Message ‘Surrender Donald’ Appears on Beltway Overpass Near Mormon Temple

Lettering hearkens back to the ‘Surrender Dorothy’ graffiti on the CSX bridge

The CSX bridge over the Beltway on Friday morning displayed the message "Surrender Donald." Claude Taylor

The railroad bridge that spans the Beltway near the Mormon temple is once again calling for surrender.

This time, not of Dorothy but of Donald.

The message “Surrender Donald” – presumably in reference to President Trump – appeared to be affixed in reddish, magnetic lettering to the CSX bridge, facing outer loop commuters as they streamed to work Friday morning. The message is a throwback to the famous “Surrender Dorothy” graffiti that the overpass bore off-and-on for several decades. The graffiti was long a source of ire to state highway workers, who would scrub off the lettering only to see it pop up again when the perpetrator (or perpetrators) repainted it.

Capt. Paul Starks of the Montgomery County Police Department on Friday said he hadn’t heard anything about the “Surrender Donald” banner. He said the police might take a report if someone called but noted that the bridge is CSX property.

On Friday morning, a photo of the bridge was widely shared on Twitter by the founder of Mad Dog PAC, a political action committee that raises money to pay for billboards criticizing Trump, Republicans and the National Rifle Association.

The group’s founder, Claude Taylor, said he was in Virginia Beach on Friday; the only comment he would provide on-record was, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

So these college kids approach me and ask if they pull of a redo of the famous shot…would I tweet it? Sure. I’ll be out of town but I’ll tweet the heck out of #SURRENDERDONALD pic.twitter.com/2pwoWbNCNV — Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) August 19, 2018

A spokeswoman for the Maryland State Highway Administration said Friday morning that the agency has alerted their shop to address the bridge’s Trump reference.

This isn’t the first time the CSX bridge, near the Temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, has been used to display a political message. Last year, the words “Bridges Not Walls” were painted on the overpass, echoing the statements of many political activists who oppose Trump’s proposed Mexican border wall.

Contractors with the State Highway Administration painted over the message a few days after it surfaced.

Bethany Rodgers can be reached at bethany.rodgers@bethesdamagazine.com.