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 giant sculpture is cast in bronze and coated with a thick layer of gold leaf. (Note: Don Colossus literally translates to “Giant Trump,” referring to Trump as a giant.)

For over a year, this gilded statue has remained 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 plan, Trump’s friend Mark Burns, told collaborators that the president plans to attend the statue’s unveiling ceremony locally.

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

Alan Cottrill inspects the gilded statue of President Trump he designed 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 easing 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, often built around viral jokes or celebrity images, with their value entirely dependent on how much network fans are willing to pay. The key to creating a 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 represents a potential profit scheme. According to one organizer, investors funding the statue received large amounts of the associated tokens, which sometimes saw rapid price surges. Over the months, supporters of “Don Colossus” posted updates on the creation process on X (formerly Twitter) and formed alliances within the “Make America Great Again” camp, aiming for 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 the U.S. the “global cryptocurrency capital,” causing the token’s price to spike. During a weekend event in Washington held around the presidential 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 gold rush plan, revealing the turbulence of the meme coin market: rife 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 for intellectual property rights related to 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. Sansalone is a crypto developer involved in the PATRIOT project and another token called Elon GOAT.

Alan Cottrill’s commissioned 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.

This week, after The New York Times inquired with the White House and Trump Organization about the PATRIOT token, Trump’s son Eric Trump 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.”

The Creation of “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. In July 2024, shortly after Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, he raised his fist in a defiant gesture.

Sansalone wanted to turn this rebellious 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 stands in a room filled with sculptures

The group of crypto investors hoped the Trump statue would be taller than previous works and requested some visual modifications.

“I initially sculpted a very realistic likeness,” 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 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 reposted a report from Breitbart News about the project, which said Stockton was communicating with the presidential inauguration committee to plan a ceremony during inauguration weekend.

The timing of the repost was perfect: it came shortly after the PATRIOT token’s launch.

The official website proclaimed: “A cryptocurrency for the people, this is an indelible statue no one can erase.”

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

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

“The atmosphere on site immediately cooled because Trump’s token suddenly soared in value,” Cottrill said.

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

“A Piece of Prime Land”

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

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

Stockton shared the clip on X, claiming, “This kind of exposure is worth more than money!” In a brief phone interview, Santos said, “I took money to promote it, and I’ve always been straightforward 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 him to the project team, Burns began participating in the statue work. He quickly became a key figure in pushing for the project’s revival, 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 text to collaborators, Burns said the White House staff was actively working to finalize the date for the official unveiling.

Trump National Doral Golf Club, Florida

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

Cottrill claims 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 eventually reached an agreement with the investors: they would pay 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 request some visual modifications

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

But the organizers insist the project hasn’t made much money.

Burns said he has never asked for or received any compensation. Stockton told us in an interview that the PATRIOT token is merely a fundraising tool 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 associated X account recently posted photos of the Doral statue’s base, along with a pinned message detailing how to purchase the meme coin.

“This dream remains alive,” Sansalone said during a live stream with Burns on January 16.

Besides the giant statue, the team also hopes to present Trump with a miniature gilded version of the same design. “We want to have a collectible for the Oval Office,” Sansalone said.