On a stretch of the Mexico/US border in Tijuana, not far from the airport, there is an enormous mural of Donald Trump, a red ball gag stuffed in his mouth, his signature combover perfectly styled, with the words “¡Rape Trump!” Nevermind that the Spanish word for rape is actually violar—the point is completely clear.
The mural, which was created by an art collective called Indecline, was spray painted there about a week ago and also features instructions on how to get to Trump Tower from Tijuana. The group’s creative director (who asked not to be named) told me the art was in direct response to Trump calling Mexicans “rapists” during his presidential announcement in June, and again in a clarification of that speech, where he said, “What can be simpler or more accurately stated? The Mexican Government is forcing their most unwanted people into the United States. They are, in many cases, criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc.”
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“Do I feel bad about saying he should get raped? No. Not at all,” the creative director told me. “He’s a pretty horrible person. This was a tongue-in-cheek response to the quote—just kind of throwing it back on him.”
“We don’t honestly expect anyone to crawl over the border and follow the instructions and find Trump and rape him,” said the Creative Director, “but we want to raise awareness [about the] horrible shit he said. Controversy works better than something subtle.”
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