Trump's Portrait

On the United States Department of Justice

Yesterday, I visited the United States Department of Justice, strategically located on Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the United States Capitol.

A few days earlier, two massive banners of President Donald Trump — each several stories tall with the slogan “Make America Safe Again— were hung above the building’s entrances.

Carved nearby into the façade is the department’s Latin motto:

Qui Pro Domina Justitia Sequitur
(“Who prosecutes on behalf of Lady Justice.”)

And the inscription:

“Where law ends tyranny begins.”

Since last May, large portraits of Trump have started appearing on federal buildings. But these take on a more ominous meaning: The Justice Department has long been seen as institutionally independent from direct presidential political messaging.

Looking up, I couldn’t help but think back 23 years, to just after the U.S. invasion of Iraq following Saddam Hussein’s fall. After more than two decades in power, his image was everywhere: painted on walls, displayed in schools, looming over intersections, and dominating town squares. The first image that came to mind was a striking mosaic of Saddam holding the scales and sword of Lady Justice — symbolizing both the weighing of evidence and the power to enforce it. His face had been chipped out, as were the scales of justice.

In the weeks after his fall, I documented the desecrated portraits of Saddam Hussein — the physical symbols of a collapsed regime.

Saddam Hussein's Murals after the 2002 U.S. Invasion

Here are images of two very different moments in time: Trump’s second ascent to power, and the final days of Saddam Hussein’s rule.