CSotD: The Whole World Is Cringing
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Sometimes it’s easier to be a gag cartoonist than a political cartoonist, but this is not one of those times. I had, briefly, planned to run humorous pieces today while I waited for the editorialists to catch up, but fortunately they leapt to their drawing boards, because, like Sipress, I don’t find anything very funny right now.
I haven’t been so ashamed of my country since the murder of Martin Luther King. Back then, my sister said she felt like going up to African-American strangers and apologizing, and today I feel like apologizing to the entire world for who we have allowed ourselves to become.
There has been the predictable rejoicing on the far right, but as Granlund puts it, there has also been little doubt as to how Dear Leader came out of the confrontation. He will, of course, boast and preen, but we’re hearing more rumbling of dissent. Even over at Xitter, posts in praise of him are being increasingly answered by denunciations.
More to the point, the world has seen the destruction of Trump’s plan to extort mineral wealth from Ukraine in return for a lukewarm cease-fire that threatened to produce nothing lasting.
The response, however, has been full-throated support for Ukraine from the European Union, from NATO and from individual nations, as well as condemnation from a variety of pundits.
Juxtaposition of the Day
Asked and answered, well both times. For all of Trump and Vance’s threats and bullying, and their lie that Zelenskyy never expressed thanks, and their warning that he won’t be able to resist their ally Putin, Ukraine’s leader stood up to them and demonstrated the courage that has given him approval ratings not at 4 percent as Dear Liar claims but at a level far above Trump’s meagre ratings in this country.
Nobody is fooled except those who willingly choose to be fooled. Even the Wall Street Journal decried the confrontation in an editorial, being less a fan of Vladimir Putin than they are of Donald Trump, but with the Murdoch empire being less a steadfast fan of Donald Trump than conservatives might hope.
MacKay places Trump and Vance in the place they’ve carved out for themselves: A pro wrestling ring, where glitz and glamour take the place of honest competitive activity.
The fact is, Trump has been involved in the seedy world of professional wrestling and has even brought a WWE executive into his cabinet. His history of cavorting in phony fights gained him a fan base that is still with him, and that is still unsure of what is real and what is fake and doesn’t much care as long as it’s loud and brassy.
Is he real? Is he fake? Who knows? Who cares? The whole world is watching, including a number of people who have no idea what they’ve just seen, but enjoy all the shouting.
“The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime,” Sir Edward Grey said as Britain entered the Great War in 1914, and Garth German echoes the thought as Donald Trump removes the United States from its role since the Second World War as the protector of democracy.
We haven’t always been a perfect protector, but while you can judge us by the wars that happened, it’s harder to judge us by the wars that didn’t, and the West rebuilt under our umbrella, despite the USSR’s capture of Eastern Europe after the war.
Another element to consider is that when we look at the social benefits enjoyed in EU nations, there may be some truth in Trump’s complaints that they don’t spend as much as we do on defense. With the US retreating into selfish isolationism, that may change, with the beacon replaced by smaller points of light, and perhaps not such generous parental leaves and medical services.
Juxtaposition of the Day #2
Vladimir Putin does seem to be winning this round, and depending on the extent to which Europe rallies, he may wind up winning his war with Ukraine.
But even with sanctions lifted — and there’s no reason to think Europe will lift them anytime soon — it would be a long time before Russia could become fairy godfather to other nations.
With the Americans having canceled foreign aid and Russia unable to provide it, the door will be wide open for China to become a worldwide provider and ally, which should be enough to wipe the grin off Vladimir Putin’s face.
Certainly, Vladimir’s friend Donald is providing him with plenty of comfort at the moment, though there was a point in the discussion where I thought Dear Leader might start foaming at the mouth and fall out of his chair like John Belushi on SNL:
Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia. You ever hear of that deal? That was a phony. That was a phony Hunter Biden, Joe Biden scam. Hillary Clinton, shifty Adam Schiff. It was a Democrat scam. And he had to go through that. And he did go through it. We didn’t end up in a war. And he went through it. He was accused of all that stuff. He had nothing to do with it. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bathroom. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bedroom. It was disgusting. And then they said, ‘Oh, the laptop from hell was made by Russia.’ The 51 agents. The whole thing was a scam.
It may have been intended to make Zelenskyy feel sorry for Putin, but it mostly made me sorry for us, because this guy is nuts and his vice-president, rather than stepping in to calm him down, seemed determined to further gin him up.
While our secretary of state sat looking as if he’d been called down to the principal’s office and they were calling his parents. Could it be that Rubio has begun to realize what his ambition got him dragged into?
Though as Bennett points out, Little Marco certainly wasn’t the smallest person in the room.
Which is even more reason not to give up.
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