Posts on the topic of Politics.

Signaling Strangelove: The New Yorker Cover’s Brilliant Take on SignalGate

Barry Blitt’s masterpiece perfectly captures the essence of the Trump administration. It’s a visual terror warning worthy of Kubrick himself. By Michael Shaw Barry Blitt’s latest New Yorker cover masterfully captures the essence of the SignalGate scandal. The illustration, depicting administration officials gleefully riding a missile downward like deranged...

Trump’s Mugshot as White House Power Play

Trump’s gilded mugshot guards the Oval Office—a warning to all who pass. As Ukraine’s president learned, this intimidating checkpoint signals the fate awaiting anyone who challenges Dear Leader. By Michael Shaw and Cara Finnegan In a narrow hallway between the President’s secretary’s space and the Oval Office, Trump’s framed...

The State of Disunion

I’m breaking down key images from Trump’s 2025 State of the Union—moments capturing a chamber in splinters, where resistance took many forms and silence would have meant complicity. By Michael Shaw “You have no mandate! You have no mandate to cut Medicare!” Pundits blamed Democrats for losing their cool. But incitement...

Chatting The Pictures: Old Glory, Trump, and the L.A. Fire Disasters

Chatting the Pictures: A Telling Photo from Howard University on Election Night 2024

The 13 Most Telling Photographs of the Harris-Trump Presidential Debate

Harris outmaneuvered Trump using psychological tactics to expose his weaknesses potentially reshaping the 2024 election narrative.

Chatting the Pictures: A Single Image Tells the Story of the 2024 DNC

Besides RNC Fever Dream, a Perfect Photo of “the New Weirdness”

A single word threatens to expose the Trump/MAGA madness. Sinna Nasseri’s twilight-zone picture embodies the moment. By Michael Shaw In the landscape of American politics, a new narrative is taking root, transforming the perception of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance from looming threats to democracy into something far more...

“Climate Ecstasy” and More: Our Photography Round-Up

It’s true—people value the pictures we choose just as much as what we have to say about them. By Michael Shaw   One problem with our 24/7 media culture is that news that didn’t happen today or yesterday is treated like stale bread. That’s a shame, especially when it...

The Most Cringeworthy Media Visuals After Biden’s Nightmare Debate

Nobody wants to revisit what happened on stage, so we focus on the media fallout and the visual framing of the first 2024 presidential debate.

Chatting the Pictures: Trump on Trial

We examine how Trump, despite his astonishing legal woes, turns his court appearances into photo-ops and how the images play in his parallel universe.

Throwing Shade: The Disturbing Visual Fallout From the Special Counsel’s Attack on Biden’s Competency

The Special Counsel’s questioning of Biden's cognitive abilities has unleashed a raft of negative imagery. The media's use of undermining photos risks biasing public perceptions and spreading ageist stereotypes. It's crucial to present more balanced visuals.

Disrupting Trump’s Mug Shot and His “Singular Genius”

The treatment of Trump's mug shot is vital to consider, given the potential of the George conspiracy case to reshape his public identity.

Chatting the Pictures: Food Plant Workers at Risk; Politics and EMT; Arlington Precautions

Still focused on the pandemic, we look at a virus PR shot from Tyson Foods, a political photo from an EMT ride along, and Arlington honors with adjustments.

Chatting the Pictures: Coronavirus Politics–From the White House, to the Cafe, to the Gun Shop

This week, our webcast looks at a snapshot of the White House coronavirus task force, the virus and social class in a Rome cafe scene, and the run on guns.

“Bernie’s Warren Problem” Really Media’s Gender Problem

The photo of Warren on the Edmund Pettus Bridge helps explain why, on the eve of Super Tuesday, everyone was talking about the old white guys.

Faith Versus the Coronavirus

Where faith is the first line of defense against illness, we are watching appeals to divine intervention succumb to the untamed physics of COVID-19. 

A Defining Image of Trump’s America: The Cage Seller

If you had to choose one picture to illustrate Trump's larger motive, Mark Peterson's photograph is literally the money shot.