In this 1891 Judge cartoon, Grover Cleveland appears as a showy jackdaw parading in borrowed peacock feathers—each labeled with a different state election. The joke is simple and brutal: a politician trying to claim victories he didn’t actually win. More than a century later, the image lands with the same force. American politics is still full of figures who take credit for other people’s work, rewrite outcomes to suit their narrative, and strut like winners no matter what the truth is. If anything, today’s authoritarian-leaning politicians have perfected this move—declaring triumph where there was none, spinning losses into “stolen victories,” and treating democratic processes as props for personal glory. This piece fits perfectly in the mission of The Antifascist Shop: using real historical art to expose timeless political patterns.
Opportunism, ego, and the hunger for unearned power aren’t new—but calling them out never goes out of style.
In this 1891 Judge cartoon, Grover Cleveland appears as a showy jackdaw parading in borrowed peacock feathers—each labeled with a different state election. The joke is simple and brutal: a politician trying to claim victories he didn’t actually win. More than a century later, the image lands with the same force. American politics is still full of figures who take credit for other people’s work, rewrite outcomes to suit their narrative, and strut like winners no matter what the truth is. If anything, today’s authoritarian-leaning politicians have perfected this move—declaring triumph where there was none, spinning losses into “stolen victories,” and treating democratic processes as props for personal glory. This piece fits perfectly in the mission of The Antifascist Shop: using real historical art to expose timeless political patterns.
Opportunism, ego, and the hunger for unearned power aren’t new—but calling them out never goes out of style.
