“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals,” Sir Winston Churchill famously once said. Pigs are indeed a very lovable animal, and if these specific pig balloons get the opportunity to obstruct the lettering on Trump Tower Chicago, they’ll become even more endearing.
It may be for only one day, and the city of Chicago certainly seems to be against this idea, but it still could happen.
Pigs could fly. Hell might freeze over. The Chicago Cubs could win the World Series. Oh wait, scratch that last one.
Trump’s Presidential victory in November was such an unlikely occurrence, in the eyes of almost everybody except his supporters that it easily falls into the “when pigs fly” category. A New York Times op-ed, on the tax cut for the wealthy masquerading as a health care bill which passed the house this past Thursday reminds us of how ridiculous it is that Trump is President.
POTUS 45 himself even expressed this sentiment during his self-congratulatory Rose Garden party with the GOP House of Representatives.
“Hey, I’m president,” Trump told his sycophants, or in this case, sickophants. “Can you believe it, right?”
No, I can’t.
Enter architect Jimmy Roberts, of New World Designs Limited; potentially Via DNA Info:
The architect who wants to provide “visual relief to the citizens of Chicago” by blocking the Trump International Hotel & Tower’s 20-foot-tall sign with golden balloon pigs has launched an ambitious fundraising campaign to make his renderings a reality.
The pigs would fly for one day only in August or September, and the big-ticket art display requires making the big pig balloons, city permits and renting a barge, among other costs.
“As designers this is a contribution we can make” to society, said Jeffrey Roberts of Chicago-based New World Design. “It’s really building a community of people to react to something physically.”
To meet those mighty costs, Roberts has since launched a crowdfunding campaign with a mighty goal of reaching $250,000.
Trump Tower resides at 401 N. Wabash on the banks of the Chicago River, and thus the pig balloons would be held in place by a barge which place them strategically as to block out the letters T-R-U-M-P. Long before the divisive figure rose to political prominence, the lettering on Trump Tower was a contentious issue. The signage has been reviled on an apolitical level for a very long time. The lettering is regarded to be aesthetically displeasing due to the magnitude of the oversizing.
The main obstacle for the pig balloon project is river traffic, which is especially busy that time of year and would be further impaired by a stationary barge.
According to One-Way Street, “The design inspiration comes from the concert props for Pink Floyd’s Animals tour, which came to Chicago in 1977.”
Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters, who owns the copyright to the pigs imagery which inspired this project, has given his blessing.
Waters is a well known and fiercely outspoken critic of Trump.
If this installation does happen, it continues the feud between Trump and the city of Chicago. There are several reasons for that, and it’s multi-layered, the acrimony Trump has for the city.
Since assuming office, Trump has only increased his racist dogwhistle rhetoric in which he attempts to portray the city as a dystopian hellscape.
Hundreds moon #trumptower send message to @realDonaldTrump @POTUS to show his tax returns #rumpsagainsttrump #TheResistance #NeverTrump ???? pic.twitter.com/MGPZrnRflz
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) February 12, 2017
On the other side, the national wave of protests against the President has seen the Chicago demonstrations all end at Trump Tower. From the Women’s March to the Tax March to the Science March, once the marching concluded in Chicago, protests were held outside Trump Tower.
There was even a mass mooning of the building in February. If and when pigs fly in front of Trump Tower, it would be yet another chapter in the story of the nation’s third largest city vs. the 45th POTUS.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes to WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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