A majority of voters in both parties have said in polls that they are not happy about the prospects of a Biden-Trump rematch.
But not many editorial cartoonists will mind seeing Trump’s high-wire political act back in the center ring of our national political circus. Whether he’s in or out of office, Donald Trump is a precious Christmas gift to editorial cartoonists that keeps on giving 365 days a year.
America’s voters can argue the political plusses and minuses of Trump vs. Biden until Election Day 2024, and probably will. But no matter how much you love Joe Biden for saving America from four more years of Trump, there’s no denying that Biden cartoons are boring and Trump’s are not.
Whether they show Trump getting coal in his stocking or complaining about being at the top of Santa’s naughty list, Trump cartoons are extremely popular online, often going viral –especially at Christmas.
I do an editorial cartoon video podcast called Caglecast about political cartoons and the stats show that online viewers on YouTube are crazy about Trump themed cartoons. My Caglecasts that have featured a cover image of Trump are just about the only thing that my online viewers want to see, with up to 100 times the audience of Caglecasts focused on Biden, climate change, Ukraine, the Israel/Hamas war or just about anything else. The Trump stats are visible with my podcasts on youtube.com/@caglecast, and they are astounding.
For my most recent Caglecast, four brilliant political cartoonists joined me to discuss our favorite Trump Christmas cartoons and express the holiday joy they felt drawing a political figure that they – like the vast majority of editorial cartoonists – dislike very much.
Rick McKee, a brilliant cartoonist who worked for decades at the Augusta Chronicle in Georgia, has done more Trump Christmas cartoons than any of the others. As a conservative who turned against Trump because of the damage he said he did to the Republican Party, McKee drew Trump sitting on Santa’s lap and responding to Santa’s question “Have you been a good boy this year?” with the word “Witchhunt!”
McKee also has drawn Trump trying to fire Santa and holding a piece of mistletoe over his rear end as a Republican elephant is encouraged to kiss it.
One cartoon I liked was by political cartoonist Pat Byrnes, who is best known for his cartoons in the New Yorker. Byrnes threw a lot of puns into his cartoon of a man in a MAGA hat looking at the Jan. 6 date on a calendar. The father is telling his daughter that, “This is the day the MAGA followed a reality TV star to the east with gifts of gold, frank nonsense and merch.”
Viewers write to me suggesting ideas for Trump-Christmas cartoons. One reader suggested that I draw Trump in the manger of a nativity scene with Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus – and Trump says, “I prefer babies who weren’t crucified.”
I didn’t draw that one.
Daryl Cagle is the publisher of Cagle.com and owner of CagleCartoons.com, a syndicate that distributes editorial cartoons and columns to over 500 subscribing newspapers. See Daryl’s blog at DarylCagle.com and watch his video podcast “Caglecast” about editorial cartoons at Caglecast.com
