Trump Calls Blind Boy ‘Beautifully Made in the Image of God’ After He Paints Picture of American Flag

Trump Calls Blind Boy ‘Beautifully Made in the Image of God’ After He Paints Picture of American Flag
Stock image of an American flag. (Jill Wellington/Pixabay)
Venus Upadhayaya
9/3/2019
Updated:
9/3/2019

President Donald Trump wrote a letter in response to a blind boy’s gift—the painting of an American flag that the child painted along with his grandfather.

Randy Hogue, a grandfather from Cobb County, Georgia, loves to paint with his grandson Gage who was born blind and is autistic and mostly non-verbal, according to WSB-TV.

Gage and Hogue painted a picture that they call “The Crying Flag.”

“It really excites him to think he achieved something. Everybody knows he didn’t paint it on his own. But it’s his painting,” Hogue told WSB-TV.

The duo sent a print of the painting to the White House and they received a reply from Trump who said the disabled child is made “in the image of God.”

“Dear Gage, thank you for the beautiful painting of the American flag that you and your Paw-Paw made,” read the letter that’s addressed to ”Mr. Gage White Hogue, Powder Springs, Georgia.”

The letter is in print and also in braille and it further reads: “You are beautifully made in the image of God. I hope you always remember you are loved and cherished by so many.”

In a similar story, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, President Trump’s former press secretary, shared a fan mail from a 9-year-old on July 27, 2017.

“My name is Dylan but everybody calls me Pickle,” read the letter that was dated June 1.

“I’m 9 years old and you are my favrit president. I like you so much I had a birthday about you. My cake was the shap of your hat.”

The young Trump fan had a few questions for the president. “How old are you? How big is the White Hose? Ho much monny do you have? I dont know why people dont like you.”

Sanders replied to these questions in front of reporters. “The White House has 132 rooms. The president would be happy to be Pickle’s friend.”

Sanders didn’t reveal how much money the president had, she told the child, “but I know it’s a lot.”

Sanders later shared the handwritten letter on Twitter with the message, “Dylan aka Pickle thank you for your letter and hope to meet you soon!”

Sanders told reporters that if Dylan ever visits Washington, he can stop by to have a tour of the White House.

According to the National Archives, every year the President of the United States receives thousands of letters from people, and many of them come from children.

“Like other records of the presidency, children’s letters are preserved among NARA’s holdings, mostly in presidential libraries,” said the National Archives on its website.

Among NARA’s treasure of letters from children to American presidents is a letter written in 1940 from a child who later went on to become famous. The letter was written to President Roosevelt who in reply had sent the child a collection of stamps and a small album.

In reply, the child sent a thank you letter to Roosevelt that read: “Dear Mr. President, I liked the stamps you sent me very much and the little book is very useful. I am just starting my collection and it would be great fun to see yours which mother says you have had for a long time ... Daddy, Mother, and all my brothers and sisters want to be remembered to you.”

The letter was signed, “Bobby Kennedy.”

Venus Upadhayaya reports on India, China and the Global South. Her traditional area of expertise is in Indian and South Asian geopolitics. Community media, sustainable development, and leadership remain her other areas of interest.
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