Western Animation / Our Cartoon President

Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.

"Fake news... fake news... fake weather..."

— President Trump channel surfing

Since the launch of his presidential bid in 2015 (and for many years prior to that), there's been no shortage of media satirising the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump. Animated sitcom Our Cartoon President separates itself from the herd of Trump impersonators and sketch shows in the following ways: it interprets Trump’s personal relationships with a wide range of people in his orbit, whether within his administration or outside of it... and it’s, well, animated.

Created by Chris Licht and Stephen Colbert, the show's roots lie in segments on the latter's talk show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, in which the animated President (and other notable politicians) would drop by to be interviewed. Established voice actor Jeff Bergman (who normally is cast as the replacement voice for a lot of older cartoon characters once voiced by Mel Blanc and Daws Butler, like Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, and some Hanna-Barbera characters) fills the titular role.

The series began in February 11, 2018 and ran through November 8, 2020, having three seasons and a television special. Plans for a fourth season and possibly more beyond that were dependent upon the results of the 2020 Presidential Election on November 3, in the event that Trump received a second term. However, given that Joe Biden won the election, the series was not renewed, and the show officially wrapped up with the third season finale, covering the election and the results thereof.

Compare Lil' Bush, which similarly satirized George W. Bush.

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Our Cartoon President provides examples of:

• Accidental Misnaming: In "Rolling Back Obama", Trump keeps screwing up the name of the Bowles-Simpson Commission.
• Addiction Displacement:
  • Hunter Biden is a recovering alcoholic who now drinks 30 Sprite Zeros a day.
  • My Pillow's Mike Lindell considers the thrill of publicly supporting Trump to be this:
    Lindell: I don't need drugs because I can just walk into a restaurant wearing a MAGA hat, and the ensuing riot provides everything I crave: a bullet-train heart rate and a chorus of voices screaming that I'm the devil!
• The Alleged Car:
  • Stephen Miller's hatchback, which will explode if it goes over 60 mph and is home to a colony of hornets.
  • Bernie Sanders' campaign bus is just an old Volvo with the windows duct taped shut.
• Ambiguously Gay:
  • Mike Pence alludes to having "impure thoughts" about a male audio book narrator.
  • Stephen Miller is oddly enthusiastic about the prospect of getting naked in front of Trump.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Inverted: according to Chuck Schumer, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants Medicare for all, student loan forgiveness and beaded curtains replacing prison cell doors.
• Awful Wedded Life: Where to start? Trump and Melania, Ivanka and Jared, Bill and Hillary...
• Batman Parody: The "Election Knight Rises" special involves a "Biden-signal" and Roger Stone dressed as the Penguin.
• Black Speech: Sheldon Adelson, and later Amy Klobuchar in a Cold Open spoofing her performance in the first Democratic debate.
• Blatant Lies: While interviewing Don Jr. and Eric, Sean Hannity claims the country of Russia doesn't even exist while they're denying collusion with Russia. He also says that the entirety of America wants all Democrats to drown to death.
• Brainless Beauty: Joe Kennedy III is a childish ditz whose campaign manager wants him to "shut his handsome face" and coast on his family's legacy.
• Butt-Monkey: Many characters, but everyone regardless of party or profession seems to hate MSNBC's Chuck Todd.
• Cast Full of Rich People: Politicians, tech billionaires, news pundits, and spoiled heirs.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Characters disappear without further mention between season as their real-life counterparts leave the Trump administration. Two examples are Jeff Sessions and John Kelly. who both disappeared between the first and second seasons.
• Cloudcuckoolander: The vast majority of the characters count, but Alex Jones really takes the cake.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Joe Biden's entire team takes turns being this, especially Hypercompetent Sidekick Kamala Harris.
• Corrupt Politician: Being a satire of Real Life American politics, nearly every character qualifies as one in one form or another.
• Couch Gag: The title card in the opening credits has a tiny figure of Trump (and later other characters) within doing something different.
• Create Your Own Villain: Turns out the only reason Trump ran for President in the first place was to get back at Obama for making fun of him years earlier at the Correspondents' Dinner.
• Cue Card Pause: Wolf Blitzer does these while reading news copy.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Amy Klobuchar. She casually relates a story of an intern who forgot to charge her iPad:
  Klobuchar: I deleted his Social Security Number and hired a family to move into his apartment to convince him he never existed. Last anyone saw of him he was tearing off all his clothes and running, screaming into the forest.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • "Fox News" is played like a Romantic Comedy in which Trump breaks up with Fox and searches for a rebound network.
  • In "The Endorsement", Trump's belief in his positive internal polls is treated like a child's belief in Santa Claus.
  • Pete Buttigieg being the mayor of South Bend, Indiana is treated as an embarrassing scandal that threatens his campaign.
    Buttigieg: I have not had mayoral relations with that city.
  • When the Congress leaders share a hot tub in "Government Shutdown", Chuck Schumer asks if they'd be interested in "reaching across the aisle".
• Dream Sequence:
  • Trump has two in the first episode; the first one where his State of the Union address is a big celebration with everyone chanting his name, Chuck Schumer declares him the richest man ever, and Colin Kaepernick getting off his knee to salute to him. The second one is a nightmare where he gets booed, Schumer declares him "just very rich" and Melania accepts a marriage proposal from Colin.
  • In the Midterm Election special, Trump has a dream where the Democrats impeach him, Putin blocks him from fleeing to Russia, and Melania marries Robert Mueller.
• Drunk on Milk:
  • Mitt Romney during Trump's impeachment trial.
  • Mike Pence gets drunk on raisins in "Madam Vice President".
• Extreme Doormat: Cartoon Trump is surrounded by enablers, from his own cabinet to the Democratic leaders to MSNBC's Chuck Todd, who won't call him anything worse than "deeply rude".
• Eyes Always Shut: Ben Carson looks like he's asleep half the time (and his voice doesn't help dissuade the idea).
• Gonk:
  • Mitch McConnell looks very much like a turtle.
  • Jeff Sessions looks like a Keebler elf without the cute.
  • General Mattis and his eye-bags.
  • Eric Trump is animated with his mouth perpetually open to show his gums, and claims to not have ankles.
• Fan Disservice: While trying to share marital advice to Donald and Melania, Mitch McConnell accidentally gives them a photo of him posing nude like Burt Reynolds in that famous 1972 Cosmopolitan centerfold. Said photo also becomes a Chekhov's Gun that drives away the Romney family later on.
• Finale Credits: In the final episode, the song that plays over the credits describes things in the past tense now that Trump has lost the election and is no longer President.
• Frat Bro: Don Jr., complete with Surfer Dude accent and Wacky Fratboy Hijinx.
• The Fundamentalist: Mike and Karen Pence, complete with Gosh Darn It to Heck!, Heteronormative Crusader, and being Crazy-Prepared for the Rapture.
• Genre Shift: In "Mental Fitness", Fox and Friends rework their show into "Friendship Manor", a slow-paced Costume Drama.
• Heroes Unlimited: The 2020 Democratic candidates. This is especially highlighted when they all sit at a roundtable together, when it's easier to see just how many of them there are.
• Identical Stranger: While not completely identical, Mitt Romney has one son (amongst a bunch of square-jawed Strong Family Resemblance sons) who looks like Eric Trump and is just as ignored and reviled. Eric Trump lampshades this.
  Eric: Hey! They got an "Eric", too!
• Inferiority Superiority Complex:
  • Trump, for so many reasons. Craves his father's approval, wishes he was accepted by the Ivy-League educated elite, only ran for President because Barack Obama joked at his expense once...
  • Ben Shapiro:
    Ben: Earlier today, I was minding my own business, and someone said, "Good morning." I'm fine, but I just keep thinking about what he meant. "Good morning, you sad, pathetic weakling who couldn't even get the teachers to eat lunch with him. You speak really quickly and confidently, but deep down you know you're 100% full of shit!"
• Kick the Dog: Hillary Clinton travels an enormous distance to Trump's impeachment trial just to tell Bernie Sanders to "eat shit".
• Large Ham:
  • Trump, like you wouldn't believe:
    Trump: WARTIME, BABY! GIMME DAT NUCLEAR FOOTBALL!
  • Senator Cory Booker is also quite over-the-top, behaving more like a professional wrestler than a career politician.
• Law of Disproportionate Response:
  • A couple of times at rallies involving elderly people, a few of them suddenly fall down dead. Trump is merely mildly amused and the whole thing is treated as not that big a deal.
  • In "Save the Right", Ben Shapiro treats being told "good morning" like a hate crime.
• Narcissist:
  • Cartoon Trump shows many signs of this.
    Don Jr.: I love you, Dad!
    Donald: I love me, too!
  • CNN's Jake Tapper frequently introduces himself as an expert guest, and clearly thinks his "President Chump" jokes are incredibly witty.
• Minnesota Nice: Subverted with Amy Klobuchar, who is portrayed as psychotic and abusive to her own staff and fellow Democratic candidates.
• Mirroring Factions: As the series goes on, it shows that the difference between the Republicans and Democrats is skin-deep. While they aren't as vile and idiotic as the Republican Party and Trump Administration, the Democratic Leadership are uninterested in changing the status quo out of fear of rocking the boat. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi despise Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez because they wish to actually promote "radical" policies like universal healthcare and the Green New Deal, which would hurt their wealth and status. The entire musical number of "America, My F@%ked Home" explicitly states that both parties are more interested in money than doing right by their country or constituents.
• Musical Pastiche:
  • "Mar-a-Lago" and "Milkshake USA" are this for different eras of The Beach Boys.
  • "Robert Mueller, Don't Indict Me" for "Don't You Forget About Me".
  • "Militarization" for "Pure Imagination".
  • "Becoming Don Jr." for Katrina and the Waves' "Walking on Sunshine".
  • "We Are Billionaires" for "We Are the World".
• Nepotism: Don Jr. and Eric are horribly incompetent and uneducated in politics, yet their father entrusts them with high-ranking positions in the White House.
• Nervous Wreck:
  • Elizabeth Warren gets shaking fits even when she's winning a race.
  • MSNBC's Rachel Maddow has been suffering a three-year manic episode under the Trump administration.
  • Jared Kushner, especially in season 1 when he's convinced his family is going to jail any day now.
  • Jill Biden has cracked multiple molars clenching her jaw from the stress of covering for her husband's constant gaffes.
• Obviously Evil:
  • Stephen Miller in the show is an Ax-Crazy Psycho for Hire who acts like a typical Bond villain. This is in contrast to the others, who are depicted as incompetent and ineffectual.
  • Sheldon Adelson speaks in a barely intelligible growling voice (requiring subtitles) and is very emphatic on how he says "RED MEAT".
• One-Steve Limit: Averted in "Senate Control":
  Chuck Todd: Strong language, Chuck.
  Chuck Schumer: Powerful words from a powerful Chuck.
  Chuck Todd: Chalk it up to Chuck, Chuck.
  Nancy Pelosi: That's enough, Chucks!
• Only Sane Man:
  • The military official who keeps the nuclear football away from Trump.
  • Jared Kushner also seems to be fed up with what he has to put up with, begging Ivanka to tell Trump to fire him.
  • Amongst Trump's team in the White House, John Kelly tries to be the only sane member of reasoning and getting Donald on track, but even he has his breaking moments.
• Pædo Hunt: Subverted, most of Washington DC don't really care about Trump's or Bill Clinton's obvious ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
  Clinton: I should be in jail!
• Parental Neglect: Don Jr., Eric, and Ivanka all have children of their own they spend little time with.
  Jared Kushner: Ivanka, I hate seeing you like this. You look like you just overheard one of the kids calling the nanny "Mom" again.
• Parental Substitute:
  • In "Government Shutdown", General Kelly acts like Trump's strict father who forbids him from throwing a party.
  • Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer become this for Don Jr. in "Save the Right", and for Joe Biden in "Hiding Joe Biden".
  • In "The Endorsement", Kellyanne Conway acts like Trump's parent faking the existence of Santa Claus.
• Pretty Fly for a White Guy: The white Democrats sometimes fall into this when trying to win over minority voters, from Pete Buttigieg speaking Gratuitous Spanish to Elizabeth Warren claiming to be Native American.
  Hillary Clinton: And get one for me, with a side of hot sauce, a condiment I enjoy independently of its relation to the black vote.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: The three hosts of Fox and Friends seem to exist solely to praise Trump as perfect, to the point that Trump interprets one of them describing his presidency as a nine out of ten as a major problem.
• Propaganda Machine: Sean Hannity, to compare and contrast Fox and Friends, is depicted this way. In his first appearance alone says that the entirety of the American people want all Democrats to drown to death and that any who believe that Russia interfered in the election will join them in hell, praises Don Jr. and Eric for being created by Trump's sperm, asks questions of them that Trump told him to ask, and then says he's going to yell over a black doctor and show an American flag somehow kick a football.
• Protest Song: Parodied with "Why Does Trump Have to Go?", a Bob Dylan pastiche sung by Fox and Friends.
• Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: Trump constantly mentions winning the electoral college as this trope. It's clear that everyone has heard it plenty of times.
• Sanity Ball:
  • In "Save the Right", Steve Mnuchin is the only member of the White House staff unimpressed by the conservative civil rights movement.
  • In "Coronavirus", Don Jr. is the only one to realize Ivanka's case of the titular virus is just a sunburn.
• Shaped Like Itself: From "Visiting the Troops":
  Chuck Schumer: I've been told technology is the future of tech!
• Slave to PR:
  • Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are depicted as Extreme Doormats too afraid of rocking the boat to stand up to the Republicans.
  • Conversely, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez retains her socialist youth vote appeal by refusing to be seen hanging out with the more centrist members of her party.
  • In "Secret Money", Trump is afraid of being seen with liberal Californians. In return, Jeff Bezos makes him leave Silicon Valley with an Amazon box over his head so no-one finds out they're friends.
• Spoof Aesop:
  • Many episodes end with characters learning a lesson like "Be yourself" or "Don't rely on the approval of others", applied to the worst situations possible.
  • In "Mueller Probe", Trump learns that the key to building trust with his cabinet is "listening"... so he plants surveillance bugs on them so they'll never betray him.
  • In "Secret Money", he chooses his unpopular friend Stephen Miller over the Silicon Valley cool kids... because Miller is more racist.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Ted Cruz. First creepily demonstrated in the trailer, he will typically appear with no warning.
• Strongly Worded Letter: Pelosi and Schumer's ineffective weapon of choice.
• Stylistic Suck: The closing theme song, which mostly consists of the phrase "Donald Trump is the President" (or variations thereof) repeated over and over again. As of the season 3 finale, it's "Donald Trump was the President".
• Sycophantic Servant: Many of Trump's cabinet, especially Pence, Pompeo, and Miller, are happy to take physical and verbal abuse for the President's benefit or just amusement.
• Take That!:
  • How could it not be? It's based on a joke Colbert had on his talk show deliberately meant to be one.
  • Beginning with the Midterm Election special, Democratic characters have been getting their own plots that poke fun at their side. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer especially have been getting their own plots that portray them as out of touch from even their own supporters. As of Season 3 the Democratic nominee candidates have begun to get their own A plots in episodes, with Team Trump demoted to B plots.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: In "The Best People", Stephen Miller learns that seemingly everyone around him competes to spit in his food.
• Those Two Guys: Don Jr. and Eric... the Beavis and Butt-Head of Washington DC.
• Token Religious Teammate: Mike Pence and his wife Karen are portrayed as being the least depraved and most religious (in their case, Christian) members of Trump's cabinet. While the types of people they are nice to are a bit limited, they are the only members who are genuinely nice at any point instead of merely pretending to be. Considering the show's tone, this is portrayed up to eleven, their wholesomeness is often played to the point of Selective Obliviousness.
• Too Dumb to Live: Don Jr. and Eric. Especially Eric.
• Too Kinky to Torture:
  • Stephen Miller wears BDSM gear to write Trump's speeches, and is exhilarated to be blasted with tear gas in "Militarization".
    Miller: I'm finally alive!
  • Attorney General William Barr's reaction to Kamala Harris choking him with a chain in "Election Knight Rises".
• Totally Radical:
  • Elon Musk constantly spouts outdated memes and Twitter slang.
  • Hillary Clinton can't let go of referencing things like Pokémon GO and dabbing.
• Verbal Tic:
  • In earlier episodes, after her introduction Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez frequently used the slang word "henny" (in addition to a variety of other excessive youth slang). This was toned down in Season 3.
  • Don Jr. describes a wide variety of things as "ass".
• Villainous Incest:
  • Rudy Giuliani has no problem trying to sleep with his female cousins.
  • As of "Election Day", Don Jr. and Eric are legally married.
• Vocal Dissonance: Befitting his "nice but dumb" personality in this universe, Eric Trump has a childish, somewhat feminine voice. (This is perhaps due to his voice actor being Emily Lynne.)
• Wacky Fratboy Hijinx: Again, Don Jr. & Eric.
• You Are Fat: Trump, Mike Pompeo, and Chris Christie are subject to many of these jokes.

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