Faces of the Republican Party (2022-Present)

Americans have lost confidence in our government. We no longer trust our legislators and the Supreme Court to deal effectively with our country’s problems. Instead, governance has become a series of battles. It’s no longer just political ideology. We are at war over cultural issues while our politicians ignore our basic needs.

These images ask, “What’s in it for them?” Many of Trump’s sycophants are highly educated, with degrees from Ivy League colleges. They see their allegiance as a way to maintain power. While others take part for more ideological reasons, seeing Trump as their insurance that religious and cultural issues, such as abortion and LBGTQ lifestyles, will be neutralized.

Faces of the Republican Party is not a partisan body of work. The people depicted in these images are the partisans—zealots. Instead, these images present a visual history of the clash between our history of democratic governance—We the People—and the threat of authoritarianism.

As someone recently said to me, Washington, DC is the angriest city in which he’s lived. People come here from all over the country to air their grievances—to be angry. And these images reflect that. By contrast, the actual prints are beautiful, even painterly. This dichotomy mirrors the country we’re living in: the difference between the ideals of American Exceptionalism and the reality of our tumultuous experiences.

How can we trust a party that Alex Patton, a Florida-based Republican consultant and pollster, has characterized as a party that “has become mean and driven by emotion on whom we dislike.” “But,” he says, “that is the driving force in American politics right now.” The results of the 2022 midterm elections showed we are tired of autocratic and self-absorbed politicians. We would simply like our officials to do the jobs we elected them to do.

Click on any image to see the series larger.