This Pulitzer-winning cartoonist once loved spoofing Trump. Now he's ready to move on.

[babylonsister]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2018/08/29/pulitzer-winning-cartoonist-once-loved-spoofing-trump-now-hes-ready-to-move-on/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a27384b0c327

This Pulitzer-winning cartoonist once loved spoofing Trump. Now he’s ready to move on.
By Michael Cavna
August 29


ONCE UPON a campaign, according to the humorous truth of Pulitzer-winning artist Mike Luckovich, he and his cartooning colleagues reveled in having Donald J. Trump around as a political piñata. As we approach the midpoint of a first term, is the commentator still so thrilled about devoting so much of his professional life to President Trump?

“No, I describe it as marrying a nymphomaniac,” says Luckovich, the editorial cartoonist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Great at first, then becomes a nightmare.

“The last three presidents before Trump were all pretty normal,” continues Luckovich, and “drawing cartoons during their terms were easier. When you have someone so incompetent, absurd and crazy, it’s hard to top that in a cartoon.”

Luckovich does his daily best to top Trump’s tweets and tirades, though, as reflected in a new collection of his recent cartoons titled “A Very Stable Genius.”

It might be challenging to lampoon an over-the-top persona, but part of the public service of cartoons, Luckovich believes, is to help readers focus and not fall for distraction and misdirection.

“There’s so much nonsense and chaos, it’s hard to see what’s happening,” says Luckovich, who won his two Pulitzer Prizes during the Clinton and Bush Jr. administrations. “Cartoons can help, in a concise way, illustrate what’s happening through the chaff Trump’s delivering.

snip//

Within Luckovich’s satiric tool kit, he often opts for hammering home certain impressions.

“One thing I try to show is that Trump’s a buffoon,” says the left-leaning cartoonist. “It amazes me that there’s a cult following around Trump. My hope is that if I ever fall under the sway of a cult leader, I hope he or she isn’t a huge doofus. That would be really embarrassing.”

Luckovich finds fault, too, with not just Trump loyalists but also some of his fellow cartoonists.

“Right-wing cartoonists are either supportive or silent about Trump’s corruption and authoritarianism,” he says. “If a democratic president behaved this way, I’d hope I’d put my country first.”

So as a cartoonist, what’s his dream scenario for a Trump presidency?

Says Luckovich: “It ends quickly.”

[Glorfindel]

1. Mike Luckovich is a genuine national treasure.

I hope he's around and cartooning for many, many more years.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

9. A biography of Luckovich

He once sold insurance door to door, but now Atlanta Constitution Cartoonist Mike Luckovich is at the top, having won a Pulitzer Prize.
more

[dalton99a]

2. Great piece

“The size and amount of scandals is unrivaled in American history,” says Luckovich, noting that even as a satirist, “it isn’t fun.”

“You see someone without shame, trying to destroy the pillars of American democracy, and it’s sobering,” Luckovich believes. “I do think this is a very important time to be speaking out and defending the rule of law.”

[GusBob]

3. What dis Obama say after the election?

A cartoon character was elected


this guy Luckovich is funny

[erlewyne]

4. My chuckle of the day ....

snipped from above

When you have someone so incompetent, absurd and crazy, it’s hard to top that in a cartoon.”


I'll be grinning all day!

EW

[NewJeffCT]

6. it's mentally draining for millions of Americans

as well.

[kskiska]

5. Alec Baldwin says pretty much the same thing.

It's painful.

[Shipwack]

10. I am of the mind that Baldwin needs to stop lampooning Trump...

His portrayal of him as a doofus softens Trump's image.

Instead of showing Trump as the evil petty vengeful racist that he is, he is portrayed as merely stupid. This makes him look better than he actually is.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

15. i agree

[spooky3]

7. He says it's difficult to lampoon Trump, but he does it

brilliantly—so many times, too. Thanks, ML, please keep it up.

[catbyte]

8. "My hope is that if I ever fall under the sway of a cult leader,

I hope he or she isn’t a huge doofus. That would be really embarrassing.”

No kidding.

I don't know whether to or

[cp]

11. Living with blight is wearing on all of us

Luckovich is one of my very favorite cartoonists. Thank you.

[Demovictory9]

12. great article

[BlancheSplanchnik]

13. Love Luckovich, he's the best. Love his drawing style too. nt

[Cha]

14. Luckovich Is Genius!

[Scurrilous]

16. K&R