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<p>The present study explores the political and ideological dimensions of the Arab political cartoons that represent the U.S. President Donald Trump during his second term in office, with special attention to the interplay between the visual aspects of language and textual discourse. Utilizing the frameworks of Multimodal Discourse Analysis and Semiotics, the research explores how these cartoons work as semiotic texts in which the narratives of power and resistance are encoded. Based on a sample of 32 cartoons published in <i>Al-Araby Al-Jadeed</i> between January and July 2025, this paper examines recurring themes: International Relations &amp; Diplomacy; Economy &amp; Trade; and Technology &amp; Elon Musk. The results show that Arab cartoonists employ satire, irony, visual metaphor, and intertextuality to position Trump not only as a political actor but as a symbolic figure of populism, hegemonic excess, and global instability. Such ideological critiques embedded in visual narratives are also coded in the linguistic strategies of euphemization, labeling, lexical choices, and rhetorical framing. The paper concludes that these cartoons act as discursive interventions and perform cultural resistance, offering a distinctly Arab perspective on U.S. foreign policy and the global phenomenon of Trumpism. As the cartoons are source-limited to a single media outlet, future research is recommended to examine representations of political leaders across other media sources.</p>

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A Semiotic Analysis of Arab Political Cartoons on U.S. President Trump

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年1月12日

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  • Abdulazeez Jaradat,
  • Ahmad S. Haider,
  • Israa Al-Qudah,
  • Mohammed Dagamseh

摘要

The present study explores the political and ideological dimensions of the Arab political cartoons that represent the U.S. President Donald Trump during his second term in office, with special attention to the interplay between the visual aspects of language and textual discourse. Utilizing the frameworks of Multimodal Discourse Analysis and Semiotics, the research explores how these cartoons work as semiotic texts in which the narratives of power and resistance are encoded. Based on a sample of 32 cartoons published in Al-Araby Al-Jadeed between January and July 2025, this paper examines recurring themes: International Relations & Diplomacy; Economy & Trade; and Technology & Elon Musk. The results show that Arab cartoonists employ satire, irony, visual metaphor, and intertextuality to position Trump not only as a political actor but as a symbolic figure of populism, hegemonic excess, and global instability. Such ideological critiques embedded in visual narratives are also coded in the linguistic strategies of euphemization, labeling, lexical choices, and rhetorical framing. The paper concludes that these cartoons act as discursive interventions and perform cultural resistance, offering a distinctly Arab perspective on U.S. foreign policy and the global phenomenon of Trumpism. As the cartoons are source-limited to a single media outlet, future research is recommended to examine representations of political leaders across other media sources.