07/06/20
The Lincoln Project is hitting Donald Trump again—this time partnering with a well-known Latino cartoonist from Los Angeles who never thought he would work with Republicans.
The group made up of veteran Republican strategists, who have endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for president, partnered on a political cartoon with pioneering artist Lalo Alcaraz, who created La Cucaracha, the first nationally syndicated, political Latino daily comic strip.
Alcaraz is no stranger to politics. The Chicano artist parlayed leading the fight against Disney's attempt to trademark "Dia de los Muertos" into working on Pixar's Coco as a cultural consultant. There was a time the Californian wouldn't dream of speaking to Republican operatives, but that has changed now that some are trying to defeat Trump.
"The threat to the Latino community is so bad I had to join up with Republicans to try to stop it," Alcaraz told Newsweek. "Just the damage this guy is doing with his inept handling of this really awful crisis that affects all of our communities, but hits black and brown and native communities hardest."
The cartoon, which will run on The Lincoln Project's social media sites, shows the president holding a rally with the coronavirus, with rally-goers represented as Texas, Florida, Arizona, and Oklahoma, states where the virus is spiking. In trademark political cartoon fashion, it includes bits of truth. The cartoon says "No Mask Zone" and "No Waiver No Entry" after reports that Trump's campaign removed social distancing signs in the arena before the president's Tulsa rally and had people sign waivers to "assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19."
"The anti-mask effort disproportionately impacting black and brown communities is a largely white movement," Mike Madrid, a co-founder of the group, told Newsweek.
In Alcaraz, the group saw an opportunity to partner with someone who could expand not only its audience, but also the tent of the Republican Party as conservatives across the country decide if they want to reelect Trump. "The essence of The Lincoln Project is about building a bigger, inclusive movement and the more we're able to contrast what Republicans can be, it captures in people's mind the descent of Trump's Republican Party into a dead end," Madrid said. "Lalo has a voice that speaks to an emerging constituency. He reps not just Latino culture, but our American culture."
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