What do Pennsylvania, Illinois, Nebraska, Mississippi, Michigan, Utah, Minnesota, Maine, South Carolina and Massachusetts — states that span U.S. regions and the political divide — have in common?

Yet most Americans would be surprised to learn that both political symbols (as well as Santa Claus and Uncle Sam) were popularized, and given their modern forms, by the same maverick cartoonist.

The Democratic symbol, is traced to an 1837 caricature of President Andrew Jackson seated on a donkey titled, "The Modern Balaam and his Ass." "In the early days, political symbols were flexible.

In November, his reelection campaign posted dozens of ads on Facebook with a red inverted triangle, a symbol used by Nazis to identify political prisoners in concentration camps. Facebook ...