Editorial cartooning in the age of Trump
Late-night comedians are not the only satirists having a field day with the early days of the Trump presidency. Editorial cartoonists across the globe have been applying their powers of observation and persuasion to this most unusual moment in American history. I asked our coterie of cartoonists to give their perspective on how they draw — and assess — the 45th president of the United States.
TOM TOLES
“I consider his ignorance, vindictive temperament, race baiting, godawful and ill-considered policy positions and lying, and his authoritarian-tinged campaign, to be beneath contempt. After his election, I think that his appointments, continued lying, threats to the free press, business conflicts, nepotism and nonsensical assault on American health insurance are shocking. ... His embrace of thoroughly discredited and damaging tax policies that will exacerbate wealth disparity, and environmental policies that will lead to climate catastrophe are each enough to disqualify him from the presidency. But it is his unmistakable drift to the authoritarian governing style that is the biggest threat. His blurring of public business with private, his attempt to destroy public understanding of truth and science, and his unmistakable instinct to value power over policy make him a genuine threat to American democracy.”
NICK ANDERSON
“He makes me angry almost every day, and anger is the jet fuel of wicked satire. But, in some ways, it’s getting harder to lampoon him. It’s like drawing clown makeup on a clown; I can’t make him look more ridiculous than he already looks. And the Kool-Aid-cult-ofpersonality followers stick with him no matter what. His true believers are impervious to logic, argument or ridicule. They are less strident than they were a few months ago. Their gloating, furious emails are less frequent as their unhinged leader discredits himself tweet by embarrassing tweet.”
TOM MEYER
“On the one (tiny) hand, cartooning during the Age of Trump is easy: the hair, the alternative-fact history lessons, “bigly.” On the other, slightly bigger hand, it’s not so easy: he’s a human death star. Do something funny with that. I try. And if I’m grateful for anything, it’s that we don’t live in one of those countries like Turkey that throws cartoonists in jail. Yet.”
JOEL PETT
“Truth is, the path of satire in the village of Trump is fraught with IEDs .... incomprehensible, exhausting distractions. You have to sort through the bluster, bluff, blunder and bravado to figure out what's worth spilling ink over. It's just way too easy to mock this crowd, to milk the guy (who famously doesn't laugh) for cheap laughs. As for the actual depiction of the D, I find it difficult to capture his true menacing nature, the breadth of willfully ignorant insecurity masquerading as unpredictable tough guy. I guess for that you have to follow him on Twitter.”
DON ASMUSSEN
“Trump is already a cartoon, and this threatens cartoonists. If everyone eventually becomes like Trump, there will be no need for cartoonists. We are terrified.”
DARRIN BELL
“Cartooning in the age of Trump is like standing at the bottom of a mountain and trying to figure out which rocks in an avalanche are most likely to hit you. Every day they’re rolling back years and decades of progress across multiple agencies and on multiple fronts. Every day someone in the administration is profiting in some way from their decisions. And that’s all aside from the president’s unbelievably strange antics.”