Drawing Trump

For The Washington Post, 2020.

We’re days away from the US election and I wanted to repost this illustration I did for The Washington Post four years ago. It was published September 2020, weeks before Trump pretty much lived up to both my illustration and the article, titled “What’s the worst that could happen?”. Trump is so over the top that as an illustrator, you can’t beat him no matter how crazy you try to portray him. He always tops it, like the living cartoon he is.

Just the idea that Trump, more unhinged than ever, actually might be voted back in office is hard to wrap my head around. At the same time, it feels like just another symptom of another global pandemic we’re all caught up in; a sort of contagious egoistic empathy-crash, resulting in nationalism and stupidity.

A recent survey showed that 47% percent of young norwegian men would vote for Trump if they had the chance. In a country which, all things considered, I believe is a good country to live in … what makes these dudes go for this kind of weird(!) youth rebellion? Is it really so bad being a young male in Norway that this babbling, bitter clown is a role model for them? It seems like Trump scratches some scary universal itch of our times that’s hard for me to understand.

I made this illustration for The Washington Post, who last week had their owner Jeff Bezos block the paper’s intended and draftet endorsement for Harris … he’s saying it’s not calculated, that it should be done earlier and that it was just unfortunate that the decision happened when it did (about a week before the election) … just like Musk’s manic engagement for Trump, it’s just too obvious that it’s all about the benefits in reach for their businesses with Trump as president. It doesn’t seem to matter that the man they support displays a fascistic and totalitarian language in broad daylight, is responsible for the capitol being stormed, is flirting with Putin (although it might seem Musk is rivaling Trump on this), or that he’s the worlds sorest looser who simply can’t accept and understand a fair loss … the list goes on.

The thought of four years with Trump in the White House, after we’ve seen what he’s capable of and what he’s really made of, worries me. That being said, I really don’t agree with the way Biden/Harris has handled the extreme Netanyahu government’s horrific actions in Gaza, and now Lebanon. This might even cost Harris the election, considering what a close race this is, after all. However, I like things about her and I think she is the lesser of two evils. And I guess that’s the best we can hope for these days.

Strolling with my six months old baby, Kai, I try to keep all these gloomy worries at bay (including Putin’s war and AI messing up my livelihood and the art spirit) and summon some hopeful and optimistic thoughts for the future. But every five seconds another slick Tesla pops up and all I can think of is Elon Musk jumping around in an oversized baseball hat, making Steve Ballmer’s movements look like Isadora Duncan in comparison.

Drawing Trump

Alright, enough depressing reflections! Let’s get back to the illustrations! Plural! When searching through my Dropbox for this illustration, a lot of orange and blue thumbnails popped up and I was reminded of all the drawings I’ve actually made of this guy. I realized this could be a good occasion to gather them all (not that I suspect anyone for craving more Trump stuff right now, though).

Like stated earlier, it’s a peculiar task to illustrate a person who’s already pretty much a cartoon in real life. At the same time, when I first started to make illustrations of him I felt that his wild personality resonated with the crazy business men I often portray in my comics. This has been a long time fascination for me, for some reason. I just seem to love to tell stories about manic businessmen, and I still do, but maybe Trump made me a bit tired of it? Illustrating him was a fun challenge at first, but it all turned increasingly dark the further we came into his presidency. When the crazy aftermath of the 2020 election settled I was relieved to have him out of sight and mind.

So, here are my illustrations of him. Except the one for The Washington post, they’re all made for The New Yorker right before and during his time in the White House. I’ve also included some sketches at the very end of this text to show some process and ideas.

The first time I was asked to draw Trump was a month before the 2016 election. Doonsbury creator Garry Trudeau’s had written a Shouts & Murmurs piece in The New Yorker called “Air Trump: A Short Play” that I got to illustrate. Read it here.

The second time was right after Trump had become president, choosing “Finding Dory” as his first White House Family Theatre screening (right after the controversy around his muslim travel ban - in stark contrast to the film’s message, btw). The piece was called “What I have in common with Trump”, another Shouts & Murmurs by Ethan Kuperberg. Read the piece here.

My third portrayal of Trump was for a piece about Melania’s chillingly surreal Christmas decorations in The White House. (Can’t find the piece anywhere for some reason).

Then a piece about his favorite morning show at the time, Fox & Friends. Trumps famous tweeting peaked during the show’s hours. I was pleased when I realized that the TV studio’s couch had an oval shape, fitting perfectly into Trump’s office at the time.
I have such a hard time nailing portraits so I spent ages struggling big time with all the faces in this one. At one point I even started googling “how to draw portraits”, in pure desperation! But after enough panic I usually get it more or less right. This drawing was also included in a CNN reportage, btw. Here’s a link to The New Yorker piece.

I almost forgot about the drawing I did of Ryan Costello, featuring no less than 10 litte Trumps. A text about the republican congressman of Pennsylvania and his dilemmas in trying to distance himself from Trump without losing his identity as a Republican. Btw, it’s so strange to see all these references to the blue Twitter bird, thinking of how it’s been X’ed by Musk, who is now potentially Trump staff …

I remember getting the email about this job while sitting in a cab from Charles de Gaulle with my cousin Daniel Herskedal. We’ just had a few drinks during the flight and I felt like I could do this easily and quickly so I said yes. The two of us often goes on working trips together, where he composes music and I work on my stuff. My plan for the week in Paris was to focus on my phd project, but in the tipsy mood I figured I could manage both with ease. Also, it was only supposed to be a small illustration so although I struggle with portraits I figured I’d manage. The next day I got a message from the AD who was thrilled to inform me that it would be a full page instead. A full page in The New Yorker is in deed thrilling, but at the same time I got stressed out. I could no longer operate within the soothing frame of the small format where a portrait can be more forgiving and simple, now it had to be detailed in big size. You can’t hide away on a full page.
I spent the whole week in Paris sitting in the apartment wrestling with Costello’s face, listening to Erik Bye. Barely going out. But that’s the thing about this line of work: you never know how much time a job will take you. Sometimes you nail it within hours, other times you keep spinning in a ditch for days, slamming your head in the wall. I can’t enjoy myself and relax until I’ve produced a sketch that sparks, or even better, getting a green light for a sketch. I think me and Daniel had one night out, but with Costello’s unsolved face hanging over me it was an early night for sure.
Link to the article.

From cousin Daniel to Stormy Daniels. I’m also including this illustration of Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer”, Michael Cohen, who went to prison after the famous Stormy Daniels hush money case, among other things. The piece.

And finally, Trump tangled up in the Oval Office curtains, for The Washington Post. The piece was about simulated scenarios of what could happen if Trump refused to leave office, should he loose the election. It received criticism for being too dark and unrealistic, spreading unnecessary fear. The critics was proven wrong when the scenarios described was pretty close to what actually happened. Here’s the article.

Speaking of portraying Donald Trump, before I wrap this up I just want to share a film director’s thought on Trump as a character in fiction. After rewatching the magnificent film  “Local Hero”, which I highly recommend, I found an old interview with director Bill Forsyth where he talks about Trump’s character ark, after watching the documentary “You’ve Been Trumped” back in 2012:

“A writer who'd dreamed him up wouldn't be standing in line for any Oscar, no sir. This character breaks all the rules of drama. For a start, he has no arc.

The arc is the progress of a character through the narrative. I usually draw it out on the page as a kind of curved line. I find it helps to lodge the idea in my mind, in case I forget. If a character doesn't have an arc, then he effectively isn't a character. He doesn't change and grow, he is unaffected by what happens to him on the journey (Hollywood term) that the story has him undertake.

This lacking of arc is only acceptable in say a thriller where the character in question might be clearly drawn as say, a psychopath, who by definition lacks various everyday human traits like empathy and sympathy. So the general rule is, if you don't have an arc you're just hung out to dry up there on the big screen; or you're a psychopath.”

This was before his presidency, and I haven’t yet seen how his arc works in “The Apprentice” that was just released, but still I thought it was an interesting reflection on portraying this unbelievable guy, from the perceptive of a film director.

Poster for Local Hero, artist unknown.

The rest of the interview with Bill Forsyth can be read here.

And “Local Hero” is actually available here at the moment.

This became a much longer text than originally planned, but it felt good to air out my Trump files at this point. On the day of the election, of all days, I’m flying to Japan with my fiancé and 6 months old Kai. We probably won’t know the election outcome before entering the 12 hours long flight, so it will be interesting to see what kind of planet we’re landing on when we reach Tokyo. Fingers Crossed!

Finally, I want to thank the magnificent art directors I’ve had the pleasure of working with on these illustrations! Deanna Donegan, Chris Curry and Aviva Michaelow at The New Yorker, and Elizabeth Hartz of The Washington Post.

Wrapping this up with some sketches below. Thank you for reading!