Editorial Cartoons Explained for Future History Classes

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by Ed Hall, Artizans.com

Summary: This cartoon is mocking Donald Trump’s paranoia over being watched in ways he never was in private life, and his belief in what he calls “the deep state.” Included in this paranoia is the allegation that his predecessor had him watched for no reason.

Context: Conspiracy theory right wing websites believed the US had a “deep state” and that Barack Obama was guiding that shadow government from his vacation spots and his home in DC. In reality, many government agencies were trying to keep the country afloat while their boss was trying to dismantle them. However, most political scientists agree this does not constitute a deep state in the same way as shadow governments in countries like Turkey.

Confused? Read about this blog.

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by Chris Britt, Illinois Times

Summary: Instead of relying on his intelligence community’s daily briefs, Trump often cited Fox News and other right-wing outlets as his source of information. He also said he preferred getting information from “the shows” and had asked that his daily briefs include lots of graphics, maps, and charts whenever possible.

Context: Much of this cartoon uses the standard Trump caricature tropes. His hair is huge and sweeping. His lips are puckered, and his head is huge compared to his face size. Once again, his hands are tiny because of the  “short-fingered vulgarian” statement from Vanity Fair magazine. 

Confused? Read about this blog.

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by Sean Delonas, caglecartoons.com

Summary: The first budget proposal Trump and the Republican Congress put forward included the defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and many other federal arts programs. Nominally, this was to pay for an increase in defense spending, despite the miniscule savings and the huge societal impact the programs have.

Context: Sesame Street was a PBS institution and one of the best children’s educational programs of all time. Over the years before he was president, Sesame Street satirized Trump as the quintessential sleazy, greedy New York businessman, casting him as a villain on numerous occasions. We now believe this parody was one of the major factors in the proposal.

However, this wasn’t the first time a Republican proposed cutting PBS funding. In 2012, candidate Mitt Romney said, “I’m going to the stop the subsidy to PBS. I’m going to stop other things. I like PBS. I love Big Bird.”

Confused? Read about this blog.

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by Ann Teinaes, Washington Post (March 15, 2017)

Summary: On March 14, 2017, show, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow revealed President Donald Trump’s 2005 tax returns. Well, at least the summary pages. These were the first federal returns seen since Trump became a candidate. Trump’s taxes were thought to be a key to finding a connection between him and the Russian hacking scandal. 

Context: Teinaes drew this charicature of Trump in a manner often employed by cartoonists of the time. He was known for his long ties, and that suits the artist well in her use of his ties to Russia. Though he back off on the self-tanner once becoming president, Trump was known for an orange hue with his normal skin color around the eyes where he didn’t apply the chemicals. Trump also had a history of being depicted as having small hands. This came from a 1988 Vanity Fair profile where he was characterized as a “short-fingered vulgarian.” Trump hated the comment, and as late as 2015 was still sending the author “proof” of his large handedness.

Confused? Read about this blog.

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by Kevin Siers, Charlotte Observer (March 14, 2017)

Summary: Sean Spicer was Donald Trump’s first White House Press Secretary and doubled as his Communications Director. Like most of his aides, he spent much of his time explaining what the president meant when he said something. It was often very different or even the opposite of what the words mean in English. After President Trump accused former president Barack Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower (which included misspelling “tap” as “tapp”), the White House staff attempted to clarify that he meant Obama had merely feloniously ordered surveillance of the candidate, not scaled the side of Trump Tower like a human fly and installed the bugs himself.

Historical context: The last panel features Spicer wearing a flag pin upside down. Spicer accidentally wore his flag pin upside down to the daily press briefing on March 10, 2017. It was quickly corrected after a Fox News correspondent pointed it out. Many Americans believed this to be a silent call for help, due to an upside down flag being a symbol of distress. Unfortunately, due to the unprecedented billion-year nondisclosure agreement Spicer signed with Trump, we will never know for sure.

Confused? Read about this blog.

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by David Cohen, Asheville Citizen-Times (March 13, 2017)

Summary: When asked about wiretapping allegations President Trump made of his predecessor Barack Obama, White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway instead answered a question about a WikiLeaks story that broke the previous week. In that story, the CIA was looking into using the few smart devices people had then such as televisions and cell phones as surveillance equipment. Although microwaves hadn’t yet become connected devices or objects of convergence, Conway insisted that microwaves could become cameras.

Historical context: Conway, the originator of the term “alternative facts,” was known for her filibuster interview style. Instead of answering questions she was asked, she’d deflect them back at the interviewer and talk until neither one of them or the audience knew what she was talking about.

Confused? Read about this blog.

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by Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press (March 11th, 2017)

Context: President Donald Trump was known for his early morning pronouncements on a social media platform known as Twitter. These were often seen as bombs due to their inflammatory language and subject matter. There were also often a reaction to a news story he’d seen on cable television or one of the conspiracy websites he followed. 

Historical importance: Historians have since used these “tweets” to get a glimpse into Trump’s psyche and determined they were a manifestation of his id.

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by John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune (August 12, 2015)

Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan was “Make America Great Again.” Trump was also a notoriously bad speller, especially when creating social media posts on a platform called Twitter. The campaign and the subsequent administration tended to grate on the nerves of non-supporters who eventually suffered from a type of PTSD from news cycle overload.

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Welcome to the Future

Welcome to the Spring 2067 section of the class “Political Cartoons in the Age of Trump.” 

In 2016, New York real estate mogul (and bad hair enthusiast) Donald J. Trump won the presidency in an upset electoral college victory over Democratic stalwart Hillary Rodham Clinton, despite losing the popular vote by 3 million votes. As you know, this eventually led to the abolishment of the electoral college. 

The election was also overshadowed by Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee, and many of Trump’s campaign officials were implicated in collusion with the Russians. However, no investigation ever found enough evidence to impeach Trump himself, but was enough to ensure he only served one scandal-riddled term.

After the 2020 election, we mostly came to our senses and have become more and more progressive as a country. It was his administration’s faults that made us realize we needed to move away from fossil fuels and embrace renewable energy, increase our socioeconomic safety net, and figure out how to provide food more efficiently for the world.