Politics

Foreign Cartoonists Depict Trump's First 100 Days

April 26th 2017

Foreign cartoonists have been documenting Donald Trump's tumultuous presidency since day one

A Presidential Dream Comes TrueArcadio Esquivel/Cagle - politicalcartoons.com

Often, hey make their points not with wordy captions, but with raw, colorful images that can be understood by the entire international community. And they are unsparing in depicting a president the world mostly sees as out of control and out of his depth. 

This cartoon, for example, by Austria's Marian Kamensky, shows Trump as the toy of puppetmaster Steve Bannon:

Trump and BannonMarian Kamensky/Cagle Cartoons - caglecartoons.com

With Trump's first 100 days in office wrapping up, foreign cartoonists have again turned their pens on the president, with savage results.

For example, Costa Rica's Arcadio Esquivel depicts Trump as a soccer player, weakly kicking a ball marked "U.S. Government," with sweat flying off his brow.

Trump Soccer CartoonArcadio Esquivel/Cagle Cartoons - caglecartoons.com

Kamensky returns to show Trump's ship of state crewed by panicking and suicidal soldiers. The title: "Panic on the Trumptanic."

 Panic on the TrumptanicMarian Kamensky/Cagle Cartoons - caglecartoons.com

Christo Komarnitski of Bulgaria satirized Trump's bizarre non-handshake with German chancellor Angela Merkel. However, in Komarnitski's version, Trump isn't snubbing Merkel, but reaching for something that's not her hand. 

Trump Meets MerkelChristo Komarnitski/Cagle Cartoons - caglecartoons.com

Australian cartoonist Paul Zanetti depicts Trump's foreign policy as an incomprehensible tangle of words, delivered by a sheriff to bewildered onlookers. 

Trump Foreign PolicyPaul Zanetti/Cagle Cartoons - caglecartoons.com

As if to echo this, Rainer Hachfeld of German paper Neues Deutschland portray's Trump's retaliatory strike against Syria as the antics of a crotch-grabbing, missile-tossing animal. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin tut-tuts, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hides behind him, and European leaders call Trump's actions all too predictable. 

Trump in SyriaRanier Hachfeld/Cagle Cartoons - caglecartoons.com

Trump's use of Twitter as a method of mass communication was skewered both by the artist 'Schot' of the Netherlands, and by Osmani Simanca of Brazil. Both depict Trump's weaponizing of social media through images of jet fighters and falling bombs.

Trump Tweets SyriaSchot/Cagle Cartoons - caglecartoons.com

Trump Tweet BombsOsmani Simanca/Cagle Cartoons - caglecartoons.com

The looming threat of war between the U.S. and North Korea was particularly worrisome for the world's cartoonists. Spanish artist 'Kap' depicts Trump and Kim Jong Un as two flashers in a nuclear dick-measuring contest...

Trump Kim StandoffKap/Cagle Cartoons - caglecartoons.com

...while Romania's Pavel Constantin has Neanderthal Trump and Kim wielding stone weapons and wearing caveman skins, playing nuclear teeter-totter with the world.

Trump Teeter TotterPavel Constantin/Cagle Cartoons - caglecartoons.com

Finally, Dutch artist Tom Janssen ridiculed Trump's admission that he was surprised reforming America's health care system was such a complicated task by taking it one step further, showing Trump struggling with a Rubix Cube planet Earth.

Trump Rubix Cube Tom Janssen/Cagle Cartoons - caglecartoons.com

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