Political Cartoon Analysis


Sam Abraham
12/6/18

 The political cartoon that I chose to analyze features Trump holding a bazooka labeled "trade war" attempting to fire on China. The back blast, however hits a Trump voter taking off their head. This is meant to represent the tariffs and trade war that he started with China. The cartoon portrays the trade war as an ill-conceived plan that does nothing to China while simultaneously hurting his own voter base. The cartoon indirectly also portrays Trump as incompetent or unaware. He is confused and ends up firing the bazooka and hurting one of his voters directly while apparently doing very little to China. Indirectly, the cartoon portrays him as unable to act in a productive way to help the people who voted for him in the real world. When portraying this the author exaggerates Trumps features, especially his yellow blond hair. This is to create a strong image in the viewer's mind of Trump next to a headless Trump voter so that above all else the take away from the cartoon is that voting for Trump will only hurt you. The cartoon makes use of irony to persuade viewers into believing this idea. It portrays the very president they voted for, to save their livelihoods and jobs ironically hurting them instead of the people he said he would fight. This creates a negative and even dangerous association between the president and anyone who supports him. The cartoon at its most basic level is saying that voting for him only hurts you and achieves nothing. This cartoon attaches this message to the real-world context of the trade war between China and America. The viewer, to understand this cartoon must also at least know about the trade war and its immediate effects on the American consumer.



  •  Luckovich, Mike. “Mike Luckovich for Apr 05, 2018 | Cartoons | RealClearPolitics.” Video | RealClearPolitics, RealClearPolitics, www.realclearpolitics.com/cartoons/2018/04/05/mike_luckovich_mike_luckovich_for_apr_05_2018.html.


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