The latest issue of Time magazine depicts President Donald Trump painting himself into a corner — an artistic response to Trump asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to do him a favor.
Artist Edel Rodriguez created the illustration on the cover of the Oct. 7 issue, a Time spokesperson told HuffPost. The cover story concerns Trump having asked Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden and allegedly threatening to withhold military aid if Zelensky did not comply.
The allegations against Trump were first detailed in a whistleblower complaint. The White House on Wednesday released a summary of a July 25 phone call between the two world leaders in which Trump asked Zelensky to “do us a favor.”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has announced an impeachment inquiry into Trump.
Rodriguez’s award-winning illustrations featuring Trump have graced several magazine covers, including Der Spiegel and earlier issues of Time.
Rodriguez fled Cuba for the United States when he was 9 years old. In an interview with HuffPost in 2017, he said his upbringing on an island overseen by an autocratic regime has shaped his worldview ― and led to a deep aversion to Trump.
“Having grown up in Cuba, and grown up with a bombastic dictator, I see things in Trump that remind me of Castro,” he said at the time. “I felt like I was in the position to warn people about falling in love with someone with that sort of charisma.”
Rodriguez added that his art is meant “tell a complicated story in a simple way” and force people to pay attention to the political climate.