Review: Sh*t My President Says

One of the Twitter feeds I follow is Pres. Supervillain where President Donald Trump“s tweets are dropped into old comic book panels of Red Skull. The tweets are unaltered and work amazingly well as the rants of the Hydra leader bent on destroying the world. It is both hilarious and disturbing how well this format works. The 140 character petulant rants are perfect for threatening both Captain America and the world.

Two time Eisner award winner, Shannon Wheeler (Too Much Coffee Man) has opened up an equally interesting insight into the president, by flipping that formula in his new book Sh*t My President Says. He illustrated a wide variety of President Trump“s tweets, but instead of an unhinged leader with an unlimited cult-like following, Wheeler shows Trump as a spoiled, self-infatuated, bratty child. In many ways, both super-villain and spoiled child share many of the same characteristics.

Although he starts with Trump“s first tweet (promoting an appearance on David Letterman“s late night talk show), Wheeler doesn“t keep the tweets in chronological order. Instead he groups them in ways that show off the long running theme that are important to the president. The final tweet of the book was written in 2013, but is incredible prescient for today.

Trump“s tweets are inspirational, nor are they aspirational. They never call for anyone to better themselves. Instead, they call for people to wallow in their basest most materialistic instincts. It is stunningly sad worldview. He indulges racism, sexism, fear and hatred. He tweets the most inflammatory things possible in order to force people to deal with what he writes. Because in his narcissistic worldview, the worst thing possible would be for people to focus on problems and their solutions rather than focus on him.

This is a funny book. You can“t help seeing the images of the little child Trump in his big boy clothes trying to boss everyone around and not laugh. But underneath there is a real insight into the president that I don“t think would be available in a standard biography. The tweets seem to offer a fascinating, unwitting insight into the differences between Trump“s public and private personas.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Writer: Shannon Wheeler (Donald Trump (?))
Art: Shannon Wheeler
Publisher: Top Shelf/ IDW Publishing

Author Profile

Andy Hall

Sent from the future by our Robot Ape overlords to preserve the timeline. Reading and writing about comics until the revolution comes. All hail the Orangutan Android Solar King!