President Trump beheads Lady Liberty on the new cover of German magazine Der Spiegel


If anyone was wondering what Der Spiegel, a German counterpart to magazines like Newsweek, Time, or — ahem! — The Week, thinks of President Trump, wonder no more.
The magazine debuted its latest cover illustration Saturday, and it did not exactly opt for subtlety. In a commentary clearly directed at President Trump's executive order suspending all U.S. entrance from seven majority-Muslim nations — which is presently in legal limbo — Trump is shown immediately after he has beheaded Lady Liberty. The caption: "America first."
The illustration is the work of Cuban-born Edel Rodriguez, who arrived in the United States as a political refugee three decades ago. "It's a beheading of democracy, a beheading of a sacred symbol," Rodriguez told The Washington Post. "I don't want to live in a dictatorship," he added. "If I wanted to live in a dictatorship, I'd live in Cuba, where it's much warmer."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Trump was previously depicted beheading Lady Liberty by the New York Daily News, and the most recent New Yorker cover depicts the statue's eternal torch flaming out. The Der Spiegel cover has sparked debate across Europe and the United States, with the German vice president of the European Parliament labeling it "tasteless."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Should Britain withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights?
Talking Point With calls now coming from Labour grandees as well as Nigel Farage and the Tories, departure from the ECHR 'is starting to feel inevitable'
-
5 outspoken cartoons about Epstein survivors taking center stage
Cartoons Artists take on cover-ups, Trump surrounded, and more
-
Codeword: September 6, 2025
The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'
Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearing
Speed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mount
Speed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own list
speed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battle
Speed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants
-
Florida aims to end all state vaccine requirements
Speed Read Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to cut vaccine access and install anti-vaccine activists at the FDA and CDC
-
US kills 11 on 'drug-carrying boat' off Venezuela
Speed Read Trump claimed those killed in the strike were 'positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists' shipping drugs to the US
-
Trump vows to send federal forces to Chicago, Baltimore
Speed Read The announcement followed a California judge ruling that Trump's LA troop deployment was illegal