Under Trumpcare, You're Covered...In 6 Feet of Dirt

With July 4th break over and nothing else better to do during the DC summer's hot, muggy days those wacky Republicans and the Donald are at it again, trying to destroy the nation's health care system. Like they say, if at first you don't succeed, lie, lie and lie again. Raul Labrador, a Republican member of Congress from Idaho, even told his constituents that, "Nobody dies because they don't have access to health care." Yeah, that went over real well. Got to hand it to him for trying to sell the baloney, but there's only so much baloney you can force anyone to eat.

Of course, remember folks, trashing the ACA isn't really about keeping a campaign promise. It's about setting the table for another massive tax cut for the uber-wealthy. Besides, when you're predisposed to denying reality in general and scientific facts in particular (Exhibit A: see climate change; Exhibit B: evolution), you eventually convince yourself of the lies you regularly tell others. At some point you really are dwelling in a parallel universe with alternative facts. I just hope they have good cable and flush toilets there.

Alaska Cream Pie - Trump's Special Recipe

Well, it's official. North Korea can now reach us with one of it's newly tested intercontinental ballistic missiles. All it needs now is to figure out how to shrink one if its deadly nukes so that it can fit into said ICBM. So now we are back to feeling "safe," because surely the two tragically coiffed madmen who North Korea and our own country will practice...MAD, mutually assured destruction. Not exactly the stuff of a mind at ease, never a good night's rest.

So, it's back to ducking under our desks and hoping and praying that neither one of them does or says something stupid enough to piss off the other one enough so that he does the unthinkable. Oh, what I wouldn't do for a little adult supervision for the "leaders" of this world. Barring that, maybe we could lock them all up in some mile-deep vault for a really long timeout. I can always dream...

America's Favorite Passtime

This shooting was a tragedy. Not surprisingly, several Republican "leaders," both in and out of office, unscrupulously exploited it for the party's political advantage, blaming Democrats for the trend of uncivil political discourse. As usual, these alternative facts just don't hold up under even the most superficial scrutiny. And what's even more sickening (and still unsurprising) was hearing the NRA-bought and paid for Republican officials trotting out their usual dead-end solutions of further loosening restrictions on guns, as if somehow if we were all just armed to the teeth, none of this would ever happen.

Somewhere the gun manufacturers are rubbing their hands in glee and looking forward to yet another opportunity to further weaponize our society while they rake in even more revenue from having created the conditions for this senseless carnage. Meanwhile, our "President," spent about 5 minutes doing the right thing and then went right back to bullying and blustering about the special counsel's probe into his campaign's and administration's possible involvement with the Russians. Given a real opportunity to unite us as a country and to deescalate the violent political rhetoric and its predictable results, this is what we get instead: narcissistic, self-serving bellowing. I guess this is what "leadership" looks like in the Republicans' vision of America.

Stab in the Dark

I'm not even going to try to describe the rank hypocrisy of the Republicans ramming through a disastrous health care bill without holding a single public or committee hearing, never mind allowing the American people a chance to weigh in on an issue that is critical to all of us. Hypocrisy and the associated total lack of integrity is part of the Republican Party's DNA. They'll literally do anything if it helps advance their hate-filled white supremacist agenda, which includes among other things stripping the most vulnerable of any credible access to affordable, quality health care.

And, of course, there's the Donald, who's apparently only to happy to throw his voters under the bus all in the service of his fragile, bloated ego, so that he can score a "win." So sad, so sad...And will his voters even realize that they've just been had? That for all of their fierce commitment to something or someone who was going to drain the swamp, finally represent their interests and give their concerns a voice that instead they've just had a narcissistic billionaire steal and eat their lunch? Hmmm...I'm guessing the answer would be...no? Oh well, I guess it's just another validation of the political scientists' dictum: we deserve to get the government we elect.

What if the Nazis had won the election? Wait...oh, crap.

I actually had been thinking about using this idea for a cartoon for a few months, and thankfully a recent report about die Trumper's behavior provided me with a perfect opportunity. Evidently, while hosting several journalists from TIME magazine, he showed all the graciousness of a 3-year old (apologies to all 3-year old's) and had the White House staff serve him more, better quality food than all of his guests. To top it off, for dessert, he had them serve him two scoops of ice cream instead of just the one that was served to the guests. Wow...

Combine that with the stead stream of reports of his puerile behavior, moping in the White House and raging at his many television screens when (surprise!) he doesn't get the desired reaction from his knucklehead moves, the latest, of course, being the firing of now former FBI Director James Comey. Finally, there's his never-ending list of man crushes on skull crushing dictators, and voila! A cartoon is born.

Is it over-the-top to imply Trump and his gang are a bunch of fascists, even Nazis? I might have thought that a few days ago, but then I read a great piece in the NY Times in which FDR's then vice-president outlined how a fascist could rise and seize power in the U.S. Of course, fascism is just another permutation of the kind of white supremacy that has governed this country since the first colonist set foot on these shores, so, really, no big shocker there. White folks have been oppressing, subjugating, enslaving, exterminating and otherwise making life a living hell for people of color in this country since then and we've put lipstick on that pig up many times over with whatever pious, self-righteous nonsense oozed out of our backsides. Plus ca change, quoi.

Okay, that's enough rantin' and ravin', here's the 'toon.

No, You're the Meathead

If you're at all like me, you've probably given up trying to keep up with all of the conflicts of interest and general trashing of ethical and political norms since Trump became president. Thank goodness there are good watchdog organizations out there that make it their cause to track and raise public awareness about this kind of stuff. I admit that I'm just plain worn out, but not too worn out to ink another 'toon.

If the Clintons sullied the White House and soiled the sheets of the Lincoln Bedroom, Trump and his spawn have really taken it to another level. They've managed to transform one of our most respected political institutions into a corporate marketing and branding cat house where it's personal AND it's business. Oh! Fugghedaboutit!

Thank goodness the Congressional GOP isn't worried about this sort of thing. One oversight committee chair recused himself only after trying to play Deep Throat and divulging classified information (Nunes), and another announced his retirement after this term and then squashes any calls for subpoenas (Chaffetz).

So...who's the real meathead here?

One Hundred Days of Ineptitude

The Donald and his minions can spin it any way they want, but it's clear to most that his first (much-touted by them as the best ever) 100 days were a colossal, unmitigated flop. Is there really any surprise? Remember, this is a man who was born with a silver spoon born in his pie hole who has gone through life feeling entitled to wreck people's lives and livelihoods. This is the guy who thought he could come in and work his same private sector, corporate mogul mojo and with absolutely no experience in or interest in learning about how the public sector works, make America great again.

And now, thanks to a goodly portion of white Amerikkka, he's now president where he gets to spend another four years...wait for it...feeling entitled to wreck people's lives and livelihoods...PLUS get us into all kinds of wars, military, trade or otherwise. And, as an added bonus, we get to waste four years we can't afford to lose in our effort to slow done the process of climate change. SWEET!

Well, with apologies to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, here's my latest: