
Fox News pundit Sean Hannity on Monday night mused on Twitter whether art-loving "leftists" would properly appreciate a YouTube video featuring a painting of President Donald Trump clutching a torn broken flag on a football field — and immediately got an art history lesson he didn't ask for.
"The 'left' loves art, and especially taxpayer funded art that is 'provocative,'" Hannity tweeted. "Let’s get their reaction to this."
Though it remains unclear whether artist John McNaughton was paid by the government to paint his "Respect the flag" ode to the president, Twitter nevertheless took the opportunity to school him both on art history and on public arts funding.
"I just want to say that Guernica has been surpassed," journalist Sam Thielman joked, referencing Pablo Picasso's 11-foot-long magnum opus.
"This is almost as good as my favorite public school mural, Visual Ode To Pisschrist," reporter Talia Lavin said, citing Andres Serrano's controversial "Piss Christ" piece that features Jesus Christ on the cross contained within a urine-filled vessel.
this is almost as good as my favorite public school mural, Visual Ode To Pisschrist https://t.co/lwFBk4i3ka— Talia Lavin (@Talia Lavin) 1519702413.0
Veteran and photojournalist J. M. Giordano, meanwhile, took a page out of Nazi history to describe his reaction to McNaughton's imaginative take on athletes protesting police brutality.
"'Degenerate art (German: Entartete Kunst) was a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe Modern art.'" he tweeted, citing a definition of the movement banned during the Third Reich. "'During the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, such art was banned in Nazi Germany on the grounds that it was un-German.'"
“Degenerate art (German: Entartete Kunst) was a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe… https://t.co/DOzciibvBN— J. M. Giordano photo (@J. M. Giordano photo) 1519699821.0
Check out the best reactions below:
this is art in the same sense that a Thomas Kinkade knock-off motel painting is art or a photoshop of your dog play… https://t.co/0Yi55koBHA— kilgore trout (@kilgore trout) 1519699032.0
You know @seanhannity, this painting might’ve been relevant if the man holding the flag actually knew the words to… https://t.co/sWpbpVlD6A— Kara Casanova (@Kara Casanova) 1519703807.0
A masterwork. You can see in Trump’s expression this is the first time he has ever tried to clean an object by hims… https://t.co/hWL1NV6HTl— James Urbaniak (@James Urbaniak) 1519703452.0
Wow. The next Picasso. Timeless, creative, masterful. I’m at a loss for words. https://t.co/nw4mYEUDn4— Emily C. Singer (@Emily C. Singer) 1519700453.0
Did you mean to pick a painting where Trump looks like he’s trying to remember which lot at Disneyland he parked in https://t.co/rexbmK9F1L— AK Lingus In Cartoon Form (@AK Lingus In Cartoon Form) 1519699426.0
I call it "Drunk Exhibitionist Displaying His Cumrag" https://t.co/aamnTEShje— Manager of the Folkhemmet (@Manager of the Folkhemmet) 1519704488.0
Just waiting for Hannity to declare that the painting of Washington Crossing The Delaware is a threat to conservati… https://t.co/wTmFQy4r4Y— Natalie Fertig (@Natalie Fertig) 1519704202.0
oh thank god I thought it was going to be a portrait of Hannity doing a karate chop https://t.co/OimNLdjBbV— BigMcLrgHuge (@BigMcLrgHuge) 1519703519.0
Does he think people left of Nixon explode upon exposure to a flag or something Jon McNaughton is Thomas Kinkade f… https://t.co/dUE5sG38HP— enrico palazzo, winner of junior high geo bee (@enrico palazzo, winner of junior high geo bee) 1519704487.0
It looks really bad, Sean. Just a really really bad painting. https://t.co/AFHlRzyO5C— big time influencer guy on here (@big time influencer guy on here) 1519700065.0
a flag in that condition should be burned, and it's a really poor likeness of Trump. the skin tone is all wrong--it… https://t.co/cd0Lkxy6SG— Pumpkin Fright👨⚕️🍕 (@Pumpkin Fright👨⚕️🍕) 1519699450.0
And this piece of called “Confused Racist Grandpa with Safety Blanket Yells unintelligibly at Those That Scare Him”. https://t.co/BrbKMK94D8— NICKinNOVA (@NICKinNOVA) 1519702292.0
You got scalloped potatoes for brains mate. You gotta go see the monsignor your nan is worried about you love. https://t.co/k4xfWPTYbf— luke oneil (@luke oneil) 1519702193.0
New John McNaughton painting: “Bewildered Old Man Wanders On To a Football Field Carrying His Blanket” (2018) https://t.co/OfYMn1FeqA— c a i t l i n (@c a i t l i n) 1519703711.0