The treason of the Trump: analysis of the USA president's position on the Ukraine War during the first half of 2025 in the western political cartoon
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26441/RC-2025.1-2026-4211Keywords:
Donald Trump, Ukraine, Russia, Russia-Ukraine war, political cartoonAbstract
Purpose. Donald Trump’s return to the presidency of the United States sparked renewed political and media controversy, particularly regarding his stance on the Russian–Ukrainian war. This study aims to examine how this position is represented in political cartoons published in Western newspapers. Methodology. A corpus of 144 political cartoons published between January 20, 2025, and the first half of June 2025 was analyzed. The timeframe is shaped by a shift in media attention following the escalation of the Middle East conflict after the launch of Operation Rising Lion. The analysis applies framing theory and multimodal critical discourse analysis to the verbo-pictorial elements of the cartoons, identifying seven recurring cognitive subframes. Results and conclusions. The findings indicate that diplomatic scenarios are emphasized over military ones and that cartoons predominantly construct a critical portrayal of Donald Trump and his relationship with Vladimir Putin, assigning them responsibility for the continuation of the conflict. Original contribution. This article contributes to research on visual political communication by combining framing analysis with multimodal discourse analysis in the study of political cartoons. It is part of the project Ukraine: The War in Cartoons, promoted by the Canary Islands Cine+Cómics Foundation and the Moebius Cultural Chair of the University of La Laguna, and it ensures knowledge transfer through a public exhibition of the analyzed material.
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