New York Magazine Art Critic on CNN: WH Painting Represents 'That Kind of Old, Very White Male America'

During Monday's edition of CNN Tonight With Don Lemon, the eponymous host discussed a portrait of President Trump alongside previous Republican Presidents with New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz.  Saltz complained that the painting did not represent an accurate portrayal of President Trump's physical appearance: "He's shed about 40 pounds, he's got sort of a washboard chest I had no idea."  When Saltz remarked that "the hands are teeny," Lemon broke out in laughter. Saltz also found a way to work the late Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin into the conversation, describing the painting as an example of "social realism," which "Stalin used a lot of." Eventually, Saltz brought up how the painter of the image, called "the Republicans' Club," described his upbringing as "a Leave it to Beaver like childhood in Carthage, Missouri."  Then, out of nowhere, Saltz brought race into the conversation saying that the painting represents "that kind of old, very white male America."  After Lemon and Saltz discussed how President Trump probably liked the picture because he was at the center of it, Saltz also wondered "what would have happened had Obama put the same painting in the White House of himself having a great dinner with the Founding Fathers."