The New York Times: Building a Golden Image for Trump, a Crazy Meme Coin Marketing Campaign

Title: “Don Colossus,” a Golden Statue of President Trump, Awaits Its Home

Author: David Yaffe-Bellany, The New York Times

Compiled by: Luffy, Foresight News

This statue of President Trump is called “Don Colossus.” It stands 15 feet tall, mounted on a base weighing 7,000 pounds, with an overall height comparable to a two-story building. The massive sculpture is cast in bronze and coated with a thick layer of gold leaf. (Note: Don Colossus literally translates to “Giant Trump,” referencing Trump’s larger-than-life persona.)

For over a year, this gilded statue has been at the center of one of the most bizarre gold-rush schemes of the Trump era. A group of cryptocurrency investors spent $300,000 to commission a sculptor to create this statue as a tribute to Trump, who openly supports cryptocurrencies.

They then used the statue to promote a meme coin called PATRIOT.

Now, unexpectedly, this plan seems to be coming to fruition. Last month, a concrete and stainless steel base was completed at Trump’s golf resort in Doral, Florida. According to records reviewed by The New York Times, one of the organizers of the project, Trump’s friend Mark Burns, told collaborators that the president plans to attend the unveiling ceremony of the statue locally.

“This statue looks amazing,” Trump wrote in a December letter to Burns.

Alan Cottrill inspecting his design of the gilded Trump statue in Zanesville, Ohio

Almost everyone in the cryptocurrency world has tried to profit from Trump’s presidency—whether through business deals with his family or seeking regulatory favors from his administration. But few have been as bold as the supporters of PATRIOT.

Meme coins are a type of cryptocurrency that serve little purpose beyond speculation. They are often based on viral internet jokes or celebrity images, with their value entirely dependent on how much their fans are willing to pay. The key to creating a successful meme coin is generating enough online buzz to convince potential buyers that its price will keep rising.

Building a giant statue is an expensive form of social media hype, but it also has the potential to be a profitable venture. According to one organizer, investors who funded the statue received large amounts of the associated tokens, which sometimes experience rapid price surges. Over the past few months, supporters of “Don Colossus” have posted updates on the statue’s progress on X (formerly Twitter), forming alliances within the “Make America Great Again” camp with the goal of achieving a marketing victory: having the statue installed at Trump’s official properties.

By late 2024, the PATRIOT meme coin was officially launched, coinciding with Trump’s promise to make America the “cryptocurrency capital of the world,” causing the token’s price to spike. During a weekend event in Washington held around Trump’s inauguration, supporters presented a bronze mini-statue to Trump’s former advisor Steve Bannon and interacted with other conservatives.

However, repeated delays and internal disputes cast a shadow over the scheme, revealing the volatility of the meme coin market—a market riddled with scams where investors often lose everything. Last year, the PATRIOT token’s price plummeted nearly to zero. To rush the completion of the statue and boost the token, investors clashed with Ohio-based sculptor Alan Cottrill.

In text messages reviewed by The New York Times, Cottrill said investors still owed him $75,000 in intellectual property fees for the statue.

“You’re using my copyrighted image of the statue to promote your token!” he wrote last month to one of the supporters.

“Yeah, haha, we planned to do that from day one,” replied Ashley Sansalone, a crypto developer involved in the project, who also worked on another token called Elon GOAT.

Alan Cottrill’s sculpture of Elon Musk

Sansalone stated in a statement that full payment would be made to Cottrill before the unveiling. “In any commercial agreement, a portion of the payment is withheld until the finished product is delivered,” he said.

But it remains unclear when the statue will be officially displayed.

On Monday, after The New York Times inquired with the White House and Trump Organization about the PATRIOT token, Eric Trump, the president’s son, issued a statement on X.

“We appreciate everyone’s support and enthusiasm,” he said, “but to be clear, we are not involved in any way with this token.”

Creating “Don Colossus”

The plan to create “Don Colossus” originated in a group chat on the messaging app Telegram. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts often use this platform to exchange investment tips and promote tokens. It was July 2024, shortly after Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was pictured raising his fist with a determined expression.

Sansalone wanted to turn that defiant image into the core visual for a meme coin. He collaborated with right-wing activist Dustin Stockton, and well-connected crypto investor Brock Pierce also joined, despite Pierce’s history of legal and financial disputes.

Soon after a bullet grazed Trump’s ear, Sansalone contacted 73-year-old Cottrill, whose bronze sculpture of Edison is displayed in the U.S. Capitol. Over the years, Cottrill has sculpted statues of more than a dozen U.S. presidents, including 10-foot-high memorials of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Cottrill in his studio surrounded by sculptures

The crypto investors hoped Trump’s statue would surpass previous works in grandeur and requested some aesthetic modifications.

“My initial sculpture was very realistic,” Cottrill said in an interview last month. “The crypto crowd asked me to trim some of the excess flesh around his neck and make him look a bit slimmer.”

By the time Trump took office, Cottrill had completed the sculpture. At that point, the bronze giant had not yet been gilded but was the tallest of all his works. In December, Trump shared a report from Blabrat News on social media, stating Stockton was in talks with the presidential inauguration committee to hold an unveiling during inauguration weekend.

The timing was perfect: the PATRIOT token had just gone on sale.

The website proclaimed: “A cryptocurrency for the people, this statue is an indelible symbol.”

But the project soon faced two major setbacks. Cold weather in Washington caused logistical issues, forcing the postponement of the unveiling. Meanwhile, just before the inauguration, Trump launched his own meme coin, TRUMP.

While traders scrambled to buy the official token, Stockton and Pierce held an “Patriot Award” event at the National Press Club in Washington, distributing miniature models of the statue.

“The atmosphere was instantly cooled because Trump’s token suddenly skyrocketed in price,” Cottrill said.

By the end of January, ATRIOT’s value had fallen over 90%.

A “Treasure Land”

Despite these setbacks, the crypto investors continued their promotional efforts. In February last year, notorious former Congressman George Santos appeared on Fox News showcasing a miniature Trump statue and mentioning the PATRIOT token.

A small gilded Trump figure with raised fist, surrounded by similar dark statues

Stockton shared the video on X, claiming, “This kind of exposure is priceless!” In a brief phone interview, Santos said, “I took money to promote it, and I’m always honest about that.”

The investors also sought to bring in another influential ally: Burns. A well-known pastor and Trump confidant, sometimes called the president’s unofficial “spiritual advisor.”

After Pierce introduced Burns to the project team, Burns quickly became involved, proposing to gild the bronze statue with gold leaf.

“The president just asked me for photos of the statue after it was gilded,” Burns wrote in a message to collaborators last November.

Trump’s wish was finally fulfilled. Sansalone told the team he consulted a gold leaf supplier in New York that had previously decorated Trump Tower. Cottrill also shared photos of the latest finished statue.

“It’s dazzling, exquisite,” Sansalone replied.

“Wow… I’ll send this to the president,” Burns wrote.

Clearly, Trump was moved by the statue. Last month, Cottrill traveled to Florida and installed the 7,000-pound base at Trump’s Doral golf resort. Stockton boasted on social media that it was a “treasure land.” In a January message to collaborators, Burns said the White House staff was actively working to finalize the date for the president’s attendance at the official unveiling.

Trump National Doral, Florida

This should have been Cottrill’s moment to shine, but he said he’s had enough of the crypto investors behind the scenes.

Cottrill claimed that until fall 2024, he only recently discovered that these investors were using his likeness to promote a digital currency, which he believes infringes on his intellectual property rights.

He reached an agreement with the investors, who paid him $150,000 for the rights to the statue. But he says he has yet to receive the remaining funds, and with other unpaid fees, they still owe him about $90,000.

Crypto investors demand the statue be tall enough and have made some aesthetic modification requests

“In my view, they never bought the rights properly; they’re using it illegally,” he said. “Unless all debts are settled, this statue will never leave my foundry.”

But the project organizers claim they haven’t made much money from it.

Burns said he has never asked for or received any compensation. Stockton told us the PATRIOT token is just a fundraising tool meant to support the costs related to the statue.

“I haven’t seen anyone get rich off this,” Stockton said.

A spokesperson for the Trump Organization, Kimberly Benza, stated that the company only learned about the meme coin after The New York Times inquired this week. She did not respond to questions about whether the unveiling will proceed as scheduled.

The farce has not stopped the project’s promotion on social media. An account associated with the token recently posted photos of the Doral statue’s base and pinned a detailed message on how to buy the meme coin.

“This dream is still alive,” Sansalone and Burns said during a live stream on January 16.

Besides the giant statue, the team also hopes to gift Trump a miniature gilded version. “We want to have a collectible to put in the Oval Office,” Sansalone said.