CSotD: Sorting Out the Insults
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I’ve seen several cartoons over in the humor aisle decrying political ads, but that’s such a common complaint in election years that it suffers from a “boy who cried wolf” element: Complaints in normal campaign races make it hard for the point to stick out in years in which the ads are bitter and rely on insults rather than policies.
This is one of those years, and I’ve noticed it particularly in TV commercials from New York moreso than from Vermont or New Hampshire. Your mileage may also vary.
But Wuerker touches on a different point in this round-up of negative attacks from the GOP, more in speeches than in advertising, and largely deceptive if not objectively dishonest. In Texas, James Talarico has been attacked for being vegan, which (A) he isn’t and (B) what if he were?, and throughout the country, Democrats are being called socialists and communists by people who can’t define those terms. And, of course, the charges of pet-eating were 100% false and appealed to racism.
Wuerker’s best touch may be the fellow inflating the Hassan Piker blow-up. Piker is a controversial figure, but he’s also a niche character with large audiences only in a particular demographic. My guess is that the majority of voters would have never heard of him if Republicans weren’t using him as a boogeyman.
On a related note, Ruben Bolling may have had some fortuitous timing with this morning’s Super-Fun-Pak-Comix, hitting the page while Dear Leader is publicizing his fascination with buttoxes. The feature is snipped from his full-page parodies of comics, so it may not be an accident: Rabbits Against Magic, Prickly City and La Cucaracha all work on short deadlines to comment on current events. Did he pull it out of his files on purpose, or is it a coincidence?
But at least Lopez is a US citizen, as a native New Yorker, while Trump’s campaign ally and fabulous butt-owner Nicki Minaj is a citizen of Trinidad-Tobago. Perhaps Dear Leader should sign Lopez as a campaign pal, since it would be embarrassing to have ICE suddenly tackle Minaj and drag her “one hell of a beautiful ass” away.
Which makes me wonder if Flavio Bolsonaro is in any danger. In the wake of his defeat in Brazil’s presidential elections, he has flown to Florida, and since his bid for asylum in Florida has been well-publicized, he could find himself shackled and sent back.
(I’m only kidding. He and Nicki are very wealthy.)
Juxtaposition of the Day
Sack has it right: Dear Leader is showing signs of stress as the midterms approach and his flop-sweat intensifies. He has confined his campaigning largely to deep red states, more hoping to stir up his supporters than to convince any doubters, but he’s playing to half-empty auditoriums and lying about attendance levels.
And he lied, too, about the size crowds drawn by that man who, Luckovich says, has been living in his head.
Obama’s Cheesecake Factory wisecrack drew laughter, and Trump supporters have countered by insisting that the Cheesecake Factory is a really swell place to eat and that its decor is nowhere near as tacky and tasteless as what Trump has done to the White House.
Okay, maybe only the first part, but the uproar reminds me of when Cracker Barrel redid its logo and fans of chicken-fried steak went ballistic, and the negative responses to Obama’s joke seem more focused on defending the restaurant than the man.
Both Sack and Luckovich draw him with crazed eyes, and whether or not he shows stress, his speeches have not only rambled — they’ve always done that — but included odd comments about people’s asses, incoherent malapropisms and inexplicable noises that have made some observers publicly wonder if he was short-circuiting.
It is difficult to understand how the GOP can continue to campaign against communism when its leading figure is embracing Vladimir Putin and, by dropping sanctions, assisting him in his efforts against Ukraine.
The man is alone in a crowd, and even lonelier now that Xitter is bereft of its Russian bots and trolls. There are still people there insisting that the war is all Zelensky’s fault and he’s standing in the way of peace by refusing to let Russia take over his country, slaughter his people and kidnap their children, but the responses to those postings strongly indicate that real people are taking over Elon’s Playhouse.
Speaking of Musk, his efforts to slow down StarShield, leaving Ukraine without warnings of incoming missiles or the ability to direct their military drones, have drawn the world’s attention. Musk and Trump have passed the blame back and forth, but that has only raised questions about the wisdom of allowing private business to become entangled in government activities.
Zelensky recently told reporters that the threat to security of having either the US or Musk able to control StarShield in contradiction to international treaties, is leading European countries to develop a similar system that they can control themselves.
Meanwhile, Molina dismisses Musk’s flying car stunt as a vain attempt to distract from the negative effects of his being permitted to tamper with US policy.
There are rumors that Musk, now a naturalized citizen, was for a time illegally working while on a student visa and no longer in school, but Snopes has not been able to come to a definitive conclusion. Perhaps after the administration is done examining Ilan Omar’s father’s paperwork they can devote the same energy to investigating Musk’s presence here.
Not all the hate-inspired controversy is visited on famous people and familiar faces. The war on transexuals continues apace, with polls showing inconsistent opinions about their rights. People seem concerned about them using the “wrong” bathrooms or going into the “wrong” locker rooms, resulting, as Slyngstad indicates, in an epidemic of genital voyeurism.
Now a poll indicates that the alleged concern over danger to girls if they compete in sports against “biological men” is guided not by sincere fear but by misogyny, and that the people who most oppose transexual women in women’s sports don’t support women’s sports in the first place.
I wouldn’t mind seeing a poll examining how much other bigotry masquerades as sincere concern.
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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