New Yorker Slammed For Cover Depicting Biden, Trump With Walkers
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The New Yorker is facing accusations of ableism and ageism over the magazine’s latest cover illustration.
Cartoonist Barry Blitt’s “The Race For Office” depicts President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) racing against each other — with walkers.
In the accompanying cover story for the magazine’s Oct. 2 edition, art editor Françoise Mouly asked if the U.S. was “in danger of becoming a scleroticgerontocracy.”
Blitt, 65, “portrays the irony and absurdity of the advanced-age politicians currently vying for our top offices,” wrote Mouly. Mouly and Blitt talked about their own experiences with aging in the piece.
Barry Blitt’s cover for this week’s issue, “The Race for Office.” #NewYorkerCoverspic.twitter.com/p7iDjaxg7s
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) September 25, 2023
Critics on X said they were “disappointed” by the cover, with one saying it had “missed the mark massively.”
Biden is 80. The four-times-indicted Republican 2024 front-runner Trump is 77. The age of the likely 2024 rivals has become a key talking point among both Democrats and Republicans.
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said earlier this month that every Democrat he talks to off the air admits those fears. “When I say every discussion, I don’t mean 99% of the discussion. Every discussion,” he said.
Biden, however, has sought to turn those concerns into a positive, telling an audience two weeks ago: “You know, the only thing that comes with age is a little bit of wisdom. I’ve been doing this longer than anybody, and guess what? I’m going to continue to do it, with your help.”
