British museums are vying to permanently own the 'Trump baby' blimp

Donald Trump blimp.
(Image credit: TOLGA AKMEN/AFP/Getty Images)

The giant balloon that depicted President Trump as a cantankerous, diaper-clad baby was a big hit when thousands of protesters took to the streets during Trump's U.K. visit. Apparently, it's not just the #resistance of Britain that thought the "Trump baby blimp" was fantastic — museums are hoping to add it to their collections.

The inflatable president is in high demand, with the British Museum and the Museum of London battling it out with other institutions who want to document the moment in protest history, The New York Times reported Friday.

While the British Museum wants to display the 20-foot balloon in an exhibition on the history of dissent and protest, the Bishopsgate Institute wants to keep the inflatable in its permanent collection of protest artifacts. The Design Museum in London and the Victoria and Albert Museum are also interested in collecting the balloon, which traveled from London to Edinburgh to protest Trump while he visited last week.

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Kevin Smith, a Londoner who was part of the group that created the Trump baby, said that museums are not the only ones interested in making the project a more permanent fixture of Trump protests. He said the group has raised around $44,000 to take the balloon on a "Trump baby world tour." Read more at The New York Times.

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Summer Meza, The Week US

Summer Meza has worked at The Week since 2018, serving as a staff writer, a news writer and currently the deputy editor. As a proud news generalist, she edits everything from political punditry and science news to personal finance advice and film reviews. Summer has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, covering national politics, transportation and the cannabis industry.