Drawing Trump In Shorts

The evolution of drawings of a man

My first drawing of Trump during the primaries

During the 2016 Primaries, editorial cartoonists furiously produced drawings, myself included. I was angry. I pushed myself.

After a few drawings, I began to draw Donald Trump in shorts. Simply because he acts like a schoolyard bully.

The first drawing of Trump with shorts began here

That may not sound like a lot to you, but I am a pretty quiet person, and was raised to be nice to everyone, if I could. I am conflict averse as well. Reconciling my embedded character traits with wanting to draw political cartoons has never been easy. But I did it. I put Trump in little boy pants. My audience loved the symbolism.

My drawing after learning of the Billy Bus Bus Tape. This was a difficult drawing to do.

Then he was elected President.

A gif I did for CBS News on Trump trying to keep his promises as President in the first 100 days

Call it hope, call it fear, but I put Trump back in big boy pants. To be honest, I never felt fully at ease ridiculing him, simply because he is, in fact, a person; I would rather go after politics and ideas than people. The office of the President is a position that deserves some respect was my sentiment. I recall reading that when Nixon became President, Washington Post cartoonist Heblock, who usually drew Nixon with a five o’clock shadow, removed the sinister stubble when Nixon was elected President. Herblock did not bring the stubble back during Watergate, rather he skewered Nixon directly. Herblock’s cartoons of the Watergate era helped bring Nixon down, I truly believe that.