An effort is underway to make Huntington Beach home to a larger-than-life statue of President Donald Trump.
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The 7-foot bronze sculpture would depict Trump in a full suit with one fist raised and a red “Make America Great Again” hat in his other hand, reminiscent of the president after the shooting at a 2024 campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“We hope to have the project,” Huntington Beach Councilmember Pat Burns said. “I think it’d be awesome.”
The statue — which still needs funding and City Council approval — would be placed in Patriot Plaza, a park next to the Huntington Beach Civic Center dedicated to U.S. history and patriotism, Burns said.
“It’s a beautiful spot for it,” Burns said. “I’d really like to see it develop into a destination where people can walk through and appreciate things that made this country great.”
This is not the first Trump statue that would be on display in the U.S. In fact, the same design planned for Huntington Beach was first unveiled in April 2025 at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
That $300,000 statue was funded by Anthony Constantino, CEO of Sticker Mule and the Republican nominee for New York’s 21st Congressional District this year, and built by George Lundeen, owner of a family-owned sculpture studio in Lovefield, Colorado.
And behind both Trump statues — the existing one and the prospective one — is Steven Barber, a Venice local and documentary filmmaker who has brokered 17 statues dedicated to historical and political figures.
Former filmmaker Steven Barber, who oversees the creation of life-sized bronze statues, stands in his in Venice apartment with a miniature replica of an Apollo 11 statue depicting astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, while the full 7-foot statue, titled “The Eagle Has Landed,” is on display at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A miniature replica of a bronze statue of President Trump sits on display in the Venice home of Steven Barber, who oversees the creation of life-sized statues, on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Former filmmaker Steven Barber, who has overseen the creation of 17 life-sized bronze monuments, holds a photo of a statue of President Trump that he had created as he stands in his in Venice apartment on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Barber said he is in talks with three potential funders for a Huntington Beach statue. Once funding is secured, the statue can be built and submitted to the Huntington Beach City Council for approval to be placed in Patriot Plaza.
“Trying to get people to support a Trump monument is tough anywhere, especially California,” Barber said. “But I would really like to do it.”
“Steven is always out there trying to put these pieces in great places,” Lundeen said about finding funding for the Huntington Beach statue. “It would be kind of neat if he could find some support.”
Barber began his career as a documentary filmmaker. In 2018, he received the rights to make a documentary about Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the moon.
But before the documentary could really get underway, the project’s funding fell through.
“I thought it was the worst day of my life,” Barber said. “But there’s an old saying that says sometimes success sneaks through the back door, disguised as failure.”
After a long bike ride to clear his head, Barber had what he calls an epiphany. He couldn’t make the documentary anymore. But he could channel his artistic energy into bringing three statues honoring the Apollo 11 astronauts to life.
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“It never occurred to me to build a monument,” Barber said. “I call it God, but whatever the power that’s running the universe opened up the door for me, because I knew nothing about sculpture.”
Barber connected with Lundeen and the owner of Rocket Mortgage, Dan Gilbert, who footed the $750,000 bill, and was able to secure a spot for the statues in the newly constructed Moon Tree Garden at the Kennedy Space Center in 2019.
“I’ve never had a deal like that before or since,” Barber said. “It was the greatest day of my life. After that, I was in the monument business.”
Over the past eight years, Barber said he has fundraised more than $5 million for the commission of 17 statues of U.S. space explorers and other historical figures, including two statues of Trump.
Barber was able to meet Trump in 2025 when he delivered the original 7-foot statue to the Florida golf course. (A second statue is reportedly planned by Constantino, the New York congressional candidate, to be placed in Amsterdam, New York.)
“Trump is nothing like he is on TV,” Barber said. “He’s this quiet, contemplative, sweet, kind guy. He’s the president of the United States, but he’s a builder. He’s an architect, and he fancies himself art; that’s who this man is.”
Barber said he has also overseen the creation of statues depicting the Apollo 13 crew as well as Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.
“I’ve got this great, unbelievable appreciation for space. I would’ve loved to be an astronaut, but I don’t have the bravery, I don’t have the acumen and I don’t have the eyesight. So, I’ve turned into the No. 1 space monument builder in the world.”
Barber said he hopes to facilitate more monuments of women — their representation in the monument field lacking, he said.
According to a , a nonprofit design studio dedicated to reimagining inclusive monuments, 88% of the 50 individuals most frequently represented by monuments in the U.S. are White men. Only 6% are women.
“I like shining the light on female exceptionalism,” Barber said.
Most recently, Barber and Lundeen delivered a sculpture of Thomas Jefferson to the White House for display. Lundeen — alongside his brother Mark Lundeen and apprentice Joey Bainer — has built every statue brokered by Barber since the first three in 2018.
“My guys are the Messi and Ronaldo of the monument world,” Barber said, referring to Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi and Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo. “What the Lundeen sculptors do, nobody else in the world can do.”
This October, Barber will unveil a bust of President Jimmy Carter at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
“It’s really important that we continue to build monuments and shine the light on American exceptionalism at the highest level,” Barber said. “It’s a little taste of immortality.”
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