CSotD: Mopping up

David Cohen is one of several cartoonists calling out Trump for his refusal to schedule a second debate, but I like his take because it captures the arrogance of a badly defeated Trump declining to admit his loss.

As I’ve noted before, I’m not convinced Trump knows when he is lying or making excuses or passing the blame. There is a level of narcissism seen in Jeffrey MacDonald and OJ Simpson in which they seemed to honestly doubt their roles in horrific crimes, but it doesn’t necessarily require that level of psychological trauma to trigger the defense mechanism.

Trump may honestly believe the 2020 elections were rigged, that his inauguration crowd was enormous and any other of the 30,000 or more dubious things he’s said. And he may believe not only that he won the debate the other night but that all the polls show it.

One of the hazards of wealth and power is a lack of people around you who are willing to challenge your view of reality, though that’s hardly an excuse for hanging out with Laura Loomer, a pretty girl so astonishingly toxic that Marjorie Taylor Greene is appalled by their close relationship.

The Goldwater Rule states that it is unethical to attempt to psychoanalyze a public figure unless you have actually met with and examined the person, but a more recent observation is that journalism requires that, if one person says it’s raining and another says it is sunny, your obligation is not to report both equally but to look out the window.

Juxtaposition of the Day

Ann Telnaes

Barry Blitt

Fortunately for us, political cartooning falls under the branch of journalism in which it is assumed you will look out the window, and both Telnaes and Blitt see a shrinking little man. One can only hope that voters are also gazing out the window rather than uncritically accepting what they are told.

As Matt Wuerker (Politico) points out, Trump and Vance are making so many misogynistic statements that, while there is a long history of women accepting neglect and even abuse from men, there is also a growing trend for them to recognize and reject bad behavior.

It doesn’t hurt when that behavior is pointed out to them by such superstars as Taylor Swift, Stevie Nicks and Linda Ronstadt, a trio that encompasses a significant age range in their fan base.

And as Taylor Jones notes, Vance’s bizarre non-policy on childcare has the potential to alienate parents of all ages. Every time he opens his mouth, he raises the question of why Trump chose an inexperienced gaffe machine as his running mate, particularly since Vance’s home state of Ohio was not a particularly hard bit of fruit for a Republican to pluck.

Vance may be right that there is a substantial audience for race-baiting but, Steve Brodner says, the more he talks, the plainer it becomes that his celebration of “hillbillies” is not the sincere affection it was initially presented as, but an elitist’s cynical pose.

His next book will be called “My Friends The Trailer Trash,” but he needs to finish alienating racial minorities before he continues condescending to poor white folks.

Mike Luckovich contends that the GOP philosophy is to count on the stupidity of voters in order to regain power, and when you look at some of the more bizarre outliers in Congress, it’s not necessarily a bad idea, though you have to factor in that Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district, for example, is so staunchly Republican that they would elect a piece of lawn furniture if it were on that line of the ballot.

The other, more serious factor is the level of alienation that causes people to support hostility and venom. There was a time when the movies and television held up noble characters as ideals, but those days are long past and people who once kept their negative attitudes hidden have found models in Archie Bunker, Dirty Harry Callahan, Tony Soprano, the Joker and a host of other attractively presented antiheroes.

It’s not the first time our political system has tapped into this toxic stew, though the anti-immigrant Know-Nothings failed to gain much of a foothold.

Perhaps they just lacked movies and television.

Still on the topic of alienation, Prickly City (AMS) raises an oft-heard complaint that we don’t have effective third parties, and while the idea that the system won’t let them thrive sounds a little paranoid, it’s quite correct: One of the main reasons third parties don’t do well is that we don’t have a parliamentary election system.

In countries where voters choose local representatives rather than voting directly for the executive, minority parties frequently become part of a coalition government, while here the president can be elected even if his political party does not gain majorities in Congress.

Then again, third party fans in this country seem to always swing for the fences, trying to elect a president while neglecting not just their congressional representatives but their city council, school board and other local and regional officials.

Perhaps the reason we have no serious third parties is because the people in them don’t take politics seriously. (Bearing in mind that Bernie Sanders began as mayor of Burlington.)

Not, as Candorville (KFS) notes, that the “system” isn’t capable of finding nefarious ways to defend itself against those who would disrupt it.

But that’s somewhat circular: If you put villains in positions of power, you shouldn’t be surprised when the result is villainy.

And ditto when stupidity, lies and hate succeed in being magnified, as in this

Juxtaposition of the Gullible

Chip Bok — Creators

Dana Summers — Tribune

It’s entirely possible that Bok and Summers believe the lies being told about (legal) migrants in Springfield, though the fact that they know which end of the pencil makes marks on the paper suggests that they are smart enough to see through this outrageous bigotry and that their spreading of racist hatred is intentional.

In which case, shame on them and shame on any editor who publishes these cartoons.

But as Joel Pett (Tribune) points out, politics can be puzzling, and while democracy depends on people making intelligent and responsible choices, we’ve never seen a unanimous outcome or found a fair way to keep jackasses out of the voting booth.