When he was in office, President Donald J. Trump often complained that he felt battered and under assault, but that did not compare with the physical beating a wax statue of the former President recently endured at a Texas attraction.

The figure of Trump had been punched and scratched so much lately that it was removed from display for repairs this week at the attraction, Louis Tussaud’s Palace of Wax in San Antonio.

The assault was not the first time a wax likeness of a President or a celebrity had been marred. Wax statues of politicians, including former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, have been temporarily removed from display after being damaged or vandalised, said Suzanne Smagala-Potts, a spokesperson for Ripley Entertainment, the company that operates the San Antonio location and a number of other wax and oddity attractions across the country.

“Sometimes it’s intentional. Sometimes it’s not,” Smagala-Potts said. “Oftentimes, some people may feel more strongly toward a political figure than a celebrity.”

A wax figure of Adolf Hitler was beheaded in 2008 by a protester at a Madame Tussauds museum in Berlin. After it was repaired, the wax Hitler was returned to the museum behind glass windows and with two guards to protect it.

Smagala-Potts said she did not know if guards would be posted near Trump’s wax figure after it is repaired.

Assaults on the wax figure of Trump became more frequent during the election last year. Even after the statue was moved to the lobby the jabs and scratches did not stop, according to The San Antonio Express-News, which reported on the removal of the figure.

New York Times News Service