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NewsCut
Bob Collins

In the snow, a respite from constant Trump

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sculpture
In this Jan. 31. 2018 photo, a clay sculpture sits as an example for Team Minnesota at the U.S. National Snow Sculpting Championship in Lake Geneva, Wis. Carrie Antlfinger | AP File

Not popular, perhaps, with the anti-Trump crowd, but we can see the point of the authorities with the National Snow Sculpting Championships in Lake Geneva, Wis., to ban Dusty Thune's snow sculpture depicting Donald Trump.

These sorts of things are designed to be escapes -- either from the monotony of winter, or the uselessness of politics and politicians.

Last year, the Minnesota team created a sculpture -- as the Associated Press put it -- "that showed Trump’s hair and neck as a twisted pile of feces featuring his tweets."

So this year the competition put it in the rules: no politics.

The team’s first proposal called, “Statue of Tyranny,” depicted Trump as the Statue of Liberty with a child in a cage beneath him. When that was turned down because of political overtones, they submitted “Descension,” which depicted people being moved down an escalator into a gear, which Thune said explored the process of self-destruction through greed and loss of empathy.[Event organizer Don] Berg said the imagery was too extreme and not family friendly.

With Team Thune banned from the competition now, another team from Minnesota took its place last weekend.

It took first place, the Pioneer Press reported.

Thune says he'll be back.

“It will probably be political if that’s still what’s going on in the world today because we have something to say we’re not going to sit back and sit down and be quiet,” Thune tells the AP.