CSotD: The Argument For Having No Kings
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One of the things I like about Australian cartoonists is their willingness to skip the niceties and get to the point. Wilcox notes the colossal series of missteps, lies and blunders Dear Leader has exhibited during his reign and yet he seems to be getting an equally colossal series of free passes.
There are two odd factors at work in this: One is that we’ve already seen how his loyalists circle the wagons to protect their fair-haired boy. Not only did they support his lies and turncoat policies the first time he was impeached, but wouldn’t even convict him of an attempted coup the second time around.
The other factor is related, because the 25th Amendment can only remove him from office if his Cabinet approves it, and anyone who has heard how they gush over him in meetings should know that (A) it isn’t gonna happen and (B) if it did, we’d get President Vance, which might not be an improvement.
Meanwhile, fellow-Aussie Hudson skips the analysis that went into Wilcox’s critique and simply points out that the president is barking mad and is being protected by a staff that cleans up his messes by denying what they can’t ignore.
And if you find Hudson’s take on the president rude and problematic, go back and ponder the nonsense he spouted at his last cabinet meeting. It was so disjointed and incoherent that the Senate Democrats posted the transcript.
There will be No Kings protests across the country today, because there are a lot of people who don’t like to be governed by a king, and while that often conjures images of tyrants, it also includes, for instance, Ludwig II of Bavaria, known as “The Swan King” and “The Fairy Tale King” but to much of the world as “Ludwig the Mad.” He was entertaining at this distance, but not so good at ruling in the here-and-now.
Ludwig didn’t tear down the East wall of his castle to create a ballroom, but he did build this modest getaway, the important factor being that, while it looks like something from the Middle Ages, he built it in the second half of the 19th century.
He only lived in it for about half a year until, in 1886, he was declared mentally unfit to rule. The next day, he and the psychiatrist treating him were found dead in a lake.
But it’s not as if those who dream of bringing back medieval times are gone, and Telnaes notes the Christian Nationalism gripping Trump and his accomplices. The overt hostility towards Muslims, the lies being told about Haitians and Somalis and the less open contempt for Jews is, indeed, reminiscent of the days of the Crusaders, and it’s hardly buffered by the attack on Iran or the number of people among his group who feel that the success of Israel will bring about the Second Coming.
It’s a contrast to the caution with which American leadership avoided using the term “crusade” during the Iraq Wars, and publicized the number of Muslims in our armed forces.
But that changed dramatically as Trump ran for the presidency in 2016, insulting a Muslim family that had lost a son in the war as part of his campaign to ban Muslim immigration.
Juxtaposition of the Day
Tracking the purpose of the attacks on Iran is difficult, because the explanations change with the wind, from warnings about non-existent nuclear weapons to Iranian support of terrorist groups to contempt for the dictatorship currently in power.
MacLeod — a progressive voice — points out that Dear Leader’s claims of victory are also apt to shift, while Ramirez — generally a conservative — illustrates the cliché of “moving the goalposts” in order to claim success in scoring attempts that have either fallen short or gone wide.
Horsey puts more direct blame on Trump’s stability, suggesting that his fanciful explanations of trends in the war are due to a growing departure from reality into a dark cave of delusion. In this depiction of the situation, Uncle Sam is wising up to the delusions and to the president’s increasing departure from reality.
But the expression on his face brings us back to Wilcox’s cartoon, in which the president is confident that no blunder could damage his popularity. And that could be a reasonable interpretation, since Trump has also denied polls that show his support cratering, saying that publishing “fake polls” should be a criminal offense.
It could also reinforce Hudson’s point. It’s one thing to object to how a news story is written, to suspect reporters of leaving out favorable opinions and analysis. But claiming polls are fake appears genuinely paranoid, since numbers are numbers, and denying them assumes absolute deceit on the part of pollsters.
A large part of Trump’s lack of popularity in some circles is that, while his fan base considers his approach brave and forthright, others see it as bombastic and off-putting. Morland makes his point with oversized lettering in the foreground and a smaller reference to George W. Bush’s premature boast of “Mission Accomplished.”
And de Adder makes a similar point, contrasting the super-patriot on the eagle with the TACO reversal as Trump exits on a chicken. It’s possible that someone had the courage to let Dear Leader know that attacking civilian infrastructure is a war crime, but it’s also possible that it was one more whim that he thought better of, or discovered was totally impractical.
It doesn’t help that he’s surrounded himself with inexperienced incompetents. Senator Lindsey Graham suggested seizing Kharg Island, saying “We did Iwo Jima, we can do this.”
On his podcast, Charlie Sykes pointed out that the invasion of Iwo Jima included 7,000 American deaths and 20,000 wounded, while another observer pointed out that Kharg Island is near a lot of Iranian bases and, if seized, would be under constant attack.
As Duginski points out, the GOP would do well to rein in Trump before they find themselves alongside the Whigs and Know Nothings in the graveyard of major parties that self-destructed.
Incidentally, former Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro has been denied the right to the lawyer of his choice.
Where have we heard that before?
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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