. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-portrait-of-kaiser-wilhelm/985264.md?page=2)