Inflatable 'Trump Rat' Pops Up In Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA – From the nude sculpture of President Donald Trump to the Trump Chicken, the president has been the target of critics with a passion for the arts. Now, Philadelphia has a new "art" display that jabs at Trump right in Center City.

On Monday morning, a New York City art gallery owner inflated a "Trump Rat" art display on Thomas Paine Plaza by the controversial Frank Rizzo statue. On Rizzo's birthday in fact.

While Trump Rat was on Thomas Paine Plaza briefly Monday morning, organizers were forced to move the display to the sidewalk as they did not possess permits to set it up on the plaza.

"Trump Rat" is pretty easy to understand: it depicts Trump as a human-rat hybrid.

John Post Lee and artist Jeffrey Beebe dreamed up Trump Rat, or Trumpy the Rat, and debuted it in New York City earlier this year. Trump Rat also showed up in Washington DC in late August.

The inflatable caricature of Trump was funded by a Kickstarter campaign that raised $10,090 of its $10,000 goal from 227 backers between March 20 to April 19 this year.

"The intent is to fabricate an inflatable Trump Rat and get it out into the world, keep it circulating, and loan it out to protests," Lee says of Trump Rat.

Lee said there is no financial incentives for him or any partners involved in the project and that it simply serves as a piece of resistance art.

Lee speaks about Trump Rat in the video below:

A post shared by BravinLee Programs (@bravinlee) on Oct 23, 2017 at 8:41am PDT

Photo used with permission from Instagram user wechslerh66