The primary elections for presidential candidates are drawing closer every day, as is the tension between the two main political parties and between the same-party adversaries. Donald Trump, the Republican Party front-runner and dominating business-man has been a touchy subject of late, mostly due to his blunt and sometimes tactless strategy. He who was once expected to last only a few months as a serious candidate is now one of the two candidates from either party with the biggest lead. This has led to some hot debates online and in the news, and recently many opponents and staunch Trump-haters have been comparing Trump to Hitler. In the December 3rd issue of The Arizona Republic, cartoonist Steve Benson addresses what these accusations mean
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Benson asks in his short commentary on his piece that if Trump is Hitler incarnate, then what does that say about his supporters? The drawing style and color scheme of the picture is very harsh and dark, with black painting the background and harsh red coloring the flags and armbands the “soldiers” wear. Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again,” imprints the hats the people wear, and scowls mar the faces. One does not have to be well-informed in the horse-race that is the presidential campaign to understand that Trump is a widely discussed and hot-topic candidate, with strong reactions from those who disagree with him. The fact that dissenters compare Trump to Hitler most likely does not surprise anyone, whether you pay attention to politics or don’t. The cartoon is drawn in a way to invoke a multitude of emotions and reactions to the issue, conveyed by everything from the heavy implications of Trump supporters to the obvious children waving flags and beating the war drum with the same hard frowns etched on their …show more content…
“The first is his intense cult of personality, which, for Trump supporters, is particularly driven by his reputation as a successful business-man who can “fix things,” and by his willingness to brazenly defy the taboos of political correctness. In addition, there is his blatant racist demagoguery, from his spurious and offensive claims that undocumented Mexican immigrants are largely criminals and rapists to his recent proposal that Muslims carry ID cards identifying their religion. Finally, there are the undertones of violence, both inspired by his rhetoric (e.g. the two Bostonians who savagely assaulted a homeless man while invoking Trump’s name) and directly advocated by Trump himself (e.g. his open agreement with supporters who beat up a #BlackLivesMatter protester).” This is just the tip of the Trump-berg, unfortunately. Trump’s derogatory attitude towards people of color, immigrants, 14th Amendment citizens, and women also fill the pages of his campaign book. There are some obvious parallels, which are daunting at best, but this does not mean his supporters are bad people at all. I firmly believe that a majority of Trump supporters can be and are good people, just people who haven’t explored all their options and could not even know what all their options are. Benson’s cartoon does a good job of
Benson asks in his short commentary on his piece that if Trump is Hitler incarnate, then what does that say about his supporters? The drawing style and color scheme of the picture is very harsh and dark, with black painting the background and harsh red coloring the flags and armbands the “soldiers” wear. Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again,” imprints the hats the people wear, and scowls mar the faces. One does not have to be well-informed in the horse-race that is the presidential campaign to understand that Trump is a widely discussed and hot-topic candidate, with strong reactions from those who disagree with him. The fact that dissenters compare Trump to Hitler most likely does not surprise anyone, whether you pay attention to politics or don’t. The cartoon is drawn in a way to invoke a multitude of emotions and reactions to the issue, conveyed by everything from the heavy implications of Trump supporters to the obvious children waving flags and beating the war drum with the same hard frowns etched on their …show more content…
“The first is his intense cult of personality, which, for Trump supporters, is particularly driven by his reputation as a successful business-man who can “fix things,” and by his willingness to brazenly defy the taboos of political correctness. In addition, there is his blatant racist demagoguery, from his spurious and offensive claims that undocumented Mexican immigrants are largely criminals and rapists to his recent proposal that Muslims carry ID cards identifying their religion. Finally, there are the undertones of violence, both inspired by his rhetoric (e.g. the two Bostonians who savagely assaulted a homeless man while invoking Trump’s name) and directly advocated by Trump himself (e.g. his open agreement with supporters who beat up a #BlackLivesMatter protester).” This is just the tip of the Trump-berg, unfortunately. Trump’s derogatory attitude towards people of color, immigrants, 14th Amendment citizens, and women also fill the pages of his campaign book. There are some obvious parallels, which are daunting at best, but this does not mean his supporters are bad people at all. I firmly believe that a majority of Trump supporters can be and are good people, just people who haven’t explored all their options and could not even know what all their options are. Benson’s cartoon does a good job of