Comic Strip of the Day Editorial cartooning

CSotD: Swamping the Drains

I like David Cohen‘s take because it really does seem like Trump is grabbing random screwballs for his cabinet rather than carrying out some cunning plan.

Granted, anyone who listened to his speeches during the campaign shouldn’t be surprised that his actions now are similarly incoherent and inexplicable, but it would be nice if he would just put on some music and gyrate for the next four years.

However, as Mike Luckovich suggests, the fact that he’s not in control doesn’t mean that nobody is running the show.

I’m not sure Elon is, either, and if JD has to take over before the four years are up — as seems a reasonable prediction — we’re going to discover how well two years in Congress prepares someone for running the nation.

Though at least he hasn’t caused multiple bankruptcies and destroyed an entire sports league.

I’ve noted before that I count on David Rowe to exploit the time difference between here and Sydney and provide up-to-date cartoons each morning, but even he can’t keep up with the flow of lunacy pouring out of Washington. He got Gabbard, Gaetz and Hegseth in, but missed Little Bobby.

However, another Aussie, Glen Le Lievre, fills in the missing clown.

Perhaps we should send all our cartoonists to Australia so they, too, can get a headstart on the day’s events. And also so Attorney General Gaetz doesn’t get hold of them.

Cynics might note that being in Australia is no guarantee of safety, and that the people in On the Beach weren’t spared from the nuclear war in the northern hemisphere but, rather, were waiting for the toxic cloud to reach them.

On the other hand, I’ve seen several commentators suggest that what may save us all is the sheer incompetence and idiocy we’ve seen so far, and that a president who can’t get out of his own way may find it difficult to get in ours.

I’m doubtful that this will work for four years because I agree with Luckovich that Dear Leader isn’t really in charge, but if he can maintain chaos for two years, we’ll have a chance to jerk his congressional majorities out from under him.

Ann Coulter maintains hope that the insane nomination of Matt Gaetz is part of a cunning plan, but when has she been right (beyond far-right)? Still, the fact that she’s apparently astonished brings to mind the story of LBJ realizing he’d lost Walter Cronkite and therefore lost the country.

If Trump has lost Ann Coulter, will that diminish his ability to keep the MAGAts in line?

It won’t hurt him as much as when his tariffs raise the prices he promised to bring down, but that assumes that MAGAts have memories and are paying attention.

The story about LBJ and Cronkite probably didn’t really happen anyway. The real parallel is that LBJ was elected in 1964 on a promise that “We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10 thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.”

The comforting notion being that his broken promise knocked him out of the 1968 race in favor of Nixon’s secret plan to end the war, which turned out to be about the midpoint of American deaths.

Trump may not be able to mount a coherent policy, but, as Walt Handelsman says, he is bringing about Grover Norquist’s vision: “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”

Which seemed like hyperbole at best and insanity at worst, but here we are.

Juxtaposition of the Day

Glen Le Lievre

Marian Kamensky — Cartoon Movement

The song “Send in the Clowns” ends with “Don’t bother: They’re here,” but Le Lievre and Kamensky suggest, rather, a gathering of rats.

Constant Readers will realize how much I appreciate the reversal of the “rats leaving a sinking ship” concept, since the sailors’ superstition was that rats knew when a ship was doomed and would leave before it sailed.

Le Lievre and Kamensky have flipped it to show them eagerly piling aboard instead. Do they know it’s doomed?

Ben Jennings suggests that they aren’t the only ones waiting to capitalize on America’s disaster.

If Trump had asked Putin for advice — and maybe he did — he couldn’t have pleased him more than appointing Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence.

It’s part of an effort to make government more efficient, since, in his first administration, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak had to visit the White House so Trump could reveal Israeli intelligence to them himself.

As for Netanyahu, the people who refused to vote for Harris because she didn’t exercise the vice-president’s power to end wars are about to be as surprised as the Latinos who voted for Trump on the assumption that he doesn’t intend to deport them.

However, at the moment, the naive mooncalves on the left are distracted by the fact that, like every president of the modern era except one, Joe Biden invited the president-elect to visit him in the White House.

I don’t think Bill Bramhall hopes that that one ungracious chief executive will show some manners and good breeding in four years so much as he simply hopes the guy will agree to step aside when his four years are up.

Assuming he hasn’t gone completely bonkers and been shoved aside by then.

Our hopes in the near term are that a few Republicans remember what their party once stood for, and what it would have refused to stand for.

RJ Matson has his doubts, and it won’t be enough for Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins to go against the flow, since that would still leave the GOP sycophants with a one-vote Senate majority.

However, you may find some comfort in visiting Steve Brodner’s Substack for a rundown on Trump’s nominees as well as a stern statement of resistance against the darkness that threatens. He’s resolved not to let the nation die without a fight.

And check out JoJo from Jerz from time to time, in order to keep your spirits up. Here’s an interview with her, and here’s a sample of what she does:



Comments 20

  1. Dave Pamer

    My wife, who is from El Salvador (and didn’t vote for Trump, but is in the “maybe Trump won’t be so bad” camp) thinks Trump will only deport violent criminals, and that he will give green cards to anyone who graduates from a U.S. college (an idea he mentioned in June, but his campaign quickly walked back, and he hasn’t mentioned since).

    Time will tell. I think when someone promises “bloody” mass deportations of “millions” of people, they’re not just talking about the gang members. But I hope I’m wrong.

    It would be great if Congress could focus on the three policy ideas that came out of this campaign that would be sure of getting bipartisan support: eliminating taxes on tips (proposed by Trump and adopted by Harris), creating a Medicare home care benefit (proposed by Harris and adopted by Trump), and giving green cards to graduates of U.S. colleges and universities (proposed by Trump, but I’m sure supported by most Democrats). Not holding my breath, though.

      1. Dave Palmer

        That started under Clinton and continued under Bush, Obama, and Trump. (Trump doesn’t mention this, but Obama actually deported more people than he did).

        Of course, his rhetoric now is significantly more violent and unhinged than it was before.

    1. Tom Gillespie

      None of those policies provide an obvious mechanism to easily divert taxpayer funds towards accounts that are controlled by the vulgar talking yam. Therefore, they will not happen.

  2. Mike Tiefenbacher

    Sadly, the new consensus seems to be that since being here without permission is illegal, that makes one a criminal by simply crossing the border. That gives license to deport everybody who hoped America was the promised land, but couldn’t wait for official permission, plus relatives of actual citizens, who’ll cause a full-family sweep no matter their actual status, just like Ike’s ’50s operation…

  3. George Smart

    Billionaires used to have to buy multiple politicians and judges to eliminate those pesky protections for workers, consumers, and the environment. Under Musk’s new, efficient system, they can eliminate them directly.

  4. Michael

    Again, people ignore how they are being manipulated by those who control and influence media. Thanks to climate change, humanity is about to witness the greatest migration in history, as those forced out of their livelihoods seek a new way to provide food, clothing and shelter for themselves and their families. The land becomes incapable, the weather turns to floods and droughts, the weather becomes more extreme, etc. It is already happening, meaning borders are becoming meaningless, laws are becoming unenforceable, armed forces will become useless, as whole areas of the globe will become uninhabitable. We already know where those humans will go, whether we like it or not. Deport migrants ? Give your head a shake.

    1. Ben R

      And people only believe what they want to believe. If the news sources they watch tell them nothing of this, and nothing of what their candidate actually intends to do…or what he actually does…then they’ll be shocked when the next 3 huricanes hit them in rapid succession and that they have no aid coming from their scornful government. That whole “Fema failure” stuff was just more projection.

    2. Blinky the Wonder Wombat

      I’m getting vibes of the Germanic tribes’ invasion of the Roman Empire. Forced by bad harvests and aggressive tribes from the north and east, the Germanic people crossed the Roman frontiers. The Romans tried various methods to stem the tide or even “Romanize” them, but the numbers became too great to control as the pressures to migrate became stronger. We all know how that story ended.

  5. Ray Rappisi

    Jo Jo from my home state, a DEFINATE Jersey girl!

  6. Garth German

    While I appreciate the time zone advantage the Aussies enjoy (having lived there myself, I get it), your early morning New Hampshire publication time is tough on us West Coast cartoonists to get something out in time. But no one said anything about the political cartooning racket was meant to be easy. We’ll keep plugging away. Appreciate your column, as always, Mike!

  7. Kari Justad

    How long until one of the faithful floats the idea of abolishing the 22nd amendment so Dear Leader can stay in the White House?

    1. Tom Gillespie

      No need — as with section 3 of the 14th Amendment, the 22nd has no enforcement mechanism defined in statute. All Congress has to do to negate it is to take no action at all.

  8. mark johnson

    My best friend’s daughter has been married to an undocumented Mexican for 10 years and they have 2 little girls The dad was brought to the US when he was 18 so he is not a even a Dreamer. Having been caught at the border twice in the last 25 yrs, he has a lifetime ban on citizenship. For people like him , the border crossing occurs when a mom or close relative dies and they return home for a funeral but get caught when coming back. So, each one is a criminal and might be targeted. There are some 500,000 US citizens married to undocumented people. Biden passed a measure allowing Parole In Place for this population. Stephen Miller’s people judge shopped and filed to stop this action in the 5th Circuit court in Texas( same court used in the mifespristone case). Many , including the friend’s daughter, filed under the Biden measure and now Stephen Miller has her address. The parents are fearful that the dad will be torn from the kids, handcuffed and frogmarched to a detention camp while the kids scream and cry, scarred for life. And , to what end? So citizens can plug a $98 billion loss of tax revenue that undocumented contribute? So citizens can pick produce they have not shown interest in? So landlords can have vacant apartments? What happens in meat packing plants when the so called ” essential” workers get deported?

  9. gezorkin

    Let’s not kid ourselves about the election. There is a very large segment of the electorate that will never vote for a woman and/or will never vote for a black. And it’s rarely, if ever, mentioned out loud and never to any pollster.

    Policy was never a factor and never will be.

  10. m

    I doubt many thought he’d be any better with the Israeli genocide, but it’s still somehow Ds that have scorn for people who merely dislike genocide, or like Mike here, calls them naive, even if most of them likely didn’t vote since both parties were virtually identical on that front… so, really, why can’t pro-genocide people find one party to all join?

  11. m m

    go choke on trump’s orange micropenis you terrorist lover!

  12. Mark in New Hampshire

    Remember Harriet Miers? George W. Bush nominated that spectacularly unqualified person to the Supreme Court. The Senate rejected her and let the next one in without much fuss. That next one was the spectacularly harmful Samuel Alito.

  13. Becky

    Ben Jennings left out one, “Make Taiwan China again”. And when that happens, how long will South Korea and Japan last?

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