Political Cartoon: Pride Cometh
49.8% of the electorate gave him an inch and he's taking a marathon
Hello all! Here’s my cartoon for
published last week.So many of the Trump administration’s cuts and radical changes seem designed not to “trim the fat” but to twist the knife in their political opposition. Worse, the administration seems to want to hurt, expel and isolate those who are most vulnerable and to get them to submit to the Trumpian will.
Does this administration honestly think that this cruelty and extremism — hostile takeovers of the Kennedy Center, the elimination of LGBTQ-related medical information from the CDC website, the ‘go home’ incident with the Spanish version of the White House website, and the executive order on gender that condemns rather than seek common ground — will get those they so despise to reconsider core beliefs?
It seems the Trump administration is skipping over any Christ-like middle ground and jumping to forced compliance. History has shown us how that goes.
Re: the facepalming elephant, I know that most members of the GOP are on board with what Trump is doing, at least publicly.
For what it’s worth, I’m close with some people who have worked in Republican Congressmembers’ offices who have told me their member thinks Trump is an “idiot” or “dangerous blowhard” but is a suckup in public for obvious, sad reasons.
For the cartoon to be a cohesive piece that accurately represents my take without a ton of text, I felt the need to explicitly show that I believe the philosophy Trump is espousing in his speech bubbles is utterly misguided, particularly if you’re Trump and want to succeed in your twisted goals. Having the disappointed symbol of the group that wants Trump to succeed was, I felt, the best way to do that.
Putting Uncle Sam in the elephant’s place would suggest that “America” wanted Trump’s agenda to succeed, and Abe Lincoln (a Republican something something) would suggest essentially the same thing.
In my work at the moment I’m trying to find a way to make my cartoons complex—more of op-eds than “X thing good, Y thing bad”—while also making them clear and cohesive, and without using a ton of text to do so. I think it’s okay to have more text in a cartoon than your average editor will recommend given the profound need for complex thinking in today’s times, but I recognize that visuals alone can be a powerful tool in achieving complexity.
Sort of. I hope. I feel like the best you can hope for with “powerful visuals” is drama, which typically indicates contrast, which typically indicates “good guys, bad guys”/”good choice, bad choice” without explanation, empathy, or rationale.
I want to do better than that.
Eager to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Until next time.
I love your work.
Hello out there citizens of the US who are independent thinkers and care about this nation. Some facts: More than half of those in Congress are millionaires, data from lawmakers’ most recent personal financial disclosures shows. The median net worth of members of Congress who filed disclosures last year is just over $1 million.
One would think that our representative would have an intimate understanding of the needs of their constituents including , Economic, health, social, education, infrastructure etc. My question is this, of the independently wealthy majority who hold our lives and livelihoods in their hands, has any of them felt the pangs of hunger , the bone chilling cold , the lack of educational opportunities that many citizens feel?? (Let’s not talk about Vancy boy - he sold his soul). These republican representatives have only their wallets on their mind. They are of the unhinged opinion that we should hold them up in high esteem instead of them holding us in esteem as we’re the ones who gave them their jobs. Does the average man understand that? They work for us, they get paid by our tax dollars and now they have a South African rummaging through our private matters and telling us what is going to happen. Would you open your house to a man you don’t know and let him go through your wallet and your pantry and your medicine cabinet and tell you that you’re stupid and not worth life??? Because that’s what’s happening!