Damning Anti-Trump Street Art Shines A Light On His Chilling Vow

GOP nominee Donald Trump’s fantasizing to Fox News’ Sean Hannity last year about acting like a “dictator” only on “day one” of a potential second administration provided the inspiration for street artist and illustrator Jacob Thomas ’ new protest art project.

Thomas earlier this month wheat-pasted prints of his image of Trump as former Chinese Communist Chair Mao Zedong — underneath the word “Dictator” — in Brooklyn, New York City, in the first activist art protest he’s conducting against Trump before the 2024 presidential election in November.

“The message is simple: we cannot live in a country led by a dictator,” Thomas told HuffPost via email, explaining his mission as not to “change the minds of hardcore Trump supporters” but to “motivate Democrats to vote because if we don’t, we risk losing this critical election.”

Jacob Thomas' protest street art in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

“When a sexist, racist, xenophobic, bully represents our country, I not only lose that pride [for America] but also fear for our future,” Thomas explained. “I believe people when they show me who they are, and Trump has made it clear: he’ll be a dictator from day one. He will stop at nothing to win.”

Thomas expressed particular concern over Project 2025 . The right-wing Heritage Foundation think tank’s lengthy playbook is widely expected to form the basis of policy in a possible second Trump White House.

Increased scrutiny of the document has, however, prompted the former president to try to distance himself from it and its more extremist, potentially vote-losing strategies. Trump’s dismissal, though, has been slammed by MSNBC’s Ali Velshi and others as “ complete and utter B.S. ”

Project 2025 will turn America “into a Hitler-like regime where our freedoms are stripped away,” feared Thomas. Trump “has lied to America so much that we’re numb to it, but he can’t hide his true nature — which is a complete tyrant.”

Thomas' art of Trump as Soviet Union’s Josef Stalin and Italy’s Benito Mussolini.

Thomas wants to distribute his artwork to activists nationwide and has launched a crowd-fundraising initiative on GoFundMe to do so.

“With support, we can print and distribute more pieces on the streets, especially in areas like construction sites with temporary walls and heavily graffitied neighborhoods where this kind of art thrives. The more support we have, the more cities we can hit,” he told HuffPost.

“More comparisons to dictators” — such as those above of Trump as the Soviet Union’s Josef Stalin and Italy’s Benito Mussolini ― will be printed alongside more humorous pop art takes, such as Trump as Donald Duck (seen below), he said.

And with the end of President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, described by Thomas as “the best thing he could’ve done for our country,” the artist teased future images boosting Vice President Kamala Harris “assuming she is our candidate” or “whomever the candidate will be to rally our base.”

Thomas' depiction of Trump as Donald Duck.

Have you seen or created any protest art or street art? Email your images and information to lee.moran@huffpost.com or send a direct message via Instagram .