A Trump Mark Carney Political Cartoon Hole in the Northern Border

Sometimes a political cartoon begins with a statement. This one began with a map. And a Golf Hole too. ⛳🏌️‍♀️🚩

President Donald Trump returned to Canada during remarks in the Oval Office on September 28, amid an increasingly contentious period in U.S.-Canada relations. The broader dispute includes trade, tariffs, immigration and Trump’s criticism of the government of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Recent reporting has also documented Trump’s claims that Canada’s immigration policies are contributing to economic problems there. TIME

For me, however, another image was already waiting on that northern border.

Lake America.

Trump, Canada and the Northern Border

Lake Ontario sits directly along the international boundary between the United States and Canada. On August 27, Trump signed an executive order directing U.S. federal agencies to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.”

The order itself describes the lake as bounded by New York on its southern and eastern sides and by the Canadian province of Ontario on its northern, western and southwestern sides. The change applies to U.S. federal government usage; it does not determine what Canada calls the lake. The White House

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the new name. In his response, Carney emphasized the history behind the name Ontario and said Canadians would continue calling it Lake Ontario. The Washington Post

That disagreement gave me half of the Trump Mark Carney Political Cartoon.

Trump’s comments about Canada and the northern border gave me the other half.

The Sharpie That Changed the Map

There was one visual detail I especially wanted to preserve: Trump’s Sharpie.

Before signing the executive order, Trump actually demonstrated his proposed change on a map. Holding a marker, he announced that Lake Ontario was going to become Lake America and said:

“All it takes is a good pen, and some intelligence.”

He then crossed out the old name and wrote “Lake America.” Roll Call

For a political cartoonist, that is irresistible imagery.

So in my drawing, the ordinary marker becomes enormous. Trump stands on the American side of the border holding an oversized black Sharpie marked THE WHITE HOUSE. It is almost as large as his entire cartoon body.

The exaggeration is intentional. The pen has become an instrument for changing the political map.

Mark Carney Finds the Hole

On the opposite side stands Mark Carney beneath the Canadian flag.

Between them I drew the northern border as a massive black line, in my Trump Canada political cartoon until it reaches the lake.

Carney points toward the opening:

“You left a Hole in the Northern Border.”

Trump answers:

“Lake America!”

That conversation did not actually occur. It is the fictional dialogue of the cartoon.

The political ingredients surrounding it, however, come directly from current events: Trump’s disputes with Canada, his focus on immigration and trade, the U.S.-Canada border, his executive order renaming Lake Ontario for federal purposes, Carney’s rejection of that name—and even the Sharpie.

When Political Language Meets Geography

Political cartoons don’t always need another speech.

Sometimes the most interesting thing a cartoonist can do is take political language literally and see where it leads.

Trump can rename Lake Ontario for purposes of the United States government.

PM Mark Carney can insist that Canada will continue calling it Lake Ontario.

But neither man can make the lake disappear.

So I left it sitting there between them, an enormous blue interruption in a perfectly straight political line.

Two countries.

Two leaders.

One border.

One lake.

And one extraordinarily large Sharpie.

“A Hole in the Northern Border” a political cartoon by Maria Grasmick, September 2026.

A frontier should not exist merely in the ink of the cartographer. If the nation has established its laws, then at its boundary those laws must still possess their full force. Let those who may lawfully enter be received according to law; let those who may not enter be refused according to law. A republic does not defend its frontier through panic, but through vigilance, order and the certainty that its laws will be executed.

https://mariagrasmick.com/shop

My Reference photo, was taken from this Speech itself: