LAS VEGAS — Call it the pop-up that didn’t stay up. Not even 48 hours after word got out a 43-foot-tall nude effigy of Donald Trump hung suspended from a construction crane, the indecent artwork was gone.
But for most of Saturday and Sunday, a mile or two off Interstate 15, a few hundred yards from the always-bustling Love’s Travel Stop just north of Sin City, the statue had people stopping and staring.
But the trickle of spectators — just 27.5 miles from the towering Trump International Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip — leering at the lewd likeness of the former president couldn’t rival the thousands of supporters Trump commands in person at political stops.
Although it was hung well near a busy north-south highway connecting Las Vegas to Salt Lake City and points north, the figure was not easily seen from the roadway. That’s probably a good thing since the uncensored effigy had the potential to stop traffic and even cause accidents.
That’s because the statue was what some would call “anatomically correct,” displaying the unknown artist’s concept of the very public billionaire’s private parts.
The Trump image here materialized as smaller but equally graphic effigies of the 45th president are springing up in cities across the country, from New York’s Union Square to Los Angeles, Cleveland, Seattle and San Francisco.
It’s unknown if the different projects are unrelated or part of a sleazy series. But the Nevada version of Trump had a much more authentic-looking face than the closer-to-life-size naked Trumps an anarchist collective took credit for.
TMZ reported the image is not supposed to be flattering. Citing sources “with direct knowledge” of the artwork’s creation, the online outlet said the piece is titled “Crooked and Obscene,” a reference to both the sculpture and its subject.
There’s no visible identification of who placed the hanging artwork there, and public records indicate a trust registered in Las Vegas owns the eight-acre parcel where the crane is parked.
The Post did not hear back from the Nevada Democratic Party for comment. The Nevada GOP slammed the pop-up as an “offensive marionette, designed intentionally for shock value rather than meaningful dialogue.”
“While Democrats, especially Kamala Harris, continue to prioritize shock value over substance. President Trump is the only candidate in this race standing up for working men and women across Nevada,” the party added.
Onlookers gawped and took selfies as cars drove up, parked and spent a few minutes ogling the naked spectacle.
“I think it’s a funny, comical gesture for the up-and-coming election,” Nathan Oubre, 32, a gas-industry worker, told The Post. “Normally, you don’t see things like this, but it just gives a sign of laughter to the world seeing a big, huge statue of Donald Trump naked.”
Although he is “working in the gas industry, and I’m a big supporter of it,” the Louisiana native wouldn’t say which candidate will get his vote come November.
“My biggest take on the election is vote for whatever you believe in,” Oubre said.
Alex Lannin, a 53-year-old special-education teacher in Las Vegas, brought Spirit Airlines flight attendant Honey Hunter, 27, of Spokane, Wash., to view the piece.
“I would say [it’s] very creative, like a piece of artwork, you know,” Hunter said. She said she was not a Trump supporter and wouldn’t vote for the mogul.
Lannin, who also said he’s not a Trump supporter, said he was “a little worried about him getting a sunburn, but other than that, I love it.”
Real-estate professional Clem Zeroli, 25, brought his girlfriend Tommi Alexander, 24, to pose together for a selfie at the site. But this pair wasn’t purely positive on the artwork.
“It’s not very respectful,” Zeroli said, “but I think it’s kind of funny. Any publicity is good publicity.”
Alexander, who works for her family’s Sin City swimming-pool business, said that while she felt compelled to see the piece in person, it won’t change her support for Trump this fall.
“As a daughter of business owners, there’s many reasons for us to want him as our president, but we were doing much better under Trump,” she said. “We support a lot of employees, and our business has been doing very badly the past two years,” adding they’ve likely been the worst in the firm’s 30-year history.
Fifteen-year-old Anthony Sears, a student at Las Vegas’ Shadow Ridge High School, isn’t old enough to vote but wanted to see a piece of art that’s “not something you see every day.”
The high schooler said he “doesn’t really follow politics” and couldn’t say who he’d vote for this year if he could cast a ballot.
