The (semi) secret history of Trump’s Andrew Jackson portrait
President Trump has hung a painting of Andrew Jackson in a prominent spot in the Oval Office, just behind his desk and off to the side. It’s meant as a visual comparison: Trump has embraced the idea that he’s a modern-day Old Hickory, a populist outsider and scourge of Washington elites. It was painted by Ralph E. W. Earl, a close friend of Jackson who churned out a stream of images aimed at convincing voters that the seventh president was a worthy member of America’s founding pantheon.