Before I say anything, I would like to note that I’m not sharing my political opinion or anything of that sort here at all. This is all just an observational exercise.

In Mike Luckovich’s cartoon from September 28, 2017, the image displays several elements to be described. In a literal description, the picture shows an airplane flying over a sparse grassy field. On the side of the airplane, it reads the words in all capital letters ‘chartered private jet’. Situated on the top of the airplane is a small white pig wearing eyeglasses with a smirk on its face. The pig has the words ‘Tom Price’ printed on its abdomen. Next to the pig is a speech bubble that simply reads ‘oink.’ On the sparse grassy field which the airplane is flying over, a Caucasian man is standing in the foreground. Sited in the background sits a small blue house, a red pickup truck, and vegetation. The man in the foreground is wearing red shirt along with a red hat. The man’s hat has the letters ‘MAGA’ written on it, and above the man is a speech bubble which reads, ‘I’ll admit the administration isn’t about draining the swamp when pigs fly….’

Upon closer inspection of the elements in Mike Luckovich’s cartoon, one would find that they represent a few real-world figures. The airplane in the image is indeed a charted private jet as it says, but more importantly, the pig riding on top of the jet is a caricature of Tom Price, the former United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. This information shows that Tom Price has some sort of relation to transportation via this method of travel. As for the elements underneath the jet—the open grassy field, the Caucasian man, and the little house with the pickup truck—they characterize common traits that are typically associated with rural America. Additionally, the man in the foreground symbolizes supporters of President Donald Trump. This idea is supported by the letters ‘MAGA’ printed on the man’s hat which is short for the phrase ‘Make America Great Again’—the campaign slogan used by Trump in his 2016 presidential campaign. Lastly, the man in the cartoon gives a bit of commentary about the ‘administration’ to which he is referring to the Trump Administration; he also notes the ‘pig’ that is flying above him.

Like many other political cartoons, Mike Luckovich is indeed attempting to convey a message here. The two terms that the man in the cartoon uses are important components that Luckovich uses to make his point. The first term “drain the swamp” is a term typically used by many American politicians and in this case, Donald Trump. Trump uses the term to describe his plans to fix issues in the federal government, and one of those issues revolves around excessive government spending. Price, whom Trump initially appointed as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, recently found himself under fire for the use of private charter jets and military aircraft for work-related travel at the expense of taxpayers’ money. Politico, an American political journalism company, made a series of reports regarding the scandal. They reported that Price had consumed over 1 million dollars in department funding for his travels. They also found that for many of his flights there were several cost-effective alternative methods of transportation available including flying commercially or riding trains. Price attempted to mitigate the criticisms by promising to reimburse taxpayers about $52,000 for the costs for his seats on those chartered flights, however that offer didn’t come close to the total costs of the trips he took. The sustained disapproval Price received for his actions in these events later led him to resign from his position.

The second term the man in the cartoon uses is “when pigs fly.” This phrase is a hyperbole and a way of saying that something will never happen. Luckovich, however, uses this term in a more metaphorical sense to describe Tom Price. Therefore, this is the reason why Price is drawn as a pig in the cartoon; Luckovich is essentially calling him a pig for his actions. Looking back at the speech bubble from the man in the cartoon, the fact that the man is a Trump supporter and is making this comment about Price expresses that Luckovich is attempting to illustrate the internal conflict within the Trump Administration and uncertainty among its supporters.

So why did I write all this? Well, while it may have been a not so subtle attempt at ‘killing two birds with one stone’, I’d figure I’d share this exercise as a way to inspire others (particularly people of my age group) to follow politics more closely. I had a conversation about this with my American Government professor the other day. He loves to stress the fact that my age group is the currently the largest voting block (18-24), yet we simply just don’t vote enough. Part of the reason for that is because we may not really see a need to do so. However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t vote. Because were that largest voting block, we could definitely change the political atmosphere if we want to, and those are the keywords if we want to. We’d totally have the power to push policies that are in our favor as opposed to what grandma and grandpa want. All we have to do is get informed and be a little more civically engaged. It doesn’t even have to be of large scale, the most important things that affect us in our day to day lives are in our local municipals. Election day is on the November 7. I’m feeling compelled to go out and vote.