FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
From Trump to Putin, the cartoons that revealed the true faces of power
The year 2025 was not just another chapter in global political history, it was a grotesque year, filled with events beyond imagination, meticulously marked by the sarcastic pencil of cartoonists. From a Donald Trump increasingly resembling a James Bond character to a prince collapsing under the weight of scandal, political satire artists had no day off. As world leaders struggled to maintain a modicum of respectability on the international stage, cartoons unmasked them with cynicism and piercing truths. In this visual retrospective of the year, drawings, more than words, testify to the absurdity and anxiety of an era that is barely holding on.
Ella Baron: In a year in which I have drawn many cartoons about powerful people acting with impunity, the fall of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor stood out to me as a rare victory for justice and accountability. Dark humor seems vital to highlight all that is going wrong, but I have also tried to draw cartoons that highlight reasons for hope, such as the fragile ceasefire in Gaza or Zohran Mamdani's victory in New York.
Martin Rowson: The year 2025 has been remarkable not for what I have drawn, but for what I have not drawn. In 40 years as a cartoonist, I have never seen such an anonymous government, where no one knows 95% of the cabinet (except Wes Streeting, with “a face like a complete Brazilian purge”). Whether that is because of Morgan McSweeney’s maneuvers or because they are hiding until this nightmare is over, it doesn’t matter: it is a tragedy. The humorous potential squandered by someone like Pat McFadden – who looks exactly like Death in a Brueghel painting – is a national disgrace.
Nicola Jennings: I've drawn Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin more than any other person this year. They're not people I want to think about or see, but no one escapes satire, and they're both sufficiently disgusting to make good cartoons. I despise them, but I draw them with curiosity and an analytical eye. Cartooning is not just about features, it's about expressions. Trump's face is very expressive, while Putin's is frozen - only his mouth moves, so I focus on his cold gaze.
My goal is to mock, to decipher their smiles and looks, to expose the motives of those in power. While I don't believe cartoonists can overthrow governments, I do believe we can influence the way the public views political figures – and these perceptions stick. However, I am certain that drawing Trump so many times is soul-destroying, so I am planning to sue him for $10 billion.
Ben Jennings: This year has been like watching reruns of old news while strapped into a dentist's chair while having your teeth pulled out one by one. Everything felt painful and familiar: from the unimaginable horrors in Gaza, to the ongoing bloodshed in Ukraine, to the rise of Nigel Farage and "Donald Trump 2.OH-NO." We had even more revelations about (former) Prince Andrew and a Labour government trying to roll back austerity.
For cartoonists, the biggest challenge was having something new to say in a year that often felt like a recurring nightmare. But cartoons remain a powerful and versatile medium for capturing the heated climate of the times we live in – both figuratively and literally. Trying to distill chaos into a single image and extract a laugh here and there. God, how we need it! / Adapted from "Pamphlet" by "The Guardian"
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