DarylCagle.comI’m delighted to welcome a new cartoonist to Cagle.com and our syndication package. Dave Whamond is a brilliant gag cartoonist and children’s book illustrator; he draws the syndicated panel Reality Check and has won a boatload of NCS “Silver Reuben” Awards.
Welcome aboard, Dave! Go kick some cartoon butt!
I realize this cartoon is a bit ambiguous. Perhaps Trump is wrestling with China. Maybe Trump is “facing off” with China. Maybe there is something sexy going on with China that we can’t quite see. It is hard to tell. I went with “dance.” The USA will soon be adding another $250,000,000,000+ of tariffs to Chinese imports, which will move China to retaliate in other ways.
I draw lots of Trump-critical cartoons, but this one isn’t one of them. I think Trump’s approach to China is long overdue. I even posted this one as a “Trump Friendly” cartoon on our CagleCartoons.com newspaper syndication site – although, that is probably ambiguous too.
I’ve drawn Trump and a Chinese dragon before.
Dragons don’t have to represent China, although the chinese style dragons are more fun to draw. Here’s the dragon cartoon I drew the day after the election, when Trump defeated Hillary.
In the crush of cartoons criticizing President Trump for his trade war with China, I haven’t noticed any that are supportive of Trump’s tariffs. Trump’s promises about tariffs and renegotiating more favorable trade agreements around the world were a driving force in his election. Frankly, I don’t mind the tariffs and the approach. I consider this to be a mildly pro-Trump cartoon.
China had all they wanted in their trade relationship with the USA; Trump’s tariffs give China new and different things they want from America, that Trump should be willing to give up. That’s a negotiating tactic I see all the time as an artist working with businesses, but it seems to be lost on the pundits.
And I love drawing Xi Jinping as Winnie the Pooh – I’m going to stick with that. Here’s an earlier one.
