Trump’s Golden 'Don Colossus' is a yet another warning sign of America's imperial decline.
Karen Attiah at The Golden Hour (05.15.2026):
It’s 8:16 pm ET. Welcome to the evening sunset edition of The Golden Hour. Today, as I watch the light of day literally run out, today’s Golden Hour essay is about golden statues. And how they can be the symbolic bearers of bad news about the light going out in dying empires. [...] I have been following the news reports about Trump’s colossal gold statue, aka " Don Colossus,” which was unveiled last week at Trump National Doral Miami resort in Florida. It is 22 feet tall, and reportedly cost about $450,000 to erect. The statue was paid for by the $Patriot memecoin crypto investors. The statue has drawn immediate backlash, with critics likening it to idol worship. And, plenty in the news media and on social media say that this is like the story of the golden calf in the Bible. The scrutiny got so bad that they trotted out a Black Republican pastor, Mark Burns, to defend the statue and say it’s not idol worship. Yes, everyone is making the Golden Calf references. It’s perhaps one of the more recognizable stories and symbols even with non-Christians, so I understand why. For the uninitiated, the "golden calf’ story refers to when Moses took a little too long to return from Mount Sinai while he was receiving the Ten Commandments. In his absence, the Israelites who were waiting for him grew impatient, melted their gold jewelry, and formed a golden calf to worship instead of God. Of course, God— and Moses, got pissed. Moses burned the calf, mixed the gold powder with water, and forced the Israelites to drink it. God handled the Israelites the Old Testament way— he sent a plague upon them. Pastor Burns is right, to an extent; my colleagues in the media are getting it wrong.
Trump’s statue is not a ‘golden calf’. The golden calf story is the wrong narrative frame. There’s more in the well of Biblical symbols we can draw from to understand ‘Don Colossus’— and the trajectory of the American empire. Trump is more of a King Nebuchadnezzar figure than he is a golden calf. Which means that America is Babylon. And in both Biblical and historical terms, the Babylonian Empire came to a sad end. So, the ‘Don Colossus’ statue is a golden warning of America’s fall.
Great column from Karen Attiah on Donald Trump and the blasphemous “Don Colossus” statue.
