Jay Smolens
ENGL 1030-41
Eda Ozyesilpinar
23 August 2015
Rhetorical Anlaysis of Trump, the Media, and Republicans by Daryl Cagle
Through the analysis of this media, one can infer that Daryl Cagle, the author, is expressing the frustration of republicans towards the media directing all of their intention towards Donald Trump, a somewhat independent candidate who identifies as a republican. The trouble is that, even though the republicans are angry with Trump and some of the things that he is saying, they can do nothing to deny his claims that he is a republican. As a result, a generally liberal media focuses on Trump and his crass statements to paint the Republicans in a negative light.
In the cartoon specifically, a suited-up elephant (representing the republican party) shakes its fists in frustration as the media ignores it in order to pester an apathetic Trump into insulting more people. This cartoon is a very recent one, having only been published on the eighth of August this year. It is a comment on the ongoing presidential campaigns, and one can assume that it comes from a conservative standpoint since it points out that Trump is not all that represents republican ideals. The author hopes that the audience (the American people) sees this and goes beyond the vast media coverage of Trump’s asinine comments to look at other republican candidates. From looking at some of the other cartoons by Cagle, one can infer that if he is not a republican, he is at least aware of the republican’s issues with Trump taking the republican limelight.
Looking deeper into the cartoon, one can see that Trump stands there apathetically. His shoulders are slumped, his back is partially humped, and he is in a slouch. This, coupled with the fact that he is facing a crowd of media persons asking him to make more insults, is meant to illustrate Trump’s general indifference towards the comments he has made in the past. The media is drawn in a crazed state rushing towards Trump. They are also requesting even more insults out of Trump. The media is only looking for more content to paint Trump and, by extension, the Republican Party, in a negative light. This illustrates that the media is generally against republicans, suggesting that the mass that is the media is primarily liberal. Turning towards the elephant, one can observe looking to the sky, screaming, and shaking its fists in aggravation. This is a comment on the Republican Party’s frustration and inability to do anything about Trump and his overshadowing of other candidates in the media.
After fully analyzing the cartoon, the argument is clearly made and supported that the liberal media focuses on Trump and his careless statements insulting groups of people in order to paint Trump and the Republican Party in a negative light. While aware of this, the Republican Party can do nothing about it aside from hope that the American people are also aware of this gross bias in the media.
