Whether a political statement or just locals fed-up with the eyesore, someone torched the statue on July Fourth. The statue went up last year, much to the dismay of many Slovenians.

Source: New York Post

A wooden statue of first lady Melania Trump was torched near her hometown of Sevnica, Slovenia, on July Fourth, according to the artist who commissioned the sculpture.

Brad Downey, a Berlin-based American artist, told Reuters he had the blackened and disfigured life-sized sculpture removed as soon as police informed him a day later of the vandalism.

“I want to know why they did it,” said Downey, who had hoped the statue would foster a dialogue about the political situation in the United States and highlight the first lady’s status as an immigrant married to a president sworn to reduce immigration.

Melania Trump’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the news service.

President Trump in recent weeks has made preservation of statues in the US — even those of Confederate leaders who tried to defeat the union in the Civil War — a campaign priority as a number have been damaged by protesters demonstrating against racism and police brutality

It seems this was the prevailing opinion at the time of the unveiling.

Melania Trump tree statue erected in her hometown: “We in Sevnica can only laugh and, at the same time, hold our heads in our hands over (Trumps') catastrophic reputation” “If the monument was meant to be a parody, then the artist has been successful.” https://t.co/Cqj47Se5IY

— Essenviews - Demand The Truth (@essenviews) July 6, 2019