President Donald Trump stands on a massive, mucus-dripping troll while holding an envelope marked TRUMP LIES in a cartoon published Jan. 8, 2018. The drawing by Pat Bagley places the president in a dark suit and red tie atop the creature's back. The troll features a frog-like head with yellow eyes and a pink tower-like object in its mouth. Green slime flows from multiple points on the creature's body.

The cartoon directly addresses Trump's plan to stage fake news awards. Those awards were announced in early January 2018 as a response to coverage of his administration's ties to Russia and other controversies. Trump repeatedly labeled outlets such as CNN and The New York Times as fake news during this period. The image places the president in a position of dominance over a repulsive figure that represents the media he targeted.

The Salt Lake Tribune published the cartoon on its editorial page. Bagley has drawn for the paper since the 1980s and frequently comments on national politics through local distribution. The piece uses the troll as a visual stand-in for the president's view of the press. The bottom caption reads WELCOME TO THE AWARDS TO EXPOSE THE DISGUSTING FAKE NEWS MEDIA in large capital letters.

Trump's announcement came weeks after he first floated the idea on Twitter in late 2017. The awards were ultimately presented in a video posted to social media rather than a formal event. Coverage at the time noted that the selections largely recycled long-standing complaints about story framing and anonymous sourcing. The cartoon captures the moment when the proposal was still fresh and generating widespread reaction across newsrooms.