Proud Trump shows off new cartoon of himself — apparently blind to its true meaning

President Donald Trump shared the latest cover of Newsweek International on social media Monday, depicting a giant version of himself straddling North and South America — an image almost certainly evoking an infamous 1892 caricature of British imperialist and self-proclaimed white supremacist Cecil Rhodes.

The cover of Newsweek International bears the text: “TRUMP WAS RIGHT (ABOUT VENEZUELA),” with a cartoon depiction of a giant Trump wearing a safari-style outfit while holding a fuel pump. The White House joined Trump in sharing the image on X, along with the caption “TRUST IN TRUMP.”

The cartoon depiction of Trump mirrors almost exactly a famous 1892 illustration of Rhodes, who in the cartoon is seen in a near-identical position and size, standing over Africa, his arms outstretched in a similar pose, only holding a telegraph line rather than a fuel pump.

A British diamond magnate, Rhodes used his British South Africa Company to seize what is now Zimbabwe in the 1890s, with African deaths in the conquest likely exceeding 20,000. His policies as Cape Colony prime minister also disregarded African land rights and laid groundwork for apartheid-era discrimination decades later.

In his own writings, Rhodes laid bare his outlook on race.

“I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race,” Rhodes wrote on June 2, 1877.

“Just fancy those parts that are at present inhabited by the most despicable specimens of human beings what an alteration there would be if they were brought under Anglo-Saxon influence, look again at the extra employment a new country added to our dominions gives.”