Democrats cave: Top ten cartoons of the week

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date November 15, 2025

The government is reopened and Democrats are being mocked for caving. Looks like everything is back to normal in Washington.

Our most-reprinted cartoon of the week was John Darkow’s perfect shutdown metaphor, comparing Democrats trusting Republicans to extend Obamacare subsidies to Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown. I think we all know how this will end.

Our cartoonists covered a lot of ground this week, with popular cartoons about Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving, and even the northern lights. I personally liked Rick McKee’s cartoon about the old woman who lives in a shoe, a lucky recipient of one of Trump’s 50-year mortgages. I wonder if she’s still making payments.

Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:

#1. John Darkow

#2. Dave Granlund

We have a great new Caglecast podcast about Trump’s impending attack on Venezuela and it’s crooked president, Nicolas Maduro – with two great cartoonists, Taylor Jones and Arcadio Esquivel. The conversation gets into to how-to-draw and A.I., like most conversations around here do. Its fun! Come watch!

#3. Dave Granlund

#4. Bruce Plante

#5. Dave Granlund

#6. Bob Englehart

#7. Jeff Koterba

#8. Rick McKee

#9. Margolis & Cox

#10. Rick McKee

Tags Bob Englehart, Bruce Plante, Daryl Cagle, Dave Granlund, Democrats cave, editorial cartoons, government shutdown cartoons, Jeff Koterba, John Darkow, Margolis & Cox, northern lights cartoons, Obamacare subsidies, political cartoons, Rick McKee, Thanksgiving political humor, top 10 cartoons, Veteran's Day cartoons

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No One’s Listening: Top 10 Must-See Political Cartoons Exposing the Government Shutdown Chaos!

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date November 9, 2025

As the government shutdown enters its sixth week, Republicans and Democrats don’t seem much closer to a solution both sides can agree on.

As Bob Englehart notes in his popular cartoon this week, we’re not listening to one another. The loudest, harshest voices dominate the discussion, with one side yelling at the other, as Gary McCoy depicted in his funny toon.

Hopefully the sweeping Election Night Democrats had this week loosens things up in Washington so a deal can get done before planes start falling from the sky. Our cartoonists don’t seem too optimistic about that.

Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:

#1. Bob Englehart

#2. John Darkow

#4. Gary McCoy

#5. Bob Englehart

#6. Dave Whamond

#7. Dave Granlund

#8. Dick Wright

#9. R.J. Matson

#10. Harley Schwadron

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Tags Bob Englehart, cagle cartoons, current events cartoons, Daryl Cagle, Dave Granlund, Dave Whamond, Dick Wright, Election Night Washington, Gary McCoy, government shutdown, Harley Schwadron, John Darkow, political cartoons, political division 2025, Political Satire, R.J. Matson, Republicans Democrats divide, satirical cartoons, Top Ten cartoons

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AI Eye Tracking Mishaps under the Overlord, and 135 Hilarious Trump Animal Cartoons

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date May 20, 2025

I just posted a new Caglecast with 135 great cartoons depicting Trump as an animal. You can probably watch this without noticed that there’s something funny about our eyes. I tried using A.I. for the first time –oops!

One problem I have with these videos is that I’m a one-man-band video crew, looking at the monitors to switch views, select cartoons and make adjustments as we go along, so I turn my head left and right, and I look down, and I rarely stare blankly into the camera as I should do. I look distracted. So I tried a new A.I. gizmo that adjusts my gaze to look into the camera. I watched the beginning of the video as I turned my head from side to side, but my stare remained on the camera, and I thought it looked good. This is a feature of an editing program I use, called “Descript,” and they call their A.I. “Overlord.”

Then, after I posted the video on YouTube, and I looked a little more closely, I noticed my eyes would sometime dart around, at one point rolling up into my head; poor Adam Zyglis had a twitchy right eye, and at one point is cross eyed. And some cartoons are googley eyed too.

This cartoon by Bart van Leeuwen made me laugh, at 35:10 into the video, the A.I. Overlord animated the eyes on Trump and Biden and it looks pretty funny. Take a look.
At 44:47 into the video, this cartoon by Dave Granlund also gets strangely realistic, with moving eyes that reminded me of the mouths on the old Clutch Cargo show from 1960. I liked that show when I was five years old. It was creepy.

Even though you might think that Adam and I are occasionally having a stroke, I decided to leave this version of the video up without re-editing. I won’t be using the Overlord again.

Cartoonists who keep their eyes focused on A.I. are getting other headaches now. Here’s a cartoon by Bob Englehart that was recently stolen and redrawn with AI.

Come take a look!

_______________________________________

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SALUTE THE TROOPS: TOP TEN CARTOONS OF THE WEEK

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date November 11, 2023

If there’s one truth about cartooning, it’s that editors and readers love holiday cartoons, but most cartoonists hate drawing them.

This week was no exception. Cartoons celebrating Veterans Day dominated out list of the most-reprinted cartoons this week. Congratulations to Dave Granlund, who had four cartoons on this week’s top ten list, including the first three.

Two of Granlund’s most-reprinted cartoons were focused on Veterans Day, while the third touched on reports that credit card debt in the U.S. has exceeded $1 trillion for the first time, a fact most readers (and cartoonists) can relate to.

Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:

#1. Dave Granlund

See our new video podcast with Joe Biden bashing cartoons!

Daryl and conservative cartoonists Rivers, Gary McCoy and Michael Ramirez discuss President Joe Biden and Hunter Biden in right-wing bubble cartoons. Come see how the other half thinks!

#2. Dave Granlund

#3. Dave Granlund

#4. John Darkow

#5. Guy Parsons

#6. Rick McKee

#7. Jeff Koterba

#8. Rick McKee

#9. Pat Bagley

#10. Dave Granlund

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Tags Dave Granlund, political cartoons, Veterans Day

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Top Ten Cartoons of 2021

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date December 29, 2021

Here are our ten most popular cartoons of year, 2021. Jeff Koterba was swinging for home runs this year, winning SIX of the Top Ten spots, along with ELEVEN of the Top Twenty. This was a fantastic year for Jeff!

Steady hitters Dave Granlund and Dave Whamond took the #1 and #2 spots as the most reprinted cartoonists of the year, with Jeff at #3 and John Darkow taking the #4 spot —John also had two cartoons in the Top Ten.

We syndicate 62 of the best editorial cartoonists in the world, so this is quite an achievement for Jeff, Dave, Dave and John! Congratulations, gentlemen!

Just about half of America’s daily, paid circulation newspapers (around 700 papers) subscribe to CagleCartoons.com.

Our reader supported site, Cagle.com, still needs you! Journalism is threatened with the pandemic that has shuttered newspaper advertisers. Some pundits predict that a large percentage of newspapers won’t survive the pandemic economic slump, and as newspapers sink, editorial cartoonists who depend on newspapers sink too, and along with them, our Cagle.com site.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes.

#1

This cartoon by Jeff Koterba was the editors’ favorite, and was the most reprinted cartoon of the year..

#2

Jeff Koterba also took second place.

#3

Rick McKee nabbed third place.

#4

John Darkow took 4th place with first of two cartoons in the Top Ten.

#5

Jeff Koterba claims the five-spot.

#6

John Darkow came in sixth with his second of two cartoons in the Top Ten.

#7

Dave Whamond nabs seventh place.

#8

Jeff Koterba took 8th place too!

#9

Jeff Koterba also takes 9th place.

#10

Jeff Koterba wraps it up at number ten with his sixth cartoon the Top Ten for 2021!

Want to get EVERY new CagleCartoon from our 62 syndicated newspaper editorial cartoonists, in your email box every day? Just become a Cagle.com HERO and you get the exclusive daily emails of ALL THE CARTOONS! See all the cartoons before the newspapers print them and never miss a cartoon!

Tags 2021, Bezos, Branson, Christmas, COVID-19, Dave Granlund, Dave Whamond, Jeff Koterba, most reprinted, Musk, newspaper, Rick McKee, top ten cartoons of 2021, vaccine

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Top Ten Cartoons of the Week – September 19, 2020

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date September 19, 2020

Here are our top cartoons of last week (September 12th through September 19th, 2020).

This was an incredible week for Dave Granlund who dominates with four cartoons among the Top Ten most reprinted cartoons.

Every so often, when there is more demand for a topic than there are cartoons on the topic, I’ll repost “evergreen” oldies into the syndication flow, and I’ll mark them “REPOST” so editors won’t be embarrassed by forgetting that they ran the oldie before. Last week I reposted a few cartoons about the wildfires on the West coast, including one by Dave Granlund that made the Top Ten – the first time that has ever happened with a reposted cartoon.

As usual, no drawings of Trump made the Top Ten this week. Six of the top cartoons are about the pandemic, two are about the fires, and only one is about the election.

Congratulations to Dave Fitzsimmons for nabbing the #1 spot. Jeff Koterba was close behind at #2. Jeff continues his long streak of appearances in the Top Ten, the day after being laid off from 31 years on the job at The Omaha World-Herald newspaper.

And kudos to the other CagleCartoonists who made the most reprinted list this week, John Cole, Randy Enos, Dave Whamond and Bruce Plante.

Our Top Ten is a measure of how many editors choose to reprint each of our cartoons, from the 62 cartoonists in our CagleCartoons.com syndication package. Just about half of America’s daily, paid circulation newspapers (around 700 papers) subscribe to CagleCartoons.com.

Our reader supported site, Cagle.com, still needs you! Journalism is threatened with the pandemic that has shuttered newspaper advertisers. Some pundits predict that a large percentage of newspapers won’t survive the pandemic economic slump, and as newspapers sink, so do editorial cartoonists who depend on newspapers, and along with them, our Cagle.com site, that our small, sinking syndicate largely supports, along with our fans.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes. We need you! Don’t let the cartoons die!

#1

Dave Fitzsimmons takes first place with the first of six pandemic cartoons in the Top Ten.

#2

Jeff Koterba was very close behind with the #2 cartoon.

#3

John Cole is tied for 3rd place.

#3

Dave Granlund shares third place.

#5

Dave Granlund takes 5th place with his second of four cartoons in the Top Ten this week.

#6

Randy Enos claims 6th place as the pandemic in school seems to be a continuing favorite topic of editors.

#7

Dave Whamond takes 7th place with an “everyday life in the pandemic” cartoon that editors crave.

#8

Dave Granlund takes 8th place with a wildfire oldie that we reposted – the first time an oldie has made the Top Ten.

#9

Dave Granlund caps off his impressive with with his fourth cartoon in the Top Ten.

#10

Bruce Plante wraps up the list in tenth place.

Please forward this to your friends – tell them our Cagle.com email newsletters are FREE and FUN! They can join the newsletter list at Cagle.com/subscribe.

Tags Big 10, california, COVID-19, COVID19, Dave Granlund, most reprinted editorial cartoons, pandemic, Smokey the Bear, Top Ten cartoons of the week, wildfires

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Cartoon Complaint Campaigns

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date June 27, 2020

Tempers run short in turbulent times, so it is no surprise that provocative editorial cartoons sometimes get blowback from readers. Cartoons generate angry conversation on social media, but they seldom generate complaints to us, or to the newspapers that run them – unless there is an organized campaign to solicit complaints. These campaigns usually take the form of Facebook pages that demand that an editor or cartoonist is punished, or simply demands an apology, and newspapers are often quick to apologize.

Sometimes editors blame their choices on poor editorial cartoons in general, as when the New York Times dumped the little Cartoonists & Writers Syndicate that they hosted and announced that they would stop running editorial cartoons entirely in all of their editions. One of our CagleCartoonists, Patrick Chappatte, lost his regular gig for the International New York Times with this editorial overreaction, over a cartoon that Patrick didn’t draw.

Back in July of 2016, a complaint campaign against the St Louis Post-Dispatch targeted this Dave Granlund “itchy trigger-finger” cartoon and elicited a typical apology from the editor.

This week there was a similar campaign of complaints and demands about the “Bad Cops Under the Bed” cartoon of mine that ran in the St Louis Post-Dispatch, but this time the newspaper, to their credit, didn’t apologize and stood behind me and the cartoon in an editorial.

The offending Antonio Antunes cartoon that lost a job for CagleCartoonist Patrick Chappatte, crushed a little syndicate and lost a top venue for all editorial cartooning as the New York Times banned cartoons.

Earlier this month there was yet another complaint campaign about a Gary McCoy cartoon in the Florence SC Morning News. This longtime CagleCartoons subscribing paper prints just about every cartoon that opposes abortion rights and there aren’t a whole lot of those, so when one pops up it is no surprise that it gets ink in Florence. The abortion topic doesn’t mix well with Black Lives Matter (I thought the cartoon was offensive myself) and the paper apologized, going the New York Times route of announcing that they are no longer running any editorial cartoons at all. They still like our columnist Michael Reagan though, so they continue to be a good subscriber and we hope to woo them back with more, great conservative cartoons. (Those anti-abortion cartoons are pretty hard to resist in Florence.)

Also earlier this month, our CagleCartoonist Rick McKee suffered a complaint campaign with this cartoon in The Columbian newspaper in Washington. The newspaper took the usual route of apologizing for the cartoon, but didn’t ban all cartoons.

There are more recent examples with cartoons from cartoonists who aren’t represented by my little syndicate generating complaints campaigns and newspaper apologies, but I’m not posting them here because, well, they aren’t represented by my little syndicate.

This is the new normal:

1. A reader is offended by a cartoon she disagrees with in her local newspaper and puts up a Facebook campaign soliciting complaints demanding an apology, the firing of the editor and/or the firing of the cartoonist.

2. The Newspaper apologizes for their poor choice of cartoon; or they stop running all cartoons. No other newspapers get complaints about the cartoon, only the one paper that has a campaigning reader gets complaints.

3. Repeat.

It was nice to see the St Louis Post-Dispatch break that pattern this week, standing by my cartoon. Editors should have the guts to stand behind their decisions.

Tags Antonio Antunes, Black lives matter, campaigns, Daryl Cagle, Dave Granlund, editorial, facebook, Gary McCoy, looting, newspapers, offensive cartoon, Patrick Chappatte, police, Rick McKee, riots

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Granlund Decade!

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date December 18, 2019

Here are Dave Granlund’s favorite cartoons of the past decade!

See Dave’s favorite cartoons on USA Today, where you can click on each cartoon and see it blown up to fill the screen with a pretty, high-resolution image. See the complete archive of Dave’s syndicated cartoons here.

Look at our other, great collections of Cartoons Favorites of the Decade, selected by the artists.
Pat Bagley Decade!
Nate Beeler Decade!
Daryl Cagle Decade!
Patrick Chappatte Decade!
John Cole Decade!
John Darkow Decade!
Bill Day Decade!
Sean Delonas Decade!
Bob Englehart Decade!
Randall Enos Decade!
Dave Granlund Decade!
Taylor Jones Decade!
Mike Keefe Decade!
Peter Kuper Decade!
Jeff Koterba Decade!
RJ Matson Decade!
Gary McCoy Decade!
Rick McKee Decade!
Milt Priggee Decade!
Bruce Plante Decade!
Steve Sack Decade!

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Favorite Cartoons of the Decade

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date December 2, 2019

Here is my selection of my favorite cartoons of the decade. See them on the USA Today site here.

I pitched the idea to Gannett of running collections of favorite cartoons of the decade every day in December, the last month of the decade, with a selection by a different cartoonist each day. We, along with USA Today, selected the CagleCartoonists we would invite to participate and we asked them each to choose their favorite cartoons from the past ten years. I submitted twenty-nine batches of cartoons, selected by each of twenty-nine of our CagleCartoonists. USA Today plans on showcasing their own Gannett employee cartoonists, Thompson, Marlette, Murphy and Archer, through Thursday, with our CagleCartoonists finishing out the month, starting this Friday with Pat Bagley.

USA Today started off their daily, decade slideshows today with their talented cartoonist, Mike Thompson, who also did the work of laying all of these collections out for The USA Today Network sites (that includes the individual Web sites for all of Gannett’s 100+ daily newspapers). Visit USA Today’s Opinion page online to see these every day this month. Click on each cartoon in each slideshow to see a full-screen, high-resolution version of each cartoon, which is very nice.

It is very difficult to select a small batch of cartoons to represent an entire decade!!

Getting twenty-nine CagleCartoonists to each select a decade of favorites was challenging. Obama certainly got shorted as many cartoonists are obsessed with Trump now. A couple of cartoonists selected only Trump-bashing cartoons, which made for a poor representation of the decade –but hey, the fact that the cartoonists chose their own favorites made this project interesting. Some cartoonists, who have been with us for less than ten years, had to dig into their personal archives to cover the whole decade, so some of the cartoons haven’t been seen on Cagle.com. New Yorker/Mad Magazine/graphic-novelist Peter Kuper joined CagleCartoons.com just a couple of months ago and had to dig up his whole collection from his magazine gag cartoon archives. Dave Whamond and Ed Wexler, who joined us more recently, reached into their vaults for some of their early-decade cartoons; Ed selected some from when he was regularly drawing for US News & World Report magazine. Mike Keefe and Bill Schorr came out of their recent retirements to contribute their selections of favorites.

I wouldn’t call these selections the “best” of the decade, they are just the artists’ choices. I also can’t say that they represent the decade well (but what the heck).

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Anti-Vaxxer Celebrities

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date June 23, 2019

Anti-Vaxxers have been out in force, protesting California’s Senate Bill 276 that would make it harder for unethical doctors to grant bogus medical exemptions to parents who don’t want to vaccinate their children. Ignorant celebrities have been leading the charge. Last week we got stories about Justin Timberlake’s wife, Jessica Biel doing the lobbying rounds both evil. anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

The dangerous, celebrity idiots don’t like to be called “anti-vaxxers,” they prefer to be described as “pro-informed consent,” or “pro-vaccine choice,” or “anti-forced vaccination,” or “vaccine risk aware,” all of which mean the same thing. Dangerous and ignorant. Here’s an cartoon about the anti-vaxxers that I drew three years ago …