This photo is an image of Trump on a barrel of oil, spitting it out with the heading “less than worthless”. This is in reference to the oil prices dropping below zero on 4/20/2020, and a barrel of crude oil was worth around -$30.00. This is due to two reasons: the Saudi Arabia and Russia price war, and the decreased use of oil due to COVID 19. The Saudi Arabia and Russia price war dropped oil prices because Saudi Arabia, a major foreign oil producer, attempted to punish Russia because Russia refused to decrease oil production. Because of the coronavirus and the lockdown we are currently under, people are not driving places as there are not many places you could physically drive to. Due to this disagreement and simple supply and demand, oil has been severely devalued over the recent weeks.
Trump’s involvement in the cartoon stems from the way most view his involvement in the COVID 19 pandemic: horrible. The cartoon suggests that Trump could have done more to respond to the situation and help the dipping economy. Specifically, he could have done more to decrease the United State’s reliance on foreign oil, as suggested by the barrel stating “US OIL”. Critics will easily point out that this large dip in value of oil could have been prevented, and Trump did not do much to aid the situation or intervene to stop this. This cartoon is interesting because it is multilayered, and touches on many current events from the past weeks.
Carlie’s blog 