CSotD: President Musk and his comical sidekick
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I very much disapprove of artificial intelligence, but I also very much disapprove of letting an unelected plutocrat run the US government, and Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Tx), who posted this, gives me hope.
It would be nice if there were some Congressional cartoonist who could be recruited for such moments, but if we can’t rustle up the money to research childhood cancer, I don’t suppose we can justify a budget item for that.
On the other hand, she could have simply passed along Daniel Boris’s human-created actual cartoon on the topic, though it’s not quite as insulting as the AI piece she found.
Boris makes the point, which is that Trump appears to be following Musk rather than the other way around, and, given Trump’s inflated ego and ridiculously thin skin, I don’t think you have to go very far out on a limb to get his goat. After all, he’s suing the Des Moines Register for a faulty poll that showed a tight race in a state he won by an overwhelming margin.
And let’s not forget that the whole “small hands” thing began with a magazine article in which the writer mentioned them and Trump took grave offense.
I was remembering the constant bullying that went on at Camp Lord O’ The Flies the other day and, in particular, a time when I was about 12 and removed all the filters between brain and mouth, which left a notorious bully in tears and ended his reign of terror.
I wonder if Dear Leader could be pushed over the brink with a similar storm of sarcasm, scorn and adolescent insults?
This Mike Luckovich cartoon ran last month, and I picked it up then, commenting that, if JD had to take over, we’d find out how little two years in Congress prepared someone to run the White House.
I still like the insulting concept, because simply disagreeing with Trump’s proposals only makes him double-down, while, as said, I think insults lay much more sting on a bully’s brittle pride.
And I note that Luckovich drew a very similar cartoon today and left Vance out of it entirely.
JD Whatsisface has become the Little Man Who Wasn’t There, and Musk seems very much in charge. The latest laugh in the halls of Congress has been to refer to him as “President Musk,” and not simply behind closed doors or in casual conversation but in remarks from the floor.
Pia Guerra somewhat combines Crockett’s meme and Boris’s cartoon by depicting Musk holding a puppet at the swearing in. The notion of Musk as the real president combined with the insult of Trump as a puppet seems to be catching on, to the point where Trump’s press secretary felt it necessary — perhaps on her own, perhaps under orders — to step in and clarify just who is in charge:
Note that she brought the rumor to a “full stop” at 1 in the afternoon. A few hours later, the leader of the Republican Party was handed a major legislative defeat when his own party turned against his official stance on the continuing resolution and shot it down.
Despite President Musk’s approval and approbation, you’ll note.
It seems an indication that Hosea was right and “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour. Were it to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it up.”
Or, y’know, if you’re going to make the Freedom Caucus your power base, you may find yourself “lying down with the dogs, and getting up with the fleas.”
I think Bill Bramhall is preaching to the choir, though his cartoons run in the Daily News, which is not an elite publication. This would be seen by some Republicans and, certainly, by some moderates who may have voted for Trump out of a sense of frustration but not because they fully endorsed him.
He’s right, but it’s a disagreement, not an insult, and, as said earlier, disagreements don’t really get under Dear Leader’s skin or make anyone feel foolish for having backed him.
By contrast, John Buss shows Trump as a servant, a lackey, not only hopping-to when Elon gives him an order, but addressing him as “Mr. President.”
It’s “intellectual” in that it provides an analysis of the power Musk appears to exert, but it’s also a raw insult, and, even if Trump never sees it, other people will.
Bear in mind how Chevy Chase managed to make Gerald Ford, a highly competent politician who was also a superb athlete, seem like an inept stumblebum simply by going on SNL week after week and proclaiming it to be the fact.
And as many foolish things that Sarah Palin really said, it was Tina Fey who stuck her with “I can see Russia from my porch.”
A constant drip will wear away a stone, and repeated reminders of foolishness and of unkept promises can have impact, particularly if they begin before power has been firmly established.
Tim Campbell (Counterpoint) notes the promise broken before Trump has even come to power. His repeated promises to immediately bring down food prices were a major pillar of his campaign. Now he says it won’t happen.
Here, the insult is not to him, but to us, to the people to whom he made a promise that he has given up without making any effort at all.
Drew Sheneman frames it in Marie Antoinette terms: She never really said “Let them eat cake,” just as Sarah Palin didn’t claim to see Russia from her porch. But what lasted was the impression that she thought people without bread must surely have little cakes instead.
Trump pretends to be “one of us,” but has no idea what it is like to be broke, and assumes that, if our refrigerator is empty, we can just call Door Dash and fill it back up again.
Nor is President Musk any closer to understanding how the other 90% lives.
As Pat Bagley points out, Trump and Musk base their governance on a Congress whose members would rather keep their jobs than keep their pride and self-respect.
Musk and Trump are in power for four years, but the midterms are in two.
Keep the faith, baby.
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