(Multi)-Weekly Cartoon Roundup #15

Recapping the past couple weeks in one long post since I'm a little behind. Life has a pretty rude habit of getting in the way of my drawing hobby, what with day jobs and all the abject hopelessness.

I swear to God, too many people in this country have an incurable kink for doing their level best to always appease billionaires. With House Republicans advancing Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”, they have set the stage for millions of Americans to lose their insurance, as well as jeopardizing the future of hundreds of rural hospitals. But hey at least some finance bros get to purchase their third yacht.

Sleepy Joe seems like Don Jr. at a Colombian Dandruff party compared to Trump, given how often that lumbering garbage is prone to naptime. It was only a week and a half or so before he was caught on camera dozing during a Saudi arms deal that he got some senior shut-eye in at the Pope’s funeral. I guess the only things that will keep his attention are the promise of upskirt Ivanka pics or sizzle reels of his favorite hate crimes.

Unfortunately, much of mainstream media has proven itself to be the third nipple of the Age of Trump, seemingly devoid of any purpose but giving the appearance of utility. The latest example of this can be found in the uproar surrounding Jake Tapper and his new book detailing the alleged cover-up of Biden’s decline.

Now, to be clear, I have zero interest or appetite in downplaying the amount of damaging hubris it took for Mr. Malarkey to renege on his campaign promise to serve only one term, despite every indication that he was not well enough to make it another four years. But dude isn’t president anymore. And, more importantly, we already have an elderly man in office exhibiting signs of obvious cognitive decline. Like, RIGHT NOW. It would seem that covering this, instead of Biden, would be an endeavor much more deserving of the moment than a too-little-too-late hit piece that accomplishes precisely nothing.

Brought to you by some random numbers and the letters “F” and “U”. If I had a nickel for every clown who tagged the secret service on this post, I’d have many nickels.

It’s not often that we get a bit of good news these days, so you’ll excuse me for basking in the comforting glow of the Nottoway Plantation Slave Prison engulfed in flames. Now, let’s turn every Klan house into kindling.

I was asked to make a drawing of Trump for the “No Kings” rally taking place in Chicago on June 14th with the simple instruction to depict Trump’s vile face wearing a crown. This is what I came up with while holding back the bile detailing the spittle around those calamari lips. I have mixed feelings about these sorts of highly coordinated protests and whether it serves any tangible purpose other than making attendees feel like they’re “doing activism”, but I’d really like to think it does. I know that sounds negative, sorry about that, I’m just really tired right now.

What interesting times we live in when I can be provoked to defend a former FBI chief (because, well, ACAB), but James Comey being branded a “terrorist” for forming numbers with seashells is some bonkers shit and should send a chill down everyone’s spine. The bar for acceptable political discourse is being lowered every minute and any pretense we have of being protected by free speech is growing vanishingly thin.

As I’ve mentioned before in these posts, it feels like pointing out hypocrisy is becoming an impossibly irrelevant tool, but it’s wild to consider that something like this provokes the Justice Department’s ire on the heels of J6ers being given full pardons for their participation in a violent attempted coup.

In terms of cultural currency, comparing these two is like comparing Pizza Rat and Mickey Mouse but here we are.

It should come as no surprise that one of Trump’s initial reactions to Biden’s cancer diagnosis (before expressing glee, that is) was to describe it as “Stage 9”. Maybe he was confusing it with the level he’s listed on the Sex Offender Registry?

I’ll be the first to admit that I have become inured to the almost breathtaking lack of qualifications possessed by everyone in Trump’s cabinet, but Kristi Noem fumbling the definition of “habeas corpus” is wild, even for this font of performative bullshit. Maybe she should stick to something more in her lane, like dog murder or face ruining.

For an example of how encroaching fascism has a way of ferreting out those prone to capitulation and collaboration, one just needs to look at Columbia University’s recent spine-bereft response when pressured by the Trump administration. In a world of cowardly Columbias, be a Harvard.

The playbook being used by Trump is neither new nor unique: find something that benefits or helps people; destroy that thing; privatize it so you can profit off of people in need. What we’re watching is the creation of a permanent serf state in which we are all the property of our tech bro overlords.

I bet that even a rapist and owner of other human beings like Thomas Jefferson would be scandalized by the insane transfer of wealth to the richest among us in Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”. Too many among us have supplanted the spirit of revolution with the simping for oligarchs and it’s a real grotesque bummer.

Memorial Day toon, but we know Lumbering Garbage Barge couldn’t care less about all those suckers and losers.

The fairly recent phenomenon of rightwing clowns filming themselves getting absolutely obliterated by a roomful of progressive college students is truly…something. The last time someone expressed a kink for self-humiliation this hard, Cheryl Hines married RFK Jr.

Sure, the whole “TACO” thing is some low-hanging fruit, but I couldn’t resist piling on the kind of thing you just know makes Turd Reich burst a capillary or three.

You know, Border Czar Tom “Melted Thumb” Honan is right, it is inappropriate to compare ICE to the Gestapo. At least the latter weren’t sad cowards hiding behind masks when being evil shits towards their fellow humans.

The funny thing about this food portrait and Trump’s “assassination attempt” is that both were staged.

MAGA is a finicky bunch. They get super jammed up over seashells they think are advocating death but are servile crickets when one of their own blithely suggests death as a reasonable alternative to healthcare.

If ICE is ever in the market for updating their logo, I’ve got them covered.

We all knew the unseemly bromance between Elon and Donald wasn’t meant to last. And while it flamed out in spectacular fashion for a minute there, I’m sure all will be mended, as the mutual dirt they have on one another is too egregious to allow any fracturing. But it sure was fun to watch.

I mean, even Lady Liberty got in on the action.

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Album of the Week

This week’s selection comes from crooning curio Scott Walker, initially famous as a teen pop icon with The Walker Brothers before transitioning to an increasingly avant garde repertoire. For the uninitiated, I cannot recommend enough the 2006 documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, which chronicles the British-American singer’s unique career.

Scott 4, released in 1969, was his 5th solo album and the first to be released under his real name - Scott Engel - rather than his boyband pseudonym. It was also the first to feature a tracklist made up entirely of original material, and oh boy, what high-level material it is. So many killer gems here, though I’m most partial to the essentially perfect Side B. There are half a dozen clips I could pick from this album to highlight, but I’ll settle for the most gorgeous and sublime of them, “Duchess”:

Until the next,

xs and os,

Jesse