Think Trump is a gift to cartoonists? They beg to differ.
Creating good Trump cartoons is so hard it鈥檚 not even funny.
The ironic thing is, drawing him is easy. The pursed lips, the puff of golden hair, the iconic hand gestures 鈥� they beckon the pencil. A cartoonist might chortle to himself, This is going to be huge! HUGE! We鈥檙e going to draw tremendous cartoons. Because that鈥檚 what our great country needs. We鈥檙e going to make America laugh again!
But President Trump has stolen their thunder.
Why We Wrote This
In an era of tribalism and rage, helping people see things from a different perspective is harder than it looks. Through humor and satire, cartoonists hope they can help the country get to a better place.
鈥淗ow do you caricature something that鈥檚 a caricature of itself?鈥� asks Nate Beeler, editorial cartoonist for The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio. 鈥淭he stuff that he does, a lot of it 鈥� is even more hyperbolic than I would draw.鈥�
Mr. Trump, with his unorthodox style and disdain for political correctness, might seem like the perfect gift for saving a nearly extinct species: the staff editorial cartoonist. (There are fewer than 30 left in the US, according to several cartoonists interviewed for this piece.)聽But in fact, his ascent has proved challenging in many ways.
It鈥檚 hard to be edgy and push the envelope when Trump has already ripped it open. To keep your eye on the big ideas when tweets are falling around you like confetti. To make people think when all they want to do is yell from within their tribal bunker.
It鈥檚 enough to leave even the best cartoonists at wits鈥櫬爀nd 鈥� and they鈥檙e not even halfway through Trump鈥檚 term.
Cartoonists鈥� struggles and triumphs are part of a broader American reckoning with who we are as a nation and who we want to be, a difficult exercise in negotiating deeply-held convictions in today鈥檚 鈥�.鈥� Cartoonists, who see themselves as canaries in the coal mine, are grappling with these issues in a very public arena 鈥� and feeling the heat. Readers, especially who have experienced a political awakening, are embracing their role as gatekeepers as vigorously as cartoonists themselves.
But cartoonists hope that caricature, humor, and satire, even if biting, can help the country get to a better place.聽Cartoons can act as a soothing salve, a pressure relief valve, or a way to jolt us out of our tribal mind-set and see something from a new perspective.
鈥淚 think in times of great polarization, people turn to cartoons to help them cope or perhaps even allow them to say what we can鈥檛 as part of a public social contract,鈥� says Christopher Weyant, a cartoonist for The New Yorker and The Boston Globe whose lampooning of Trump鈥檚 policies has brought an unfamiliar kind of feedback: heartfelt thanks. 鈥淥nce we laugh at something, we no longer fear it.鈥�
A silver lining to hate mail
Ever since Trump鈥檚 election, readers have been telling Mr. Weyant, 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 have gotten through the week without you.鈥�
One such cartoon depicted a squat Trump standing at the base of the Statue of Liberty, a hammer in hand, with a new sign covering up the words of Emma Lazarus鈥檚 poem, 鈥淕ive me your tired 鈥︹��
The sign reads, 鈥淲hites Only.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 way out there on the bow of the ship in terms of the First Amendment,鈥� says Weyant, whose hard-hitting cartoons have been held up in street protests but have also drawn complaints from readers that his work is not balanced. 鈥淥f course it鈥檚 not balanced. If I balanced it, it wouldn鈥檛 be funny.鈥�
Many cartoonists proudly recite by heart some of their hate mail, most of which is not printable here. The tone has sharpened since 2016, however.
鈥淧eople have gotten a lot more unhinged in the Trump era 鈥� and that鈥檚 not necessarily Trump鈥檚 fault. It鈥檚 also the reaction to Trump,鈥� says Mr. Beeler, who leans libertarian but has criticized the president.
Still, some find harsh feedback reassuring in a way. 鈥淚 take comfort in the fact that they are passionate,鈥� says Jeffrey Koterba, editorial cartoonist for the Omaha World-Herald in Nebraska, who calls back people who have left him scathing voicemails 鈥� and even became friends with one of them. 鈥淎t least they鈥檙e engaged.鈥�
Cartoonists themselves aren鈥檛 immune to anger and divisiveness, of course, and it can be tempting to skewer the president personally 鈥� depicting him as a petulant child, for example 鈥撀爓ithout making a deeper point about his policies and holding him accountable.
鈥淚f I were showing Trump as that tantrum baby, I feel like that immediately undermines whatever the idea was,鈥� says Mr. Koterba. 鈥淚 want to get into the meat.鈥�
The cartoonist who ousted a politician
The First Amendment right to poke fun at elected politicians is critical to American democracy, says Jenny Robb, curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State University in Columbus. It also has a long history.
鈥淚 think there are some people who argue that the president, whoever it may be, deserves a certain amount of respect, simply because of the office the person holds,鈥� says Ms. Robb. 鈥淎s someone who loves political cartooning and satire, I don鈥檛 particularly agree.鈥�
Within a generation of the American Revolution, a cartoonist depicted President Andrew Jackson in a king鈥檚 robe. Abraham Lincoln was skewered for his support of emancipation. And during the Watergate era, Herbert Lawrence Block, a cartoonist who went by 鈥淗erblock鈥� and often depicted the president with a 5 o鈥檆lock shadow, got so under Richard Nixon鈥檚 skin that the president forbade the Post from being delivered to the White House doorstep, and reportedly started shaving twice a day.
But the last time a cartoonist actually drove a politician out of office was in 1871, when Thomas Nast drew a series of cartoons that brought down Boss Tweed and the Democratic political machine he had created at Tammany Hall.
Some cartoonists feel Trump鈥檚 unorthodox approach to governing has given them carte blanche to attack his presidency with unprecedented vigor.
But conservative cartoonists today aren鈥檛 nearly as critical as liberal cartoonists were during the Obama and Clinton administrations, says Sara Duke, curator of Popular and Applied Graphic Art at the Library of Congress in Washington.
鈥淲hen the heat is on Trump, they鈥檒l draw an anti-Obama cartoon or a donkey,鈥� she says of conservative cartoonists.聽鈥淚 think the right has a lot to criticize.鈥�
There are exceptions to that though, and she points to Beeler as well as Scott Stantis,聽a former Republican operative and longtime cartoonist at The Chicago Tribune. (Pro-Trump cartoonist Mike Lester did not respond to an interview request.)
Where do you draw the line?
Mr. Stantis, who sold his first cartoon for $10 in 1978, says he is dealing with issues that he never thought in his wildest imagination he鈥檇 have to address 鈥� such as Americans feeling lukewarm about the First Amendment, or what he describes as Trump鈥檚 lack of respect for the office of the presidency.聽
鈥淒o you draw Trump in a brown shirt with a red armband?鈥� asks Stantis, referring to the Nazi party uniform.聽鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we鈥檙e there.鈥�
So where does he draw the line? Some have gotten in hot water for their work, like veteran cartoonist Rob Rogers, who, after 25 years on staff, was fired last June by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after a series of searing cartoons about Trump. Before he was let go, 19 of his cartoons and sketched ideas were rejected by his editors, including a drawing of a road sign that read 鈥淐aution鈥� and depicted a Trump-like silhouette grabbing a child as her parents fled, commentary on the separation of migrant families at the southern border.聽
There is a risk and a cost cartoonists bear for their work, as Mr. Rogers鈥檚 termination illustrates. Still, Stantis, whose family traces its roots back to the聽Ard猫che area of France, home to famous prehistoric cave paintings, says the cartoonist species has come a long way and will likely survive both the demise of newspapers and the rise of Trump.
鈥淲e鈥檙e never going to go away,鈥� says Stantis. 鈥淭here鈥檚 always one of us in every tribe.鈥�
