Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

demmiblue

(36,742 posts)
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 10:02 AM Sep 2020

Trump Ended 2018 France Trip Having Art Loaded on Air Force One

Source: Bloomberg

After Donald Trump’s planned trip to a French cemetery for fallen Marines was canceled in November 2018, the U.S. leader had some extra time on his hands in a mansion filled with artwork. The next day, he went art shopping -- or the presidential equivalent.

Trump fancied several of the pieces in the U.S. ambassador’s historic residence in Paris, where he was staying, and on a whim had them removed and loaded onto Air Force One, according to people familiar with the matter. The works -- a portrait, a bust, and a set of silver figurines -- were brought back to the White House.

The decision to cancel Trump’s visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery outside Paris is under new scrutiny after the Atlantic magazine on Thursday published a bombshell report that Trump belittled the American servicemen buried there, part of a broader history of disparaging certain people who’ve served in the military. Trump has vehemently denied making the comments about “suckers” and “losers” in the armed forces.

Never previously reported is Trump’s spur-of-the-moment art caper before leaving the ambassador’s residence.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-09-06/trump-ended-2018-france-trip-having-art-loaded-on-air-force-one






71 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Trump Ended 2018 France Trip Having Art Loaded on Air Force One (Original Post) demmiblue Sep 2020 OP
Someone needs to check and make sure those art pieces are in the White House. Autumn Sep 2020 #1
+1 Baitball Blogger Sep 2020 #10
+ 2. He's a fkg con man and thief. nt iluvtennis Sep 2020 #23
Damn straight! 2naSalit Sep 2020 #24
Looters rumleyfips Sep 2020 #46
THAT'S the word I was looking for! 2naSalit Sep 2020 #49
Yes! If this did happen, he has lots of accomplices! It's just one thing after another with him!... Illumination Sep 2020 #42
Yeah, I have read more than one speculation about five-finger discounts... CBHagman Sep 2020 #48
Fake art but is it fake news. rumleyfips Sep 2020 #50
He wanted to get his Nazi on. Hassin Bin Sober Sep 2020 #63
Better make sure that he didn't steal it, etc. SWBTATTReg Sep 2020 #2
Kind of sounds like he did. gab13by13 Sep 2020 #3
another example of how his narrow little mind works. What's in it for me, me, me?? Evolve Dammit Sep 2020 #4
Just when I thought he couldn't be more tacky PatSeg Sep 2020 #5
Well, the good news is it's not going to be six years after all. eppur_se_muova Sep 2020 #6
Ohh! Shiny! BKDem Sep 2020 #7
The Puppet wouldn't go the cemetery to honor the Fallen Soldiers.. Cha Sep 2020 #59
Nobody's getting any of that shit back. JohnnyRingo Sep 2020 #8
Maybe there are some "gifts" from Putin in these pieces and the "copy" which could explain why he Pachamama Sep 2020 #9
Good point! 2naSalit Sep 2020 #26
President Biden better figure on spending time at Fort Meade every day jmowreader Sep 2020 #58
Sounds like Hermann Goering exboyfil Sep 2020 #11
+1 dalton99a Sep 2020 #19
+2 appalachiablue Sep 2020 #71
Life imitates art. [spoiler alert] mahatmakanejeeves Sep 2020 #12
The figurines that caught Trump's eye : left-of-center2012 Sep 2020 #13
Now this explains why Trump couldn't go to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery Botany Sep 2020 #14
Trump was channeling Hitler; decided to plunder French art pieces. Doug.Goodall Sep 2020 #15
Just when you think you've heard everything... llmart Sep 2020 #16
Well the only crimes Trump hasn't done is Cattle Rustling and Illegal Gill Net Fishing Botany Sep 2020 #17
Do we know that's true? llmart Sep 2020 #20
Strip search all of them and hope we have an especially cold January. jaxexpat Sep 2020 #52
Worst job in the world... llmart Sep 2020 #55
WH Office of the Curator would do well to check and see what has already been stolen from the WH. Solly Mack Sep 2020 #18
Joe is gonna have send his dogs in to get Trump out. Botany Sep 2020 #21
Hope not. Trump would get his sons to shoot any animal coming inside. Solly Mack Sep 2020 #25
Joe's Shepards look like they are "working dogs" too. I am sure if Joe or Jill were threatened Botany Sep 2020 #27
He does look trained. Such a dog would protect them. Solly Mack Sep 2020 #28
That is a beautiful animal .... but I am sure it has or had job to do. Keep Joe and Jill safe. Botany Sep 2020 #30
He's gorgeous. And he does look like he'd take a nip out of an intruder. He's loved and loyal. Solly Mack Sep 2020 #35
He's gorgeous too shanti Sep 2020 #65
Any family with a German shepherd is all right with me. mudstump Sep 2020 #37
LOL At The Mental Image Of That Dog's Jaws Clamped Onto Tweetolini's Fat Orange Ass nt smb Sep 2020 #38
Is he Hermann Goring now? Aristus Sep 2020 #22
re: "producing...in the 1920s and 1930s and passing them off as 16th-17th century sculptures" thesquanderer Sep 2020 #29
Tump knows great art Botany Sep 2020 #32
Possible titles lunatica Sep 2020 #45
I would think Waldo51 Sep 2020 #43
Only if there's a nude Milania draped over a leased jet in it. marble falls Sep 2020 #60
Or a Fabio tacky romance book cover. LuckyLib Sep 2020 #61
It's extremely rare a DUzy is awarded on one's first post Brother Buzz Sep 2020 #62
Dogs playing poker JustGene Sep 2020 #67
Stolen art? By a dictator? CTyankee Sep 2020 #31
They're going to have to do a serious AleksS Sep 2020 #33
trash RicROC Sep 2020 #34
And, we the taxpayer are paying for the elitist whims of an entitled snob. mudstump Sep 2020 #36
If he takes anything of OURS out of the White House duforsure Sep 2020 #39
i just hope he doesn't remove these pieces from the white house when he is kicked to the curb dawn5651 Sep 2020 #40
Nazi's were big fans of looting art they fancied. nt Hotler Sep 2020 #41
He and every single supporter are the lowest forms of life Eliot Rosewater Sep 2020 #44
Who does he think he is Hermann Goering, taking art from France. Historic NY Sep 2020 #47
I thought the same thing but he's more like the German Colonel in the movie "The Train" winstars Sep 2020 #56
Didn't want to risk messy hair or honor "losers" so he went thieving ..um...shopping instead. NoRoadUntravelled Sep 2020 #51
I doubt if connecticut yankee Sep 2020 #53
Probably forgotten about them by now. He was just bullying again. sarge43 Sep 2020 #54
Is nothing beneath him? uppityperson Sep 2020 #57
Nothing of value will be left in the White House. sarcasmo Sep 2020 #64
Trump reportedly took home $750,000 worth of art from the home of the US ambassador to France in 201 Judi Lynn Sep 2020 #66
Thief-in-chief DesertRat Sep 2020 #68
Just make sure that the originals and copies nykym Sep 2020 #69
Waiter, there are SNAILS on her plate! Take it away! And bring me some FRESH wine! lagomorph777 Sep 2020 #70
 

Illumination

(2,458 posts)
42. Yes! If this did happen, he has lots of accomplices! It's just one thing after another with him!...
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 11:55 AM
Sep 2020

CBHagman

(16,968 posts)
48. Yeah, I have read more than one speculation about five-finger discounts...
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 12:23 PM
Sep 2020

...when Donald Trump is dislodged from the White House.

rumleyfips

(27 posts)
50. Fake art but is it fake news.
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 12:23 PM
Sep 2020

Sounds like the loot was all fake. Please let me introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste.

eppur_se_muova

(36,227 posts)
6. Well, the good news is it's not going to be six years after all.
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 10:10 AM
Sep 2020

4-5 months, tops.

That's assuming they thoroughly search 45's luggage -- and pockets -- on his way out of the People's House.

Cha

(295,899 posts)
59. The Puppet wouldn't go the cemetery to honor the Fallen Soldiers..
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 03:41 PM
Sep 2020

but he would scoop up art pieces from France.

I thought "presidents" were suppose to accept gifts like this?

JohnnyRingo

(18,580 posts)
8. Nobody's getting any of that shit back.
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 10:12 AM
Sep 2020

The White House will look like they had a rummage sale by the time we get him out.

Pachamama

(16,873 posts)
9. Maybe there are some "gifts" from Putin in these pieces and the "copy" which could explain why he
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 10:12 AM
Sep 2020

....would reject the original?

Maybe Vladdy Daddy was able to sneak listening devices into the White House with help from his handy tool Donald J. Trump?

jmowreader

(50,447 posts)
58. President Biden better figure on spending time at Fort Meade every day
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 03:17 PM
Sep 2020

Thanks to Trump, the White House is no longer a secure area...and I suspect the Pentagon isn’t either. NSA has a good SCIF, and they’d let the Administration work in one of their Class I conference rooms.

mahatmakanejeeves

(56,873 posts)
12. Life imitates art. [spoiler alert]
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 10:27 AM
Sep 2020

Thu May 30, 2019: Died, 44 years ago today: Michael Simon; "Papa Boule" in "The Train"

I stumbled across this by accident. The Train has been on TV twice already this week.

Michel Simon



Simon in the trailer for The Train (1964)

Born: François Joseph Simon, 9 April 1895, Geneva, Switzerland
Died: 30 May 1975 (aged 80), Bry-sur-Marne, France

Michel Simon (French: [simɔ̃]; 9 April 1895 – 30 May 1975) was a Swiss actor. He appeared in the notable films La Chienne (1931), Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932), L'Atalante (1934), Port of Shadows (1938), The Head (1959), and The Train (1964). The actor François Simon is his son.





The Train (1965 film)

The Train is a 1964 American war film directed by John Frankenheimer.[1] Its screenplay—written by Franklin Coen, Frank Davis, and Walter Bernstein—is loosely based on the non-fiction book Le front de l'art by Rose Valland, who documented the works of art placed in storage that had been looted by the Germans from museums and private art collections. Arthur Penn was The Train's original director, but was replaced by Frankenheimer three days after filming had begun.

The film stars Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield and Jeanne Moreau. Set in August 1944, it sets French Resistance-member Paul Labiche (Lancaster) against German Colonel Franz von Waldheim (Scofield), who is attempting to move stolen art masterpieces by train to Germany. Inspiration for the scenes of the train's interception came from the real-life events surrounding train No. 40,044 as it was seized and examined by Lt. Alexandre Rosenberg of the Free French forces outside Paris.
....

Production
....

During an interview with the History Channel, Frankenheimer revealed:

• The marshalling yard attacked during the Allied bombing raid sequence was demolished by special arrangement with the French railway, which had been looking to do it but had lacked funding.
• The sequence in which Labiche is shot and wounded by German soldiers while fleeing across a pedestrian bridge was necessitated by a knee injury Lancaster suffered during filming - he stepped in a hole while playing golf, spraining his knee so severely that he could not walk without limping.
• When told that Michel Simon would be unable to complete scenes scripted for his character as a result of prior contractual obligations, Frankenheimer devised the sequence wherein Papa Boule is executed by the Germans. Jacques Marin's character was killed for similar reasons.
• Colonel von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) is told, at the scene of the last major train wreck, by Major Herren (Wolfgang Preiss), "This is a hell of a mess you've got here, Colonel." This line became a metaphor for complicating disasters on Frankenheimer films thereafter.
• Colonel von Waldheim was originally to engage Labiche in a shootout at the film's climax, but after Paul Scofield was cast in the role, at Lancaster's suggestion Frankenheimer re-wrote the scene to provide Scofield a more suitable end—taunting Labiche into killing him.

Frankenheimer remarked on the DVD commentary, "Incidentally, I think this is the last big action picture ever made in black and white, and personally I am so grateful that it is in black and white. I think the black and white adds tremendously to the movie."

Throughout the film, Frankenheimer often juxtaposed the value of art with the value of human life. A brief montage ends the film, intercutting the crates full of paintings with the bloodied bodies of the hostages, before a final shot shows Labiche walking away.

{I will add:}



The Train (10/10) Movie CLIP - A Lump of Flesh (1964) HD
631,482 views•Jul 16, 2013

Movieclips
43.3M subscribers

The Train movie clips: http://j.mp/1BcPcR0
BUY THE MOVIE: http://j.mp/1bq3eT6
Don't miss the HOTTEST NEW TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/1u2y6pr

left-of-center2012

(34,195 posts)
13. The figurines that caught Trump's eye :
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 10:40 AM
Sep 2020

In an “Antiques Roadshow” moment,
(London-based art dealer Patricia) Wengraf described the figurines as “20th century fakes of wannabe 17th century sculptures,” and of little value.

(from the linked article)

Botany

(70,281 posts)
14. Now this explains why Trump couldn't go to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 10:40 AM
Sep 2020

He was too busy stealing art from the US Embassy.



Doug.Goodall

(1,241 posts)
15. Trump was channeling Hitler; decided to plunder French art pieces.
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 10:48 AM
Sep 2020

Trump demonstrated his connections with the Fuhrer and brought some stolen French art back to the Fatherland.

llmart

(15,499 posts)
16. Just when you think you've heard everything...
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 10:49 AM
Sep 2020

this comes out. He will no doubt be taking whatever he can when he's booted out of our House.

llmart

(15,499 posts)
20. Do we know that's true?
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 11:00 AM
Sep 2020

He's got a long history of crime so anything's possible. Plus, he always gets others to do the dirty deeds for him while he profits.

Solly Mack

(90,740 posts)
18. WH Office of the Curator would do well to check and see what has already been stolen from the WH.
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 10:58 AM
Sep 2020

Check before Trump leaves.

Keep an eye on the items taken from France. Were they even inventoried in at the WH?

Trump and his family would steal anything and everything they could.

Solly Mack

(90,740 posts)
25. Hope not. Trump would get his sons to shoot any animal coming inside.
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 11:05 AM
Sep 2020

They aren't exactly animal-friendly people.

Though it would be memorable to see Trump and family hustled out at gunpoint by keepers of "law and order". That would be almost too funny.

Botany

(70,281 posts)
27. Joe's Shepards look like they are "working dogs" too. I am sure if Joe or Jill were threatened
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 11:08 AM
Sep 2020

... his dogs would take care of business.

The one in this picture might be too old but he has a younger one.

Solly Mack

(90,740 posts)
28. He does look trained. Such a dog would protect them.
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 11:11 AM
Sep 2020

My mini-dachshund would gladly take an ankle out and is very protective of me.

Still, wouldn't trust a Trump around an animal.

Solly Mack

(90,740 posts)
35. He's gorgeous. And he does look like he'd take a nip out of an intruder. He's loved and loyal.
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 11:28 AM
Sep 2020

Which is a good thing. I haven't seen their newest, younger pup, yet.

thesquanderer

(11,953 posts)
29. re: "producing...in the 1920s and 1930s and passing them off as 16th-17th century sculptures"
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 11:14 AM
Sep 2020

Leave it to Trump to want the work of some grifter.

lunatica

(53,410 posts)
45. Possible titles
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 12:17 PM
Sep 2020

Portrait of the family jewels
Self fellatio
Get a load of this package!
Come hither ladies
What? It’s the way I always look
Eat your hearts out gents
The secret to my success
God’s favorite
Rum commercial
Reaching for his gun


AleksS

(1,665 posts)
33. They're going to have to do a serious
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 11:21 AM
Sep 2020

Inventory of the White House and all other embassies, etc. I would not be surprised if the Trump crime family’s been looting them since day one.

duforsure

(11,882 posts)
39. If he takes anything of OURS out of the White House
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 11:35 AM
Sep 2020

Its a federal crime he CAN be charges with when he's done, and he should be reminded what the consequences will be if he attempts to do that so he can't claim he didn't know.

winstars

(4,213 posts)
56. I thought the same thing but he's more like the German Colonel in the movie "The Train"
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 12:36 PM
Sep 2020

A real scumbag!!!

Judi Lynn

(160,211 posts)
66. Trump reportedly took home $750,000 worth of art from the home of the US ambassador to France in 201
Mon Sep 7, 2020, 06:49 AM
Sep 2020

Trump reportedly took home $750,000 worth of art from the home of the US ambassador to France in 2018 after canceling a World War I cemetery visit

Sinéad Baker 7 minutes ago

President Donald Trump took home $750,000 worth of art from the home of the US ambassador to France during the 2018 visit where he canceled a journey to visit American World War I dead, according to a new Bloomberg report.

According to the outlet, the transfer caused tension between officials, but was deemed legal because the pieces are US property.

But, after being displayed in the White House, they were discovered to be fakes and replicas.

Bloomberg reported that Trump had extra time to spend in the Paris residence after canceling a visit to a cemetery for American soldiers killed during World War I, and found some pieces of art that he liked inside.

More:
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-took-art-us-ambassador-france-home-canceling-wwi-event-2020-9

lagomorph777

(30,613 posts)
70. Waiter, there are SNAILS on her plate! Take it away! And bring me some FRESH wine!
Wed Sep 9, 2020, 04:04 PM
Sep 2020

None of this old stuff!

Latest Discussions»Latest Breaking News»Trump Ended 2018 France T...