The New Yorker packed plenty of punches toward Donald Trump and his administration with its new, UFC-themed front page.
Longtime cartoonist Barry Blitt’s June 15 cover image — titled “Out Cold” — imagined Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio slugging it out inside the octagon that Trump ordered built on the South Lawn of the White House for his controversial UFC fight card on June 14, which happens to be his 80th birthday, as part of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
Blitt’s illustration shows Vance kicking Rubio in the face while Rubio lands a punch of his own, with cartoon stars circling their heads to show they’ve been hit, an apparent riff on speculation that the pair are battling to inherit Trump’s MAGA kingdom.
And watching from ringside is Trump, apparently fast asleep with floating “Zzzzs,” a reference to his apparent habit of nodding off in public.
Explaining the cover, Blitt said: “There’s been plenty of astonishment regarding the clash being held there. But, at such a contentious time as this, maybe it makes sense—in a distasteful, repellent, disgraceful, atrocious way.”