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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump from "Mad" Magazine 1992
?resize=480,681This is a real comic that was published by Mad magazine in 1992.
Some were skeptical that Mad had really lampooned Donald Trump as far back as the 1990s, but its not really all that surprising. Although Trump wasnt elected president until 2016, he had already been a public figure for most of his life. In fact, shortly after he became president,Mad released a book of previously published comics chronicling his rise from obnoxious businessman to really obnoxious reality show host to uber obnoxious Commander-in-Tweet. Cartoonist Garry Trudeau put out a similar book chronicling 30 years of Trumps appearances in his Doonesbury comic strip as well.
Sam Viviano and Mike Snider created the 1992 Trump cartoon for Mad, which was published on page 26 of issue 3315. The Trump cartoon only made up a small portion of the When Should We Believe ? page, which featured various politicians, musicians, reporters, and other public figures giving contradictory statements.
Here is how the comic was introduced in 1992:
Sometimes people lie. Sometimes people tell the truth. But sometimes, people lie and tell the truth on the same subject at different times! (Like, for example, BEFORE and AFTER an election!) So, the question we out to be asking about these people is not the usual Why should we believe, but rather . WHEN SHOULD WE BELIEVE ?
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/1992-mad-magazine-trump/
Sneederbunk
(14,319 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Jimvanhise
(304 posts)It is not issue 3315 it is issue 315. Snopes was sloppy this time.
mountain grammy
(26,677 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Grokenstein
(5,731 posts)...with the artwork updated to reflect TheDolt's current trim physique (/sarcasm)
Paladin
(28,290 posts)FakeNoose
(32,917 posts)I swear, the commentary that's been hidden in MAD all these years has been mostly right on the money. Most kids don't follow politics or current events, and I doubt they would know who Donald Trump was in the early 90's unless they were reading the WSJ (not likely). However it does show that the writers of MAD were on top of the story even then.
Mister Ed
(5,951 posts)I was an avid Mad reader when I was about eleven years old, and believe me, none of that material went over my head, or the heads of my buddies who were into that jolly old rag.
If anything, I was more politically and socially aware at that time than at any other time of my life. I could've named, off the top of my head, all of the members of the Chicago Seven, or all of the members of Richard Nixon's cabinet. I sure can't do anything like that now.
Mad informed me while giving me a chuckle, supplementing the newspapers I used to read every day. But all of that went out the window when I discovered girls...
Anyway, I'm glad the intrepid publishers of Mad kept up the good work in the ensuing years.
LuckyLib
(6,823 posts)producing a magazine that questioned authority and skewered the powerful. We even showed it to my conservative father and even he had to crack a smile!
misanthrope
(7,436 posts)I remember astounding adults that a 9 10 year old kid knew what was going on with Watergate, the players and crimes involved. Between the hearings on TV (when there were only the three major networks and public television) and MAD, I was completely up-to-date.
patphil
(6,266 posts)From about age 12 on up.
We go the jokes.
Patrick Phillips
Nitram
(22,985 posts)children to get humor that is a comment on current events. I did as an eleven-year-old, and I got the "adult" jokes in The Rocky and Bullwinkle show, too.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)would even spend my precious allowance on it.
the teachers, not so much. god help the kid caught passing it around in class.
Hekate
(91,055 posts)...imbedded in their memories and worldview. I have a feeling that any kid who was a MAD fan in the 1990s absorbed their take on Trump, was incredulous and amused that he became a reality-tv "star," and aghast when he became president.
I am Garry Trudeau's generation, so my childhood (that is to say, MAD) was far behind when Doonesbury began chronicling Trump, his yacht, his divorce from Ivana and his affair with Marla. Otherwise I never would have known who the clown was, since I live in California and not NY.
Dennis Donovan
(18,770 posts)Until they took the oxygen away
They're killing med-flies in the valley with Agent Orange
Killing otters with oil in the bay
And Trump's building summer homes at the North Pole
Get a killer tan via the ozone hole
</snip>
dalton99a
(81,709 posts)UTUSN
(70,810 posts)out.
Totally Tunsie
(10,885 posts)has predicted many of the tRumpisms we now see daily. An example: He showed a clip from one episode where the WH team was horrified, to the point of running down the halls, screaming that "The president is tweeting!".
Isn't "The Simpsons" also famous for predictions such as this?
Life imitating art.
cp
(6,681 posts)from a lifelong Mad fan
IcyPeas
(21,957 posts)as they often are..... george carlin, bill hicks.
"many a truth is told in jest" shakespeare
Nitram
(22,985 posts)with it?
FakeNoose
(32,917 posts)You know, those ones wearing the red MAGA hats?
Nitram
(22,985 posts)the National Inquirer instead, which was working for Trump.
klook
(12,174 posts)with a madcap and irreverent sensibility therefore not exactly mainstream enough for Middle America. It played a huge role in opening my eyes to the broader world that I might be part of one day.
oasis
(49,499 posts)misanthrope
(7,436 posts)It has never been a secret that Trump is a con man playing a financial shell game. You didn't have to be a deep news junkie to know it, just peruse a daily paper or watch TV news and the stories were all out there.
His game has been public knowledge since before the Clinton era began. How could someone NOT know?
Aussie105
(5,503 posts)The uneducated, the ones not happy with their lives and expecting, hoping someone would come along and pave their street with gold?
I bet Trump fans never read MAD magazine, or the WSJ, or looked at the world beyond their own little patch.
Some people are easy to fool. Trump sold them a gilded pile of horse dung, and the smell never reached their nostrils.
MAD magazine - in my youth, I read it whenever I could. Taught me to look behind the superficiality of things. This magazine should be compulsory reading and discussion material in all schools.