Loving America In Spite of Donald Trump
On July 4, I wanted to remember what I love about America in spite of the Trump presidency.
I love a very different America than the one that Trump wants to direct the U.S. to.
I love the reformers and activists who worked to make the U.S. a better nation.
I'm talking about the abolitionists, women suffragists, labor organizers, anti-war activists, civil rights activists, feminists, LGBTQIA+ activists, immigrants rights activists, free speech advocates, etc...
These reformers and activists helped this country come closer to living up to its democratic values of freedom and equality.
I have been reading these past few months about how the Trump administration has been pressuring schools, museums, libraries and public media to teach history that excludes the voices of those reformers and activists.
I love America. But I realize the U.S. has flaws.
The U.S., like every other country, is a complex mix of good and bad.
We want Americans to learn about the darker side of its history for the same reason we want Germans and Japanese to learn about World War II: we want to avoid making the mistakes we made in the past.
These reformers and activists helped bring out the best in America.
Trump is bringing out the worst in the U.S.
I'm not great with caricature. So if you don't recognize all the figures in the cartoon, here is a list from left to right.
First row: Cesar Chavez, Yuri Kochiyama, Shirley Chisholm, Susan B. Anthony.
Second Row: Harvey Milk, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass.
Third Row: Larry Itliong, Martin Luther King Jr., Benjamin Franklin.
Here is a video on my process for creating my cartoon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VUc7E30FVA
REFERENCES
"A look at what's behind the efforts to reshape how American history is taught" by PBS NewsHour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZgM_o0hYfY
"Donald Trump’s War on History" by David Corn for Mother Jones
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/04/donald-trump-war-on-histor…
"Historians alarmed as Trump seeks to rewrite US story for 250th anniversary" by Robert Tait for The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/04/trump-us-250th-annivers…
"Trump’s American History Revolution" by Jennifer Schuessler for The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/19/arts/trump-american-history-250th.ht…
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Thanks Enrico, Ellis and R.D.
As Ellis wrote, there's a lot of bad things going on in the U.S.
But there's also good. It's just hard to see with Trump doing his crazy things.
Powerful.
during campaign the rich, conservative, heritage owners sounded louder; money shouts!
this now? to late! it was well known what was to come
money shouts!
poor people suffer in silence...
Y. doesn’t even mind giving Ukrainian's to Putin
great cartoon b.t.w.
Thank ypu for this.