benjamin franklin knew that. a master of words and images alike, he published america s first political cartoon in 1754. a snake cut into eight parts called join or die, urging british colonies to join together or be attacked by french and indian allies. for america with honest abe working to repair the union to europe with napoleon and william pitts splitting the world. for years cartoons have been used to convince, control, cajole and serve a healthy feeding of crow. today is no different. here is how the new york daily news responded to the helsinki summit. they used his fifth avenue comment against him by showing putin grasping one hand while trump shoots uncle sam with the other. another shows putin holding the president of the nra by the waist after he learned about a suspected russian agent who infiltrated the gun lobby. and the new yorker s latest issue is topped with this.