![]() The original “Meltdown”: after the Democratic National Convention, when it looked like his hopes were melting away.Īn then, on October 7, 2016, two days before the second Presidential Debate, the 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape aired. Google “Edel Rodriguez Trump images” and this is what you get. With TIME’s August 22 “Meltdown” cover in the aftermath of the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Rodriguez started something big and fiery, yellow and orange. The very fact that the millions of people in the USA and around the world whose fate he now controls, manage to wake up every morning without screaming in panic is reason for hope in the resilience of human nature. Because we artists feed on the absurdity of existence, the current President of the United States is undoubtedly a feast. We illustrators are the thriving scavengers during the political tsunami that has descended on the western hemisphere, its orange epicenter carelessly splashed across the walls of the White House. “My Donald Trump illustrations, which have appeared in publications in the USA, UK, France, and Portugal, may support such a conclusion. “People tell me that now is a good time for cartoonists and caricaturists,” says Portuguese illustrator André Carrilho. Der Spiegel (Germany) and New Statesman (UK) have run some of the most biting images. The act of lambasting Trump on magazine covers is certainly not limited to U.S. Add to that partisanship the invective of “fake news” intended to shut down debate, and you have an environment in which we illustrators are trying to keep up and make visual sense of the daily, often hourly, melodrama and chaos.” If anything has changed, it’s the intensity of America’s political and social divide, which is split into tribes that seek news and commentary that mirror only what their side believes - and to hell with any other point of view. It would be foolhardy to imagine anyone in the Trump camp being stirred to reflection because of an illustration done by me or my colleagues. “Satirical illustrations are appreciated by those who share similar perspectives, and despised or ignored by those who don’t. Do our illustrations and cartoons change anything?” Juhasz asks rhetorically. The current White House occupant exhibits zero self-reflective capacity, and his minions feast on his shamelessness like rare steak. Even Nixon, with his massive ego, could be shamed. ![]() Boss Tweed was shamed and humiliated by cartoonist Thomas Nast. “We work in a world where it seems impossible to effectively shame the shameless,” comments New York-based satirical illustrator Victor Juhasz. I’m drawing him less now, since all limits to decency seem to already have been explored and shattered.” ![]() “When I draw Trump, I try to somehow convey my disgust with his policies. I have the freedom to choose the subject and do pretty much what I want, within reason, Carrilho. “This was for Diário de Notícias, a Portuguese Daily newspaper for which I do a weekly editorial cartoon. One thing for sure, the presidency of Donald Trump has been a gold (no, yellow and orange) mine of creativity for political illustrators and cartoonists. Others are angry and want action, if not to impeach him, to make sure he’s not reelected. Newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, internet, Twitter(!).
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