It looks like Donald Trump finally has a presidential portrait he can be proud of.
Just months after Trump called out the Democrat governor of Colorado for allowing a painting of him to hang in the State Capitol that he said was “purposefully distorted,” the White House unveiled the president’s new official portrait Monday to much better reviews.
On Tuesday’s show, Megyn was joined by Link Lauren, host of MK Media’s Spot On with Link Lauren, to discuss the striking image and how it correlates to the president’s rising approval ratings.
The Portrait
The White House unveiled a new portrait of Trump on Monday that will be hung in federal buildings and used in other official capacities. The striking photograph, captured by chief White House photographer Daniel Torok, features the president in his signature red tie against a dark backdrop.
According to CNN, the image lacks two elements that had become fairly standard in presidential portraiture over the last 50 years: a happy expression and an American flag in the background.
Trump instead is wearing a flag pin on his lapel. And while he has a softer expression in this photograph than he did in the one released by his transition team earlier this year, Trump is not smiling. “He’s got a hint of a smile on his face here, but it’s not like a big smile,” Megyn noted. “He’s got the serious eyebrows that look almost slightly furrowed, but he doesn’t look mean.”
In Megyn’s view, it is a “badass” and “effective” portrait that speaks to “so many aspects” of his personality. “I love it… It’s unlike any other presidential portrait we’ve ever seen,” she said. “It captures so much about him, where he has zero effs to give, but he is still in good humor, he is tough, he has been through a lot and is still standing, and he looks wiser in this photo than a lot of the other portraits would project.”
Lauren said he considers Torok a friend and thinks he takes “incredible” pictures of the president that are appropriate for the moment. “When we look at these portraits, you can see a man who has been through the lawfare and assassination attempts. He has been through the ringer,” he noted. “There is no one in public life who could take the hits President Trump has and still get back up with a smile on their face and feeling jovial, and jubilant, and happy.”
“The cherry on top is that President Trump’s hair also looks great… the skin looks great, the coloring looked great,” Lauren added. “So, shout out to you, Daniel.”
The Approval Ratings
The release of the photo comes amid a new wave of polling that shows Trump’s approval rating is on the rise. Rasmussen has the numbers at 53 percent approval, 46 percent disapprove. A TrafalGarGroup poll released over the found that 53.7 percent of Americans approve of how Trump is doing compared to 45.6 percent who disapprove. Others have his approval rating below 50 percent but still above previous levels.
The RealClearPolitics average of 15 different pollsters, including those mentioned here, shows Trump’s overall favorability at 47.5 percent versus 49.7 percent disapproval. These numbers have improved from lows of a 45.1 percent favorable approval rating and 52.4 percent disapproval rating and at the end of April.
Megyn said the growth is remarkable when you consider the fact that Trump does not benefit from positive media coverage. “All he gets is ‘Nazi,’ ‘Hitler,’ ‘fascist,'” she noted. “But the American public has learned to totally discount the media when it comes to Trump. They know about the TDS [Trump Derangement Syndrome].”
Lauren believes the photo and the polling all speak to a mood shift ushered in by the second Trump administration. “I feel like that picture perfectly encapsulates the ‘Final Boss of F-you,’ and I’ve been calling this the FAFO [f-ck around and find out] administration… because… these are people you do not want to cross,” he said. “[Trump] is just sort of like a video game character… Yesterday, there was a barrage of bad press, got shot at, something horrible happened. But it’s about what are we doing today to make the country better? And I think that is incredible.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Lauren by tuning in to episode 1,085 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.