The lead-up to the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis had all the charged excitement of waiting for a car crash that you knew was going to happen. Against the background of the evening’s debate about “locker room talk,” throwing your political opponent in jail, and how lovable the Trump kids were, below is a record of how artists memeified the proceedings as they happened.
Painter Tom Sanford debuts his take on Trump:
Hallie Bateman, live-cartooning the debate for Lena Dunham’s publication, Lenny’s List:
Artist Jeannette Hayes on the exchange over this week’s instantly infamous Access Hollywood leak of Trump:
And a few more from Hayes from the rest of the night:
And LA artist Nao Bustamante, replying to Trump’s wild-eyed pitch to African-Americans:
And Bustamante again, commenting on Trump’s much-commented-upon “lurker” vibe, onstage:
Some props to moderator Martha Raddatz’s stern hand, from LA Times art journo Carolina Miranda:
Mid-debate, NYC sculptor John Powers has a sad thought:
Trumps’s odd sniffle made its return, which does not go unnoticed by Susan Kitchens:
Andrew Kuo makes the comparison to Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet:
Fashion photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin leave no doubt where they stand:
With questions over Trump’s lewd leak tape still hovering in the air, Jessica Deane Rosner puts this out there:
And critic Jerry Saltz returned to a theme he developed during the first debate: