Top US Election key moments told through editorial cartoons
Just when you thought the US election was getting quite serious, along comes Joe Biden.
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A bitterly contested presidential election campaign has been fertile ground for political cartoonists, both in Australia and internationally. And with so many twists and turns in the race to the White House, inspiration has come thick and fast.
Here are some of the best cartoons we’ve seen so far.
Joe Biden’s ‘garbage’ gaffe
When Joe Biden hamfistedly suggested Donald Trump’s supporters were ‘garbage,’ it was regarded as a major embarrassment for the Harris campaign – and capped off a litany of gaffes the President has uttered throughout his career.
Herald Sun cartoonist Mark Knight described the campaign as “one of the most incredible I can remember”.
“Joe Biden dropping out due to his cognitive decline, the drafting of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democrat candidate, an assassination attempt near miss on Trump, and then the Donald turns up in a Macdonald’s drive-thru serving fries! You cannot write this stuff,” he said.
Swing state, stinging satire
Fifty states get to vote when America goes to the polls, but in most of them the result is pretty much a foregone conclusion.
The seven “swing states” have been getting the bulk of the attention from candidates; analysis by NBC found that Pennsylvania has already been visited by Donald Trump and Kamala Harris more than 50 times – way more than any other state.
Michigan has also received a lot of attention – 17 drop-ins from the Trump ticket and 15 visits from the Harris team.
And North Carolina has had 12 visits from Trump and nine from Harris, the NBC analysis showed.
Cartoonists have been appropriately merciless.
Making their point
While some cartoonists have made jabs at both sides, others have been more pointedly partisan – and sometimes the more simply they make their point, the more powerful the finished work.
A few strong examples from opposing political viewpoints, presented below.
Melania speaks up
Abortion is one of the hot-button issues of the campaign, and second only to the economy when it comes to importance for voters, recently edging out immigration, according to polling by Newsweek.
When former first lady Melania Trump revealed she supported abortion rights, in defiance of her husband’s position, the opportunity was too good to pass up – with one cartoonist referencing the infamous jacket she wore to a migrant child detention centre in October 2018.
Serving up stunts
Stunts have a role to play in any election campaign, and when Donald Trump got behind the counter at a McDonald’s outlet in Pennsylvania, he was doing it to highlight the suggestion Kamala Harris was lying about working at the Golden Arches way back in 1983.
Harris has used her experience in fast food as a way to connect with ordinary working folks on the campaign trail, but Trump said his brief stint behind the counter at Macca’s was “15 minutes more” than she ever spent there.
Good campaign colour; it was always going to show up on the editorial pages.
Celebrity skin in the game
Celebrity has played a role in this election campaign like never before, whether that be in terms of direct intervention (George Clooney’s persuasive opinion piece telling Joe Biden it was time to go), financial donations (Elon Musk supporting Trump with the big bucks) or social media content (Sally Fields sharing her abortion story online).
Here’s how some celebrities have fared when they too got turned into ’toons.
Shooting incidents
When a 20 year old registered Republican took shots at Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, injuring his ear and killing one innocent bystander, it was a startling reminder of America’s gun culture – and just how wide the political divide had become. The arrests of two other suspected gunmen in the weeks following aided the sense of violence and volatility on the campaign trail. Cartoonists sharpened their pens – and their wits.
Joe Biden drops out
President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race on July 21 came after months of concern about his apparent cognitive decline, a gazillion gaffes, and a spectacularly bad performance during his debate with Donald Trump on June 27.
It was a matter of extreme anguish for the Democrats, who had never been in the position of replacing their presumptive nominee before – but cartoonists relished every minute.
Trump in the ’toons
With his unusual combed hair, towering height and fondness for fake tan, Donald Trump has been a gift to cartoonists the world over since June 2015, when he announced he was running for president.
All these years later, he’s still inspiring cartoonists – and could do so for years to come.
“Cartoonists around the world are foaming with excitement that we may have President Trump for another four more years,” Mark Knight said.
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