Chatting The Pictures: Trump Raising the Roof
Trump's showy, hands-on presence blurs the line between leader and developer, raising bigger questions about power, public trust, and just how far private ambition can reach in America’s most symbolic space.
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The Machinery of American Cruelty: A Visual Testament
How photographers are documenting the Trump administration's campaign of terror against immigrant communities.
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Chatting the Pictures: When Immigration Raids Come to the Farm Fields
We examine the transformation of classic camp imagery into wreckage and evidence.
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Essential Images: 13 Scenes of Democracy Under Siege
From militarized raids to detention camps, these visuals expose and interrogate the country's slide into authoritarianism.
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What If They Gave A War And Nobody Came?
How LA residents refused Trump's invitation to violence—and why the most essential protest images tell a different story.
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What Now? Audacious Imagery Outside Immigration Court, Calling BS on the Trump-Musk “Melee,” and Researchers’ Fury
We sift the latest visual barrage to spotlight images at the heart of Trump’s war on democracy.
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Weapons as Props, Warriors as Roadies: Brandon Bell’s Deadpan Photos Call Out Massive Effort Behind Trump’s Military Parade
Behind the spectacle, a hollow ritual orchestrated at staggering public cost.
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The Oval Office as Demon’s Lair
What's in a photo op? Trump's psychopathic corruption of American power.
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Double Takes: Healthy, Wealthy…And Lies
In our new "Double Take" feature, we freeze-frame the images officials hope you'll miss—from detention SOS signals to political theater disguised as health policy.
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Vatican Celebration Photos Spotlight Pope Leo’s Challenge to Trump’s America
As American flags wave in St. Peter's Square, a humble pontiff elevates a competing vision of patriotism and national identity.
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Trump’s Visual Legacy at 100 Days: Not Normal Pictures for Not Normal Times
I'm proud to share these 15 images, which the media's hundred-day photo reviews will likely ignore. Call it a democracy stress test.
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Trump’s Village People Takeover – Why This Matters Now
Is Trump’s MAGA theater still hypnotizing America—or is it finally awakening the resistance? By Michael Shaw One plays a cowboy, one plays a construction worker, and another plays a president. What’s genuinely unsettling isn’t the spectacle itself—it’s how quickly we’ve normalized it. Trump dancing with the Village People at...
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Scenes from the Coronation of King Donald II: A Visual Guide to American Autocracy
From executive order theater to Elon’s salute, telling moments of Trump’s second inauguration (and yes, Justice Jackson’s eloquent necklace). By Michael Shaw “Don’t let the rotor blade hit you on the way out.” We know the whole ‘waving goodbye to your predecessor’ thing is tradition. But that photo of...
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The Great Shattering: Scenes from America’s Political and Psychic Electoral Rupture
November 5th, 2024, sent shockwaves across the nation. From Howard University to Palm Beach, election night photos captured a seismic shift that will profoundly reshape America. By Michael Shaw In an election night defined by dashed expectations and visual ironies, the 2024 presidential race revealed itself through a series...
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Harris vs. Trump: On Gender, Power, and the Future of America
Through key visuals, we explore the deep divisions laid bare by the 2024 campaign—especially along gender lines—and the great uncertainty that lies ahead. By Michael Shaw The presidential election has exposed all kinds of fault lines, but one fracture has come to define Kamala Harris’s historic run. In the...
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