It seems somehow fitting that a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame has become a symbolic battleground for America's stark divide on President Trump. The Donald Trump star, in honor of The Apprentice, has been destroyed twice in the past two years, most recently in late July. The man who claimed responsibility for taking a pickax to Trump's star, Austin Clay, was bailed out of jail by James Otis, the man who took a sledgehammer to the star in November 2016. And the West Hollywood City Council just voted unanimously to remove the star over his treatment of women, a decision that isn't theirs to make.
But the fear of losing the Trump star was enough to spur a group of Trump-loving street artists to jump into action, and on Wednesday night, they installed dozens of vinyl Donald Trump stars on blank squares around the stars of Trump critics. "Keep taking down the @realDonaldTrump star, and we will further spread Trump Derangement Syndrome by installing a never ending stream of stars," the group, calling themselves The Faction, wrote on Twitter, with video of their work.
The unidentified conservative street artist who made the realistic-looking Trump stickers told The Hollywood Reporter he spent $1,000 on the first batch of stars, with the money coming at least partly from "a young and anonymous entrepreneur." "If no one peels these off, they could last there for 10 years," the artist said, but it's a good thing The Faction took pictures, because cleaning crews and employees of stores along Hollywood Blvd. began removing the stars at 5 a.m. Thursday.
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The Faction isn't the only group going to silly lengths to make a brief, symbolic stand on the Donald Trump star. In a bout of world-class trolling, two men dressed as Russian soldiers stood guard over the star in the days after its most recent destruction.
Keep in mind, late July was really hot in Los Angeles.
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