![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/files\/2017\/01\/Screen-Shot-2017-01-24-at-12.37.28-AM-400x354.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The English translation of Martin Luther and Phillip Melancthon\u2019s 1523 Deuttung der czwo grewlichen Figuren, Bapstesels czu Rom und Munchkalbs czu Freyerbeg ijnn Meysszen funden<\/i> is a 19 page pamphlet<\/a> describing two monsters: a pope-ass and a monk-calf. The former, a donkey-headed biped with one hand, two hooves, and a chicken\u2019s foot, per Arnold Davidson, represents how \u201chorrible that the Bishop of Rome should be the head of the Church.\u201d The latter, a creature that brings to mind Admiral Akbar (think, \u201cit\u2019s a trap!<\/a>\u201d),\u00a0 <\/span>illustrates the \u201cfrivolous prattle\u201d of Catholic Sacraments. Davidson explains, \u201cBoth of these monsters were interpreted within the context of a polemic against the Roman church. They were prodigies, signs of God\u2019s wrath against the Church which prophesied its imminent ruin.\u201d Fifty-six years after the pamphlet\u2019s original publication in German, Of two wonderful popish monsters<\/i> was distributed in English.<\/p>\n Nearly 600 years after that, in August of last year, five larger-than-life statues of a naked, blonde, bloated man were affixed to the pavement in highly trafficked areas of Cleveland, San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, and Seattle.<\/p>\n What good are monsters? Is it productive to call our new president one? According to Georges Canguilhem, \u201cthe existence of monsters calls into question the capacity of life to teach us order\u2026a living being with negative value\u2026whose value is to be a counterpoint.” The opposite of life is not death, per the philosopher, it is the monster. In this sense, portraying Dear Leader as a monster might indeed be productive: we are forced to consider him the antithesis of the \u201cnormal\u201d, the opposite of what we actually want or need. Much like the pope-ass and the monk-calf, we understand what is the other, what is not to be sought after. We can tell our children: do not be like this, you will end up with hooves as hands and varicose veins in your legs.<\/p>\n Ambroise Par\u00e9\u2019s 1573 On Monsters and Marvels<\/i> details 13 \u201ccauses of monsters,\u201d including \u201cthe glory of God\u2026God\u2019s wrath\u2026too great a quantity of seed\u2026too little a quantity [of seed]\u201d and so on. The heavily illustrated volume is, like Of two wonderful popish monsters<\/i>, a warning (\u201cwomen sullied by menstrual blood will conceive monsters\u201d) but also a guidebook: here is what causes monsters\u2026avoid these conditions and your offspring will be healthy. \u201cMonsters are things that appear outside the course of Nature,\u201d he writes, \u201c(and are usually signs of some forthcoming misfortune).\u201d<\/p>\n Approaching our president as monster might leave us with too many reasons to look outside of ourselves\u2014outside the course of Nature. If we, instead, consider Donald Trump to be a human being, we might be more likely to reflect on the structural changes required to prevent his ascendancy to begin with. His story is not the non-normal. The disgusting and soulless decisions he has already made by this, the fifth day of his tenure, are capable of being perpetrated by someone inside<\/i> the course of Nature. If we consider the critical distinction here\u2014between monster and not (or, as Canguilhem might suggest, between monster and life)\u2014then we must ask where one begins and one ends. And if Trump is, in fact, a monster, is it because of his actions or because of his body?<\/p>\n To be sure, Indecline has proven itself<\/a> to be a vile, self-promoting group of anarchists. So I can\u2019t say I believe they spent much time considering the ethics of what amounts to petty body-shaming. Back in March, Britney Summit-Gil called out<\/a> a previous Trump-focused body-shame:<\/p>\n The failure to see why it is toxic to critique Trump based on a presumption about his penis is a failure to see the root problems that allow for the perpetuation of genital shaming, and its often horrific consequences. If we can\u2019t see why penis-shaming Trump is bad, how can we tackle systemic sex- and gender-based oppression?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Ensconced in the statues of Trump, The Monster, is a multitude of complex questions about body-shaming, \u201cfreak\u201d culture, disability politics, and more\u2014all of which warrant our attention. But in this moment where our country is falling under the leadership of fascism at its worst, these questions are violently distracting. When a man with the soul of a monster sits in the Oval Office, we must remember that he is not a figure of anyone\u2019s imagination, he is not outside the course of Nature. He is a rapist, a criminal, a pathological liar. And now he\u2019s President of the United States. If, as Davidson writes, \u201cthe history of monsters encodes a complicated and changing history of emotion, one that helps to reveal to us the structures and limits of the human community,\u201d then no, this man is no monster. He must be seen as inside the limits of the human community, a lesson of what other humans are capable of. And it is from there<\/i> that we must fight him: not as a fable or marvel, but as a man.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/files\/2017\/01\/Screen-Shot-2017-01-24-at-12.34.16-AM-272x400.png\")
The statues, made in the likeness of now President Donald Trump, were created by a Las Vegas-based artist, Ginger, using over 300 pounds of clay and silicone and were commissioned by the anonymous graffiti group, Indecline. In an interview<\/a> with the Washington Post, Ginger noted that he has \u201ca long history of designing monsters for haunted houses and horror movies.\u201d In fact, he explained, Indecline chose Ginger \u201c\u2018because of my monster-making abilities.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n