CSotD: The Jokes, they write themselves

Ivanka Trump is out to destroy political cartoonists, though Pat Bagley is willing to rise to the job of bailing water with a pitchfork.

Ivanka’s first move was to accept a job promoting the idea that, if you are unemployed, what you should do to solve your problem is get a job.

And, if you don’t like your current job, you should get a different job; one that you do like.

 

The problem for cartoonists being that Herblock already covered this in 1964.

It was so clear a concept yet so unclear to wealthy Republicans that he felt compelled to repeat it again 20 years later.

Ivanka wasn’t born until three years after that second cartoon about heartless, tone-deaf rich folks, and so Bagley has to escort her to the woodshed for yet another iteration of the same old critique.

 

But wait! She’s not done yet!

This appeared on her Twitter feed overnight:

You can’t make this shit up, but you can certainly make up plenty of jokes about it.

 

Clay Jones had already nailed the insanity of a product aimed at a Hispanic customer base endorsing a man who puts their children in cages.

The outrageous enormity of the move was discussed here yesterday and there’s no call for me to repeat what I said because, while Jones’ essays are always worth a look, he nails this one on several levels, all worth a read. Go enjoy a most righteous rant.

 

As for Ivanka’s endorsement, I expect the memes to come flying faster than professional cartoonists can keep up.

In fact, here you go: Download this and knock yourself out.

 

 

But it’s far from funny, because, as today’s Non Sequitur notes, we’ve allowed Dear Leader’s administration to bring a level of compulsion to our streets that goes beyond the simple manipulation of information.

There is an active lawsuit brewing against the forces that attacked peaceful protesters with tear gas and flash grenades in order to clear a path for the Emperor and his entourage so he could hold up for the cameras a book he’s never read.

 

I’m afraid Balin isn’t quite as photogenic as Ivanka.

I’m more afraid, however, that people sitting at home think tear gas and flash grenades are a harmless means of crowd control, or that police truncheons simply leave bruises, rather than turning faces into raw, bloody hamburger.

And that the way to avoid clashing with authorities is to avoid criticizing them.

 

Rabbits Against Magic points out the irony of substituting political loyalty for scientific common sense.

It’s a nice piece of grim, serendipitous timing for a strip done weeks in advance.

 

Bad Reporter is done on deadline and so better able to spoof the political misinformation being foisted upon a vulnerable, trusting public.

However, Don Asmussen faces the same problem other political commentators have to deal with: An administration so transparently absurd that it’s hard to ridicule.

It would not be a crisis if lives were not at stake. The deliberate spreading of potentially fatal misinformation, however, is beyond politics, and borders on what would be a war crime if we weren’t doing it to our own people.

 

Jimmy Margulies offers a solid, quiet analysis of how the top epidemiologist in the country is being undercut, and I would point out that while, in “Animal Farm,” Snowball is falsely blamed for the farm’s failures, it is done after he has been run off and the windmill has fallen on its own.

 

By contrast, the White House attacks on Fauci are, as Nick Anderson portrays it, not simply a case of excuse-making but an active political effort that interferes with attempts to control and contain the pandemic.

Asking loyal followers to vote based on deliberate misinformation may be “politics,” but promoting mistrust and lies that cause them to die needlessly is potentially a matter for the World Court in Brussels.

 

And that includes inducing them to send their children off to school without adequate safeguards, and threatening to withhold federal funds from schools that hesitate to join in this deadly fraud.

There have been several cartoons employing school crossing signs and/or the character of Death, but Kevin Siers combines them with an eloquent simplicity.

“Clever” does not always involve complexity, and, in this case, the most clever, eloquent approach is the most simple.

 

I would extend similar praise to Nate Beeler, who is by far not the only cartoonist to use Roger Stone’s Nixon tattoo as an element in a cartoon, but who, by keeping it simple, rises above the others.

Finally, as Ruth Bader Ginsburg recovers, we hope, from an infection, let’s take a look at her Court’s recent decision with a three-way

Juxtaposition of the Day

 

(Matt Wuerker)

 

(Adam Zyglis)

 

(Kevin Siers)

There’s a certain Goldilock progression here, from Wuerker, who feels the two decisions simply didn’t do enough, to Zyglis, who hails them as a start in breaking down the wall, and thence to Siers, who simply notes the impact on the three parties.

I wouldn’t call any of the three “just right,” but I do welcome the breach in the wall, and, while I certainly wish along with Wuerker that it had been more immediate, I think that sort of outcome is reserved for moments like the release of Watergate White House tapes, where the rest of the groundwork has been laid and the immediacy of the crisis is undeniable.

And perhaps if the King weeps hard enough, and loudly enough, he’ll push the crisis to the extent where an immediate intervention is not only required but undeniably so.

Inshallah.

 

And this farewell

Friend of the Blog Sean Martin has brought down the curtain on “Doc and Raider” with a farewell message that tells the story.

I hate to see it end; I trust he’ll tell us other stories. But I’d hate it more if he dragged it out for the sake of keeping it going, and I wish more cartoonists — and syndicates — would have the grace to bring down the curtain when the farce has ended.