Post-summit cartoons satirize Trump as 'Putin's poodle'
Dagmar Breitenbach
July 19, 2018
Cartoonists worldwide have been playing up President Donald Trump's comments following a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. The satirical political cartoons have been on high social media rotation.
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Donald Trump has been under bipartisan fire for failing to publicly confront Vladimir Putin over alleged election interference.
With global media like the Daily Mirror labeling Trump "Putin's poodle," and former CIA director John Brennan calling him "nothing short of treasonous," there was broad agreement that the president had caved in to Putin during this first summit meeting.
Cartoonists worldwide were of course having a field day.
This cartoonist actually dug up a caricature on the Trump-Putin show from two years ago that still works fine in 2018:
The New Zealand Herald newspaper shows athletes triumphantly holding up their trophies at events over the past few days: the World Soccer Cup, the Wimbledon tennis championships – and then, in his own category entirely, Putin holds up a grinning Trump doll, his hair shining as yellow as the golden trophies.
Another cartoon uses different imagery to convey the same message of who has the upper hand in the Trump-Putin relationship.
Disturbing similarities
On the latest cover of Time magazine, the two leaders' faces are merged into an eerily striking single face. Visual artist Nancy Burson said she hoped her image would make readers reflect on the similarities between the two men.
New York's Daily News also has a Trump cover this week with a cartoon showing the unpredictable, vainglorious president holding hands, not with his wife Melania, but with Putin, and included a clever play on words:
In his first public comments about Monday's summit, the Russian president told his own diplomats that US-Russian relations are "in some ways worse than during the Cold War," but that his meeting allowed them to start on "the path to positive change."
The US President, meanwhile, tweaked his controversial comments at the press conference, saying he'd misspoken when he said he saw no reason why Russia would have interfered in the 2016 election — despite mounting evidence to the contrary. He now says he accepts his own intelligence agencies' conclusion of Russian meddling, but added: "It could be other people also. A lot of people out there."
The weirdest moments of the Trump-Putin summit
Despite praising each other ahead of the meeting, the body language between the two leaders was anything but warm. Hillary Clinton's emails, awkward hugs and non-answers were the major takeaways from the summit.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/TASS/V. Sharifulin
Stiff body language
Although the US president had nothing but warm words for his Russian counterpart ahead of their meeting, their posture upon meeting was significantly more awkward. As they met for a brief photo call before closed-door talks, the two men avoided eye contact and seemed unsure of how best to approach one another, with Trump slouching in his seat and Putin remaining enigmatic.
Image: Reuters/K. Lamarque
Trump questions US intelligence services
"They said they think it's Russia; I have President Putin, he just said it's not Russia," said Trump, on assurances from US intelligence agenices that the Russian government meddled in the 2016 presidential elections. This came mere seconds after Putin admitted in a press conference that he had be hoping for him to win over rival Hillary Clinton.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/B. Smialowski
Reporter pulled for protest
A reporter for the progressive US publication "The Nation" was forcibly removed from the presidents' joint press conference, apparently for holding a sign that seemed to read "Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty."
After giving a series of rambling answers to questions about Syria and Russian hacking, Trump was asked why he would trust President Putin's assurances over his own intelligence services. He abruptly changed the subject to Hillary Clinton. "Where are those servers?" he asked. "Where are Hillary Clinton's emails?"
Image: Reuters/G. Dukor
Power posturing
President Putin reacted aggressively to questions from US reporters from the new agencies Reuters and the Associated Press. "Can you name a single fact?" he asked. He also swerved around a US reporter's question as to whether he directed government agents to interfere in American politics.
Image: Reuters/Lehtikuva/A. Aimo-Koivisto
In your court
"The ball's in your court," said Putin with an air of forced joviality as he presented Trump with a gift to mark their meeting. Trump had already congratulated the Russian president on "one of the best ever" World Cup tournaments. After he was handed the soccer ball, Trump appeared to surprise onlookers by tossing it into the crowd, where it was given to his wife Melania Trump.
Image: picture-alliance/newscom/D. Silpa
Half-hearted hug
The two men again appeared ill at ease with one another at the end of the press conference, a stark contrast to their vows to work towards stronger ties. Both leaders were uncomfortably prompted to deny the existence of a "dossier" of compromising material collected by Russian agents during Trump's visits to the country before he was president.
