'Pirate' Trump Focus Of Elaborate Halloween Display In West Hartford

WEST HARTFORD, CT — A Halloween display at a West Hartford home is certain to stir up controversy, but its architect is hoping that it also sparks conversation. Matt Warshauer has been decorating his North Main Street home for the last 20 years and the displays have grown in popularity each year. It began simply with a witch, a graveyard and some spooking ghouls but Warshauer took a political turn with the displays several years ago over his outrage of the Iraq War in the aftermath of 9/11.

Warshauer has followed last year’s “Trump Wall” display with “The Trumpian Ship of State” that was completed this past weekend. The display is a giant pirate ship, the USS Constitution, run by a smoke-breathing President Donald Trump and features fired FBI Director James Comey walking off a plank among other characters, according to FOX 61.

Warshauer, a History professor at Central Connecticut State University, told FOX 61 that this year’s display was the most-time consuming one he’s done so far. He is hoping that people start talking and engaging in facts instead of just yelling and “Facebooking” at each other, according to FOX 61.

Warshauer wrote on his blog, The Mindful Professor, that he came up with the idea for this year’s display earlier than ever before — one day after the 2016 presidential election.

“Like so many Americans, I was horrified and deeply concerned for the future of our nation and the world,” Warshauer wrote on the blog. “My immediate thought was that the American ship of state had gone horribly off course. But what could I really do about it?

“As a history professor, I try to get people to reflect and consider their own ideas of what they believe and why. I do this almost every day through teaching, but I also try to reach a wider audience through Halloween. The ship of state is off course. So what should I do? Build a HUUUUGE ship. A tremendous, tremendous ship. And, what should it be called? Why, the USS Constitution, of course!”

Warshauer said that he decided to make the display be a pirate ship because “that’s what Trump and his merry band are, pirates, and they’re pillaging our nation. What should Americans – we the people – do? Fight! That’s what. I’m not advocating violence. Just good old fashioned dissent, the cornerstone of democracy.”

To see a time-lapse video of the construction of the USS Constitution display and other information, visit The Mindful Professor here.

Like West Hartford Patch on Facebook below:

Image via Shutterstock