Trump auctions off Jesus painting for $2.75M in front of Netanyahu and MAGA loyalists at Mar-a-Lago NYE bash
President Donald Trump rang in the New Year at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, by presiding over a charity auction at which he sold off a portrait of Jesus Christ for $2.75 million.
Clearly enjoying himself hosting the black tie gala, Trump said the money raised from the work, which was painted live at the event in around 10 minutes by “Christian worship artist” and Instagram celebrity Vanessa Horabuena, would be donated to St. Jude’s Hospital and the local sheriff’s office.
“There’s a young lady named Vanessa who’s one of the greatest artists anywhere in the world,” the president said of Horabuena when he introduced her to his guests in the Donald J Trump Grand Ballroom, many of whom had paid $1,450 per ticket to be there, according to CNN.
“To me, she’s one of the greatest… She’s a speed painter, and she’s a great painter, but I think she’s one of the great living artists.”
After Horabuena had completed her opus, she wielded her brushes against a black canvas in dramatic fashion. At the same time, the band on stage played a slow version of “Hallelujah,” Trump marvelled: “I don’t know how you do that… These people are loaded with cash, just so you know.”
Opening the bidding at $100,000, he soon accepted a $1 million offer. He ribbed the unidentified would-be buyer by saying he was “the biggest guy on Wall Street”, that the amount represented “peanuts” to him and that, because he wears a red MAGA cap, he habitually takes “people by surprise before he pumps the money out of their wallets.”
As rival bids gradually took the total to $2.5 million, Trump pretended to mishear and jokingly inquired: “$5 million or $2.5 million?”
The portrait finally went for $2.75 million, with the president inviting the winner up on stage while teasing them about the possibility of going bankrupt.
Trump was joined at the end-of-year bash by First Lady Melania Trump, wearing a silver, floor-length gown.
Their guests included Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, former New York City mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro, Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani, and movie director Brett Ratner, the man behind the forthcoming documentary Melania.
Prior to the auction, the president had welcomed revellers by attacking the Democratic leadership of Minnesota over allegations of widespread fraud, bragging about the success of his reciprocal tariffs program, and saying his New Year’s resolution was to secure “world peace.”
However, he undermined that pledge by subsequently ignoring questions about ongoing U.S. aggressions in Venezuela and his latest negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about ending Russia’s invasion of his country, according to The Palm Beach Post.
Earlier in the day, Trump had been busy on Truth Social addressing a range of contentious subjects, from a supposed mass exodus of citizens from California and Colorado, “Fat Cat Insurance Companies,” border security, George Clooney receiving French citizenship, and his plan to withdraw National Guard troops from Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland.
“We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again – Only a question of time!” he told the residents of those cities in ominous fashion.
