THE NEWEST national magazine cover featuring a golfing President Trump might not be making its way to the proud walls of the president’s country clubs any time soon.
The image is by John Cuneo, and the cover illustration, which appears on the latest issue of the New Yorker, is titled “The Swamp.”
Rather than rendering a president successfully fulfilling a campaign promise to drain the “swamp” that is Washington, Cuneo depicts the errant duffer Trump trying to play through the quagmire, surrounded by all manner of slithering beasts.
“It’s a difficult lie,” Cuneo tells The Washington Post’s Comic Riffs of Trump’s position, “but one would think he’s used to that.”
The Catskills-based artist has particular experience in this regard. Five summers ago, he drew another New York-sprung politico surrounded by dangerous foes. The cover, titled “Carlos Danger,” depicted Anthony Weiner as King Kong atop the Empire State Building, swatting at pesky aircraft.
As for “The Swamp,” Cuneo says: “It seemed kind of sadly inevitable,” politically speaking.
“In the previous week, we experimented with having [new Trump lawyer Rudolph] Giuliani rising from muck as his caddie,” Cuneo says, “but the decision was made to let the president fend for himself.”
“Maybe the reason this image works so wonderfully is because it encapsulates Trump’s modus operandi of calling his worst traits in others,” says New Yorker Art Editor Francoise Mouly. “He labeled Washington a swamp — a label that feels viscerally true, while himself wading in pay for play, lies and deception.
“He’s the ultimate swamp creature so, sadly, this is a picture of what we all now live in.”
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