Red is a powerful color. It is associated with and used to symbolize a lot of things, including violence, love, anger, and communism. White font can be used on anything to display a message on a dark background, Recently, mixing these two on a generic baseball hat has an entirely new association and stirs up a lot of controversies. “Make America Great Again” has been seen and heard all over the United States the last several years, and these words spread across a red hat in white font is all it takes to trigger the thought of our president Donald Trump and America’s current situation. This symbol is so powerful that nothing else has to be shown in the image to know who and what is being discussed, and David Horsey makes use of this in one of his political cartoons to show his stance and to influence the opinion of others on Donald Trump and his views and ideas for changes in healthcare in the Los Angeles Times in 2017‘ David Horsey is a political cartoonist who currently works for the Los Angeles Times.
He has a Pulitzer prize for his cartoons and he is very well known and admired He is known for great artwork and his satire towards politics and American culture. His work is known nationwide, because his work is so prevalent and influential in newspapers and online across the nation, David Horsey’s cartoon has a wide rhetorical context and reach. It is addressed to anyone who reads the Los Angeles Times or views political cartoons online. His audience mostly consists of adults, many who are interested in current events, politics, and satire. Its purpose is to show Horsey‘s beliefs on Trump, Trump’s America, and his stance towards Trump’s influence on American healthcare he wants the viewer to see his opinion and to influence them into believing the same.
To make his point and influence the reader, Horsey’s cartoon displays the infamous red hat with “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN“ written boldly across it in white ink, however he added “AND TAKE AWAY MY HEALTHCARE” in small, just as bold print beneath it This shows his stance on president Donald Trump and how he relates his presidency to a negative influence in healthcare. He adds this phrase as “the small print” as another part of what he associates with the hat and the president: the negative changes in healthcare. He uses the symbol to create an idea in the viewers head and then adds his own belief on top of it to make the viewer make similar associations in the future when they see the red hat. Horsey leaves the background as a plain white page, so it keeps the viewers attention on that hat and contrasts against its bright red coloring. The simplicity of this cartoon explains how powerful the red hat symbolism is for American citizens when representing Donald Trump and his America Nothing else is needed to create a scene or ideas in your head, other than a simple red hat on a white background.
Horsey makes use of this simplicity to create a strong point by only drawing an item we are all familiar with and a few extra words. Horsey’s skill of rising images and short phrases is so strong that he is very well known and admired by many. His work influences a lot of people. This piece can be considered to be using the rhetorical technique ethos because of Horsey’s credibility and influence, People may change their opinion on something or be more inclined to because of his fame and reputation. It could also be considered logos because Horsey makes another association with the hat that could lead to someone making new logical connections. Someone who sees the hat again may think of this cartoon and relate that the hat means Donald Trump and Donald Trump means worse healthcare.
Also, because of the strong emotional response the hat sometimes receives, this piece could be considered pathos. Another way it could be considered pathos is because people could feel upset about the idea of having worse healthcare for those and their loved ones. This piece is so simple yet still employs so many rhetorical techniques, making Horsey’s piece a perfect example of how something simple can still make a large statement in a political cartoon He didn’t have to draw a person or list a name, all he had to do was use a symbol that involves a simple, red baseball cap and some while words written across the front of iL Horsey is a master of knowing how to influence people without wasting a lot of time or space to get his point across.
