New protest statue unveiled on National Mall in honor of Veterans Day

Photo courtesy of Emma Cieslik.

BY EMMA CIESLIK November 11, 2026

On Monday, the resistance art collective Secret Handshake unveiled a new work of protest art. The larger-than-life gold statue called THE FOOT SOLDIER depicts Trump seated on a granite pedestal rubbing his bare foot. The statue references President Trump’s own efforts to dodge the draft during the Vietnam War with a diagnosis of bone spurs. 

A metal plaque affixed to the pedestal describes Trump as a “soldier in spirit.” “We salute a leader who knows you can’t spell sacrifice without ‘I,’” the plaque continued, “and a warrior who reminds us that sometimes when you’re called to stand up, it’s best to just sit down and rest your feet.”

According to a representative for Secret Handshake, the same artist collective that unveiled larger-than-life protest pieces on the Mall like the golden toilet and Trump-Epstein birthday card, THE FOOT SOLDIER will be on the National Mall through this Wednesday, Veteran's Day. 

Image courtesy of Secret Handshake.

The monument will also include a six-foot draft-dodging bone spur mascot named “Toey.” Played by a person in a giant hairy toe suit, “Toey” will "celebrate Trump’s unique history with military service and pay tribute to the president's feet,” a statement from Secret Handshake read. When I visited the statue on Monday morning, “Toey” was currently on break, according to two security guards hired by the artist collective, but the sneaker-wearing digit would return soon. 

In the meantime, passersby, including runners and several photographers, paused to take photos. All declined to comment about the work but laughed and smiled.  

A representative for Secret Handshake told me that this sculpture was timely given escalating tension between the United States and Iran. “As President Trump continues to wage wars and threaten new ones, we think it’s time to harken back to a time when he would do whatever it takes to stay out of combat. I hope people find joy and laughter and fun from this.”

When asked what the collective hopes visitors will take away, the representative replied that the plaque makes it clear, along with the “context of a President who avoided military service then ordered others to serve in  a war that the vast majority of Americans never wanted.”

Photo courtesy of Emma Cieslik.

The sculpture also reflects growing pushback from veterans about Trump’s plan to construct his “Triumphal Arch” in between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery. 

At a protest this past Thursday, two 80-year-old veterans called the plan "sacrilegious,” infringing on sacred land where their loved ones and fallen colleagues were buried. These veterans also called out Trump’s five draft deferments during the Vietnam War, four of which were educational and one was medical when a Queens doctor diagnosed him with bone spurs in his heels. At the protest, they criticized his willingness to construct an arch that would shade service members who gave their lives defending the country. 

When asked about the ableist implications of the piece given that bone spurs, also called osteophytes, are real and painful, the representative hoped that “the context and aim of this statue and mascot would point to it being clear we are in no way making fun of ‘bone spurs’ or the condition of bone spurs or people who actually have bone spurs.”

Instead, they continued, “we are highlighting bone spurs as the excuse that was used to avoid military service from someone that then required military service of many others for his own war.”

“It’s still a very dark time in this country,” they continued, “but we want to talk about things happening in the world through a fun and satirical lens.”