Faces of the Republican Party (2022-Present)

Americans have lost confidence in our government. Instead, governance has become a series of cultural battles while our politicians ignore our basic needs. The 2024 presidential election presented us with two different visions for the future. My most recent work, “Faces of the Republican Party,” explores the clash between democracy and the threat of authoritarianism.

Political theorist Sheldon Wolin suggested that the nature of totalitarianism—a more extreme version of authoritarianism—began to shift in the late 20th century. Nazism and Communism, which exercised total political control over the public from the top down, developed into more dispersed centers of power that included political parties, corporations, academia, and the media. Coining the term “inverted totalitarianism,” he examined how these institutions collaborated to influence the electorate, separating voters from our political process. Wolin wrote, “Politically it means encouraging…‘civic demobilization,’ conditioning an electorate to being aroused for a brief spell, controlling its attention span, and then encouraging distraction or apathy.”

This disenfranchisement leaves voters in a perpetual state of fear—fear of “others,” fear of losing their jobs and health care, and fear of being unable to provide for their families. As we become preoccupied with this fear, we relinquish our power to authoritarian leaders who exacerbate this anxiety while promising to fix it. This is the world of Donald Trump.

Many of his ardent supporters are highly educated. People like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg see their allegiance as a way to maintain power or court influence. Others take part for more ideological reasons, seeing Trump as their safeguard to ensure that religious and cultural norms will be preserved or neutralized.

We live in a world of trauma and ongoing confrontation. “Faces of the Republican Party” reflects this mindset. The words I use to describe each individual are factual, while the portraits evoke visceral responses to these facts. I’m commenting on this moment in our history, documenting and interpreting what we’re experiencing.

Living in our nation’s capital places me near these power centers. Recently, someone told me, “Washington, D.C. is the angriest city I’ve ever lived in. People come here from across the country to air their grievances.” How can we have faith in a party that Alex Patton, a Republican consultant and pollster, describes as one 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.”

When grievances become hate and divisiveness becomes a goal, we have strayed from our founders’ vision for this country. “Faces of the Republican Party is my attempt to visualize the demobilization of the American electorate.

• • •

If you like the images, but can’t see yourself hanging one of these portraits in your house, I’ve got a deal for you. I’ve created a deck of poker cards featuring 54 of these images. If we’re gambling with our democracy, why not place our bets? Find out how you can purchase “The GOP’s House of Cards.”

Click on any image to see the series larger.