Here you see a cartoon about the current political situation in the U.S. Watch the video in the link and then describe what you think this cartoon is trying to say. What do you think about this message? (A donkey is the traditional symbol for the Democrats.)
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-50408243/a-beginner-s-guide-to-impeachment-and-trump
Daily Writing Prompts 
I believe the creator of this cartoon tries to implicate that Trump is close to being ‘blown away’ out of his position in the White House. Unfortunately, I am not really up to date by this event that is currently happening in the United States so the BBC video was very helpful.
The cartoon represents an American citizen that is about to vote for the 2020 election. The box says ‘Democracy’, which means the belief in freedom and equality between people. The American who votes, is voting for Trump who is accused of everything besides being democratic.
The second prominent item in this cartoon are the ‘bombs’ underneath the voting table, which indicate the impeachment. The lower chamber, which is led by the Democrats, just needs to ‘push the button’ to make an official statement to the upper chamber, which is led by Trump his own Republicans. As already stated in the description of this Daily Writing Prompt, the donkey is the traditional symbol of the Democrats. They are really close on blowing up Trumps reputation and his role in America.
It can all be blown away with one push.
Martine Schrik – VO Engels 2C
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Nice ending!
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Firstly, I will quickly get something out of the way: I am not necessarily fond of President Trump, but I do acknowledge him being democratically elected. I assume the impeachment inquiry to be a personal attack on President Trump as a person, given the history of the Democratic Party.
Looking back at the 2016 elections they have tried very hard to find ties with Russian influence, tossing around terms like ‘hackers’ and ‘bots’. They found nothing, yet they do not seem to have dropped the narrative. I do indeed think that this is an attempted murder on democracy but if they do find actual evidence worthy of an impeachment inquiry, I hope they go through with it. Thanks to the US government’s system of checks and balances I think it is unlikely that the President will be ousted from office.
I also find the assignment refreshing. It offers a neutral stance where we can give our own input, rather than the usual left-leaning views people regurgitate on a daily basis, especially in the education system. The BBC video was very useful. Too often do I see people who do not know what impeachment actually is and it causes unnecessary panic and outrage among the conservatives and others who voted for Trump or plan to do so next year.
Finally, the future of the Democratic Party looks rather grim. If they truly wish to win the 2020 elections, they should focus more on their own campaign and do away with the slander. I would rather not see Trump win a second time but the other candidates on both sides leave much to be desired.
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Good structure in your writing. It flows well from ‘Firstly’ to ‘Finally’ and your ideas are explained cleanly and concisely.
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The way I see it, the author of this cartoon believes that the impeachment inquiry into president Trump is wrong. He sees it as a personal attack from the democrats that goes against the democracy. This is portrayed by the donkey (the democrats) who is on the verge of blowing up the election style box labelled ‘democracy’. The fact that the box looks like a ballot box is fascinating, as it also implies that the democratic party is only supporting the impeachment inquiry with intention of sabotaging the next election. This idea is supported by the scruffy looking American who seems indifferent as he casts his ballot, as he represents the Trump supporters whose votes could be ‘blown away’ because of Trumps possible impeachment. This will then make it difficult for Trump to be elected again thus giving the democrats an advantage.
Though I can definitely understand the authors point of view, I do not agree with it. The impeachment investigation comes from serious allegations that are unrelated to the democratic party. The whistle blower is also said to be a CIA official which also indicates that the origin of the query had nothing to do with the democrats.
Is the impeachment inquiry beneficial to the democrats in the upcoming election? Why yes, it is. That does not mean however, that it is their sole motivation for backing the charges against Donald Trump.
Juliet Wind, 1D
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First of all let me state that I am not up to date on American and or politics at all, some may call it living under a rock, however I just do not want to involve myself with things that I haven’t got a slightest interest in.
Anyway the little political cartoon/propaganda piece presented to us shows us a democrat blowing up a voting box with impeachment, this is a metaphor for the involvement of democrats against president Trump in the 2020 elections. Personally I think that its safe to assume that this form of impeachment especially against Donald Trump can be regarded as a personal attack. Even before Trumps campaign push in 2016 he was already a disliked man by many, the elections blew that hate out of proportions, it is my belief that this impeachment is less about following the law and more about destroying Trumps chances at reelection. I believe that the author of the drawing wants to draw parallel towards terrorism with the use of the bomb in the drawing, the democrats are disrupting the peaceful form of democracy with the impeachment as they do not agree with Trumps methods, one can call it a valiant defense against different ideals while others can see it as a spoiled child who didn’t get their way, either way the politics of America are a mess yet again and they drag the rest of the world in to watch them duke it out.
I do not support Trump in any way or form, however I find mindless hate towards an individual just plain stupid, the cartoon is a perfect example of one side getting back at the other for doing something against them, because they did not like the way things went… its a vicious cycle, one that I do not wish to involve myself with.
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I found your piece engaging for two reasons: you state you have little interest in the matter but take the time to voice some strong opinons, and you use lively vocabulary. My only tip would be to watch for run-on sentences; they can water down your well-written ideas.
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The whole issue in America’s politics is a big mind-blowing thing for me. I don’t really understand how the government works so the short video was useful for me. I think that the impeachment on Trump can actually be a personal attack, because there are two ‘main groups’ in America right now. The people who admire him, and the ones who don’t. So I think that the people who don’t like him, that have to be the democrats, would want to impeach trump.
On the picture that is given, I see a democrat (the donkey) trying to blow up the democratic system I guess. I really don’t know what the picture means, I am not good at these topics at all. Maybe the donkey represents that only democratic people want to impeach trump, because they don’t agree with his ideas? I tried to think deeper, but as I said, I really don’t know anything about the event that’s going on right now in America. I wish I would understand it better, but when I try to look it up in Dutch I still don’t know what they are talking about.
Hanneke Hiemstra
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I wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about the cartoon so I did some digging and learned that the cartoon was made by Glenn McCoy. McCoy happens to be a conservative cartoonist so it hardly surprises me that his cartoon has a strong right-wing bias. I find it quite ironic that the cartoon portrays this idea that ‘impeachments are dangerous to democracy’ while the sole idea behind impeachment is to protect democracy. In fact, the founders of America thought of impeachment so important that they enshrined it in the constitution. This is also why I think it is hilarious that the Trump administration calls it unconstitutional, this only shows how much of a joke the GOP is. It is one of the many signs that show how the Republican party is an insult to American democracy. Impeachments aren’t a threat to democracy, they’re a threat to oligarchies and at this moment resembles quite an oligarchy. The fact that the president gives tax breaks to the wealthiest and most powerful people in the country is one of the signs that illustrate the fact that the country is on its way to becoming an oligarchy. Another way to interpret the cartoon is that if the Democrats focus too much on impeachments they’ll blow their own elections which in my opinion is highly unlikely. This president has one of the lowest ratings in American history and it appears to be that the Republicans aren’t keen on choosing another Republican for the presidential race anytime soon. This combined with the fact that on the democratic side there are many exciting and popular choices convince me that Trump won’t stand a chance in the 2020 elections.
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Thanks for going the extra mile and researching the cartoonist; it added a useful insight into the cartoon’s potential meaning. Very well written, with nice flow thanks to your clear argumentation, good sentence length and correct punctuation. Nice that you gave two interpretations.
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When I first saw the cartoon it did not make a lot of sense, I haven’t been keeping up with the new lately and am not sure what is going on in America at the moment. When I was watching the video I saw able to give the cartoon a meaning.
Personally, I think that the artist tried to indicate Trump losing his position as the president of the United States. The first thing I noticed was a citizen of the United States casting a vote for the 2020 elections. This citizen decided to vote for Trump, even after all the accusations that has been made against him.
The second thing that got my attention was the donkey, also know as the symbol for the democratic party. The donkey is ready to blow everything up. I think this stands for the impeachment that Trump is facing. The house of representatives, consist mostly of democrats, can make an official claim to the house of senate. We can find Trumps party, the republican party, in the house of Senate.
The democrats have made the first move to destroy Trumps credibility as the president of the United States. Trump has to be very careful, people are paying close attention to the decisions he makes. Even the slightest mistake can ruin everything.
Sabrina Spaan VO Engels 2C
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Nice writing but watch out for capitals – they’re used a lot more in English than in Dutch.
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Whilst I unfortunately have not kept up with the news on the impeachment trial on Trump, I think the creator of this cartoon has a strong opinion on the movement.
The man voting for Trump is clearly a Republican as he is wearing the American flag in his clothing as well his hat. He would probably depict the average voter for Donald Trump, a believer in ‘freedom’. The creator added a music note to the mans mouth as if he is whistling, maybe implying that the man is voting with ease and without doubt. As the donkey demonstrates the democrats and he is pumping the said ‘bomb’ I believe this could imply that the democrats are putting pressure on Trump and the lower chamber to make sure Trump’s reputation is quite literally blown to bits. The bomb personally represents the lower chamber and that they have the ‘final choice’ on whether Trump’s reputation is disgraced or not.
Even after having seen the video, I remain confused. I have always found it quite challenging to analyse political cartoons as it is not really in my pool of interests. Hence my view on what the cartoonist was trying to say might be skewed. I believe this cartoonist is trying to emphasise that Trump’s impeachment is merely a personal attack on the President. Since the beginning of his years in office a lot of people have had a strong dislike for him, especially the democrats. In this occasion I think it is fair to say that biased opinions should not be involved in such a big controversy and that the proceedings in the near future should be viewed objectively. If not, it won’t only be the President’s reputation that ‘blows up’.
Femke Calame Fonville, 2A
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The way I see it is that part America was foolish enough to vote for Trump. Some even admitted that they did it as a joke that ended up screwing the world over. I have tried to keep up with the news about the impeachment but to be honest I don’t know much about politics and it’s not something I care for.
The way I see it America is being lead by a big orange toddler with tiny hands who throws big temper tantrums when things don’t go his way. Other than that he is a white supremacist, racist, rapist, vile man that should have never gotten the power he has. I think it’s amazing that he is finally getting impeached, frankly, it should have happened that word got out that he is a rapist. I understand that some people don’t think of that as a high crime or misdemeanor because that is very unspecific.
The way I see the cartoon is that America messed up by voting for Trump and that the Democrats are trying to fix that by finally getting him impeached. You could also see it as white people enjoying how he is ruling and them wanting that to last by voting for him again, which again, the Democrats are trying to fix by getting him impeached.
Samara Sahar 1b
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This assignment is actually a big throwback to high school for me, because I followed history class for five years. First of all, I haven’t been keeping up with the news in America lately, nor do I know a lot about the American politics. However, the video of BBC was really helpful and gave me more insight about the current situation in America.
What I see in this picture is a regular American citizen, recognized by the outfit and the hat, voting for Donald Trump in the 2020 elections. However, underneath the voting box you can see that there is a bomb, also known as the impeachment, this shows that there are American citizens that don’t want Donald Trump as a President anymore. Lastly, you see a donkey, which represents the Democrats, holding the button to set the bomb of.
Regardless of all the people who didn’t vote for Trump, he still won the elections and became President. So, in my opinion I think that the situation shown in the cartoon was to be expected, because there were a lot of American citizens who definitely didn’t want Trump to be the President. The democrats want Trump kicked out of the White House and have an advantage because of all the accusations made against him.
Quinty Wiebrands, VO Engels 2C
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