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The White House just unveiled a second version of President Trumps official portrait, and its even more foreboding than the first. The new portrait, which was taken by the chief White House photographer Daniel Torok and revealed on Monday, shows Trump in a dark blue suit and red tie, sitting in a nearly dark room. It appears to be an evolution of Trumps first official portrait, also taken by Torok, which debuted just before his inauguration. Trumps first portrait strayed markedly from the precedent set by past administrations in terms of how the chief executive is presented. But this 2.0 version includes a striking omission that even the first did not: theres no American flag. Its just the most recent development in Trumps monthslong campaign to adopt a darker, sterner personal brand that aligns with his desired image of control. Leaving convention at the door Cara Finnegan is a professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois and author of the book, Photographic Presidents: Making History from Daguerreotype to Digital. According to Finnegan, presidents are “always deeply invested in their political image.” In an interview with Fast Company back in January, Rhea L. Combs, director of curatorial affairs at Smithsonians National Portrait Gallery, explained that presidential portraits have historically aimed to balance relatability with strong leadership and American pride. To signal relatability, every president in the last 60 years has been photographed with a wide smile, positioned at a straight-on angle to keep the subject eye-level with the viewer. The lighting is typically soft and even, giving the composition an approachable feel. And, to reinforce the concept of commitment to the country, each president since Gerald Ford has included the American flag in the background of their official portrait. During his first term in 2016, Trump hewed closely to this historical approach. In contrast, for his inaugural portrait this year, he bucked nearly every traditionincluding lighting, framing, angle, and facial expressionresulting in an official image that aimed to convey dominance rather than relatability. Still, he kept a sliver of the American flag in the background. For portrait 2.0, though, that final vestige of convention has also been abandoned. “The mug shot arguably is his presidential portrait” At the time of the first portraits release, Torok took to his personal X account to confirm that his portrait of Trump was inspired by the Presidents mug shot, taken after he was found guilty of 34 felony counts in May 2024. Trump used the mug shot as a marketing tool throughout his campaign, repositioning it as a kind of badge of honor by selling pieces of the suit he wore in the photo and featuring it on rally posters. This 2.0 version blurs the line between mug shot and presidential portrait even more. Once again, Trump is pictured making his signature scolding, eyebrow-raised expression from his mug shot that Torok already emulated once before. Compared to the first portraitwhich was significantly darker and more harshly lit than the average presidential portraitversion 2.0 has brought the dimmers down even further, obscuring almost half of Trumps face in shadow. And instead of an illuminated background featuring the American flag, this image features what is essentially an ominous black hole surrounding the President. On X, Torok responded to a commenter with a brief explanation of how he chose to capture the image: Fairly dark room. One massive overhead soft box. And a streak of sunlight from the sunset over his right shoulder. Cinematic lighting. That last detail of emulating cinema seems to hint at the broader rationale behind Trump’s sterner second term image, from an oil painting in the White House of his bloodied face to the commercialization of his mug shot: Its all about using production to craft a specific narrative. With portrait 2.0, the Trump administration seems to be saying Trump is the star, and the United States is merely the set. “What’s striking to me is that the release of each second-term official portrait has prompted comparisons to the 2023 mug shot,” says Finnegan. “It’s clearly become the image to which every subsequent photographic portrait of Trump is inevitably compared. Yes, Trump himself immediately embraced the mug shot and commercialized it, and now it even hangs outside the oval office, so he’s authorized it himself in that way. But if every photographic portrait of Trump is compared to the mug shot, then the mug shot arguably IS his presidential portrait.”
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E-Commerce
Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group is expected to go public this week. Share pricing is expected to surface on Wednesday for a possible listing on Thursday, though the company has not confirmed the timeline. The companys paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), filed Monday, shows that Circle plans to sell 32 million shares and is aiming at a price target of $27 to $28 per share. That would give the company a valuation of more than $7 billion, an increase from earlier estimates. In a previous SEC filing, which surfaced last week, Circle said it was planning to sell 24 million shares priced between $24 and $26. In all, the company is expected to raise around $880 million with its updated numbers. Shares are expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol CRCL. The offering is being led by J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC Circle declined to comment. Headquartered in New York, Circle has grown significantly over the last five years, reporting $1.7 billion in revenue and reserve income in 2024, compared to just $15.4 million in revenue in 2020. It had net income of $155.7 million in 2024, verses net income of $267.6 million in 2023, and a net loss of $768.8 million in 2022. Why is Circles IPO a big deal? As Fast Company previously reported, Circles IPO has been a long time coming, and has generated a lot of excitement among potential investors. That’s in large part due to the surge in interest around stablecoinswhich are a form of cryptocurrency that have their values pegged to real assets. For instance, Circle’s flagship USDC, one of the largest cryptocurrencies on the market, is pegged to the U.S. dollar, which means one USDC is worth $1. Circle also issues EURC, which is pegged to the value of the euro. Meanwhile, stablecoin legislation is currently working its way through Congress, which could be adding to the anticipation around Circle’s imminent market debut. The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, or GENIUS Act, could soon pass the Senate, and with a crypto-friendly administration in office, it could become law. That would set up a regulatory framework for stablecoins, effectively and further ingraining them into the financial system. With that as a background, and a surge in interest this year in the crypto space, many investors have had Circles IPO date circled on their calendars.
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E-Commerce
Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Companys workplace advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer your biggest and most pressing workplace questions. Q: Is it okay to lie (a little) on your résumé? A: I would hope that the answer to this question is obvious, but perhaps not. Lying in some form, whether its inflating your job title or experience, exaggerating your skills, or fudging employment or graduation dates is way more common than you might think. In fact, a 2023 ResumeLab survey found that 70% of job applicants have lied on their résumés.For the record let me be clear, lying on your résuméno matter how big or small the lie is or what its aboutis never, ever, ever a good idea. Like ever. Just because everyone else is doing it doesnt mean you should. The risk just isnt worth it. Very few things arent discoverable from a quick search and in most industries professional networks can be small and paths are bound to cross. For example if you lie about your employment dates or role in a certain company, your potential employer can easily find out the truth and, no matter how impressive you are, you have broken their trust and ruined any future employment chances with that company.Even if your lies arent discovered during the hiring process, they can haunt you later on. Did you list skills that you dont really have? Did you say that you know a software system or tool that you arent really that familiar with? Those mistruths will come back to bite you as soon as youre on the job. All lies come to light eventually and even if they dont, youll have to remember them and stay on top of the cover-up for your entire tenure. But really, lying isnt necessary. Here are a few legitimate ways to redo your résumé in honest ways that will smooth over the things you might be tempted to lie about. Explain the gaps in your career history I gave this advice when addressing if your résumé needs to be one page: Hardly anyone has a linear career path and you arent fooling anyone by glossing over a year or more. If you freelanced, cared for family, or volunteered during times you weren’t traditionally employed, that all counts. In other words, rather than changing or omitting dates, address your career gaps either on your résumé or in your cover letter and frame them as strengths. Show off your accomplishments Instead of inflating your past job titles, talk up what youve done, the impact youve made, and who youve worked with. This is something Fast Company contributor and résumé expert Donna Svei calls affiliative branding. Heres the example she gives for how it works: An early-career client I once worked with wanted a specific job but couldnt land an interview. We analyzed the posting and saw that the job involved working with well-known artists. My client had that impressive experience but hadnt mentioned it in their résumé. We wrote a bullet that named a few of the top artists they had worked for (affiliative branding) and described my clients wins. They got the job three weeks later. Cut the irrelevant information and make whats there is persuasive I got into this in my advice on what to cut from your résumé. Sometimes in the quest to sound impressive, candidates clutter up their résumés with a bunch of unneeded hyperbole that isnt an honest representation of their skills or experience. Trim all of that junk and replace it with facts that are presented in a persuasive way. Svei recommends checking that those facts are presented in a positive light. When a fact is described negatively, I ask myself, ‘can I reframe this as a positive?’ It might be as simple as changing ‘reduced turnover to 10%,’ to ‘increased team retention to 90%,’ she says. Here’s more about lying on résumés: How to spot a lie on a candidates résumé 5 ways to make your résumé more impressive without lying 400 hiring managers reveal when its okay to lie on your résumé
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E-Commerce
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