The second politician I drew is Donald Trump, who is a favorite of political cartoonists both because of his boastful character and because many consider him to be a caricature of himself (meaning he shows himself to be a highly boastful and narcissistic individual). I believe this trait of his character is what makes Donald Trump so loved and hated at the same time. The danger in having such a figure in power as the President of the United States of America is that because of his character and his aggressive rhetoric he has polarized the American electorate by radicalizing already extreme thinking on the far-right.
I chose to draw this caricature in particular because I appreciated the expression Trump had, and I liked the fact that the caricature is good even though it doesn’t excessively exaggerate Trump’s facial features. Thus Nate Belleer, the cartoon’s author, was able to reproduce a caricature of Donald Trump and still achieve a pretty accurate portrait of the President. Right now, Nate Beleer he is the editorial cartoonist for The Columbus Dispatch and he has won several awards for his cartoons which have appeared on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, as well as being distributed internationally to over 800 publications.
Theresa May is the the subject of my third and last caricature, and before even starting to draw the cartoon knew I wanted to draw May because of the recent British General Election failure which saw her winning with an unexpectedly small margin, thus losing the Conservatory Party’s majority over Jeremy Corbin’s Labour Party. Not only is May now under the magnifying glass for the election flop, but she is also being closely watched for the way she is dealing with the Brexit negotiations, on which she is taking a tough stance. Because both the General Election and Brexit are important elements in this cartoon, I chose it as my last caricature.
From a stylistic point of view, I enjoy the simpleness of the cartoon, which results in it being spare. I also enjoy the way the author of this cartoon, Adam Zyglis drew Theresa May’s limbs, which are being chopped off by a sword in her own hand, which says “General Elections.” In the meantime, while her left arm and her right leg have been chopped off, she is trying to minimize by saying it’s just a scratch, this ironic element is the one I appreciate the most in this cartoon. I also like the fact Theresa May is walking towards the end of a cliff, which is also indicated as “Brexit,” supposedly meaning May is walking towards her country’s own economic suicide. Zyglis currently works for The Buffalo News, but his drawings have been used by USA Today, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and MAD Magazine. Now Zyglis has the hard task of replacing Tom Toles, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist who used to work for The Buffalo News.
