Cartoon: not everyone bought his shtick

If only we could return him...

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John Darkow, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoon: Tax cuts...for the children

Fortune Magazine says "Trump’s Tax Cuts Are the Biggest Wealth Grab in Modern History." That's quite a statement coming from a magazine that espouses wealth and growing it.

This is what Mike Luckovich has to say about the cuts:

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Mike Luckovich, The Week

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Meanwhile, Trump and the GOP appear to have become toxic.

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Tom Toles, The Week

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I have this nagging feeling that I'm becoming a political nag. Maybe it's time to call it quits.

-- Marge

Cartoons: let's get this straight

Have our priorities been undermined by Twitter?

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Nate Beeler, The Week

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Or is it just the con man in the White House?

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Drew Sheneman, The Week

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Nine months in captivity for many of us.

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Jack Ohman, The Week

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Drugs--where democracy and wanting a better reality intersect for some. What is a drug czar anyway?

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Tom Toles, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoon: governing by disruption

Originally I had no cartoon for this week. Instead this article in the Washington Post said something to me: Trump governs by disruption — and overloads all the circuits.

O.K. Just one.

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Milt Priggee, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoon: Surprise move

When I first saw this cartoon I laughed a wicked little laugh. But generally I tend to favor the liberals.

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Michael Ramirez, The Week

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--Marge

Cartoons: let the TV cameras roll

This week we take a look at Trump's ever-more-closed empire; GOP senators as downed Confederate soldiers; and Trump's idea that he can pardon himself and his cronies, if worse comes to worse.

Felix Salmon at Salon says Scaramucci may be Trump’s most dangerous enabler yet.

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RJ Matson, The Week

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Scaramucci seems to have absorbed the Donald's approach to news.

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Jack Ohman, The Week

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And we're back to the semi-repeal of Obamacare, again.

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Milt Priggee, The Week

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According to Trump he can pardon himself and his cohorts if the need arises. Others disagree.

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Mike Luckovich, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: A golf cart run amuck

It looks to me like Trump has little respect for America, considering his merchandising and mixing of profit with presidential functions. Consider his hotels and golf courses.

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Milt Priggee, The Week

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The new rule for White House briefings is NO CAMERAS; the Washington Post reports, No cameras, no live audio and no Sean Spicer: The latest White House press briefing, annotated (June 22, 2017).

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Nate Beeler, The Week

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I dearly love shopping at Amazon, but you have to admit that with all their acquisitions, they're beginning to look a little like Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors.

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Tom Stiglich, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: voices of America

Mostly having avoided showing comments about Trump, because enough is already being said, I couldn't resist this one.

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Drew Sheneman, The Week

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This one made me laugh; haven't done that at a cartoon in quite a while. However, the subject matter is NOT laughable. Recently I've been receiving emails from Service Employees International Union (SEIU) urging me to call my Alaska representative in the Senate Lisa Murkowski. I've tried that before--she's not listening. [edited 4:54p AKDT]

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Tom Toles, The Week

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My friend Scott, a normally sensible person, quotes this guy and nothing will change Scott's mind. My take is--the less people feel that they have control of their lives. the more they turn to conspiracy theories.

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David Horsey, The Week

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--Marge

Cartoons: Trump vs. the Media

Tom Stiglich, The Week

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According to the Washington Post "Trump’s media coverage has been 4-to-1 negative — but that isn’t really the point (May 19)." Comedian John Oliver on Last Week Tonight talked about Trump vs. Truth, available on YouTube. I say Trump is a provocateur and he will say whatever gets him the biggest bang for his buck. Sad.

--Marge

Cartoons: news-worthy news

Trump's firing Comey was the move that broke my inaction. If you think Trump should go, sign up at Impeach Trump Now.

During the ascension of Trump we've learned a number of things. Such as anyone, including the Democrats, can have a white whale in her/his life.

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Nate Beeler, The Week

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The short view (vs. the long view) will eventually bite you in the a**.

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Gary Varvel, The Week

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Trump bears no resemblance to what a good president is/was.

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Steve Benson, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: for many the doctor is out

After 7 years of trying to repeal Obamacare, the House Republicans have come up with its replacement-- the  American Health Care Act (AHCA).  The Atlantic reports in The People Helped by the Republican Health-Care Bill stating:

Though most old and sick people will be worse off under the GOP bill, it might be a boon—real or perceived—for people earning just above the Obamacare subsidy cutoff.

If it doesn't help sick people, what's it for? They could have spent the time working to make Obamacare better. Wikipedia gives a history of the GOP's efforts to repeal Obamacare (ACA).

Here are some of the editorial cartoonists' comments.

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Steve Sack, The Week

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RJ Matson, The Week

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Adam Zyglis, The Week

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Meanwhile President Trump lives in a conspiracy theorist's world.

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Jack Ohman, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: Lady Liberty speaks up

This week ever more trumpery was afoot with bans, alternative facts and other "really great" moves. Both Democrats and Republicans are beginning to oppose him. According to Time Magazine, "Congressional Democrats Have Closed Ranks Against President Trump" and "Republicans Begin to Break With President Trump" because of his ban on immigrants and refugees. Brave Americans are also speaking out against Trump and to support those burdened by Trump's edicts.

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Walt Handelsman, The Week

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Since being inaugurated,Trump has

already signed two proclamations,  seven executive orders and seven presidential memoranda. He's invented a new form of presidential directive — the national security presidential memorandum — and signed three of those. (USA Today)

The article cited above has a complete list of these actions.

Imagine waking up today after being asleep since October...

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Joe Heller, The Week

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According to Wikipedia, the Alt-right

has its roots on websites such as 4chan and 8chan, where anonymous members create and use Internet memes to express themselves. It is difficult to tell how much of what people write in these venues is serious and how much is intended to provoke outrage. Members of the alt-right use websites like Twitter and Breitbart to convey their message. Alt-right postings generally support Donald Trump and oppose immigration, multiculturalism and political correctness.

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David Fitzsimmons, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: Trump's first war is with the press

Trump, the guy who appointed the former head of Breibart, known propagator of conspiracy theories, as chief strategist and senior counselor, loves to accuse any reporter who challenges him of reporting "fake news."

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Gary Varvel, The Week

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Meanwhile, Trump is winning GOP converts with Cabinet picks.

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Tom Toles, The Week

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Jack Ohman, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: America Trumped

Well, the Trumping of America is well underway and it looks bad.

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Mike Luckovich, The Week

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Michael Ramirez, The Week

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Tom Toles, The Week

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Adam Zyglis, The Week

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Do say a prayer in support of the Hamilton Electors (Note: Breitbart says the author Philip Bump is a liar).

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Chan Lowe, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: of tweets and tyrants

Silly me, I thought when the election was over Trump would fade away and I wouldn't have to look at his cartoony orange hair any more. So guess I'll have to bite the bullet and follow the Big Man more. What got me most about Trump this week was the news that he will continue as President to be Executive Producer of "The Celebrity Apprentice."

Yes, Trump has been named Person of the Year by Time Magazine; no, it's not more fake news. The Washington Post has this to say about it: Donald Trump is (finally) named Time’s ‘Person of the Year’.

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RJ Matson, The Week

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This is just wishful thinking.

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David Fitzsimmons, The Week

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A thumbs up to the Kellogg Company for saying last week that "ads for its brands would no longer appear on Breitbart." This is quoted from an article in the New Yorker about Breitbart's response. Has the former Executive Chair of Breitbart really been designated by Trump as his chief strategist in the White House? Answer: Yes.

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Steve Sack, The Week

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I ran across a large volume of Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, published in 1835, this week. He spoke of the "tyranny of the majority," a concept the founding fathers understood well. It's ironic that

The Electoral College was created for two reasons. The first purpose was to create a buffer between population and the selection of a President. The second as part of the structure of the government that gave extra power to the smaller states. (Marc Schulman, History Central)

and the Electoral College is what put Trump in office. This article at Vox is to me most illuminating: "The people’s tyrant: what Plato can teach us about Donald Trump."

-- Marge

Cartoons: Zika, academic testing, and Trump (again)

The 2016 Summer Olympics start today with the lighting of the cauldron by someone not Pelé. Here's cartoonist Nate Beeler's take on the event.

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Nate Beeler, The Week

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And school starts soon. Cartoonist Marshall Ramsey calls it "testing." Former venture capitalist and education philanthropist Ted Dintersmith and Education Fellow at the Technology & Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard (whew!) Tony Wagner co-wrote an article about academic testing and what it does not accomplish: Opinion: America desperately needs to redefine ‘college and career ready'. Is it old-fashioned or misguided to wonder what happened to learning for the sake of learning?

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Marshall Ramsey, The Week

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Then there's Trump...again. This time he's insulted the parents of Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq. Trump claims to have sacrificed as much as the Khan family did; the twitter-verse weighed-in.

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David Horsey, The Week

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Meanwhile, Paul Ryan, Republican Speaker of the House, responds.

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Mike Luckovich, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: It's Trump's Republican Party Now

At the beginning of the GOP convention it may have been this:

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Chan Lowe, The Week

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Now it's this: (Nice play on Grant Wood's "American Gothic," RJ.)

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RJ Matson, The Week

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Somewhere along the way dissenting Republicans got booted:

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Dana Summers, The Week

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A-n-d It’s Donald Trump’s Republican Party Now. Don't you just love the butt heart?

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Michael Ramirez, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: is there a mystery candidate?

Batten down the hatches, the GOP convention starts Monday in Cleveland. It should be quite a show.

In 2012 the Onion published a video, GOP Introduces New "Mystery Candidate" With Paper Bag Over Head. The text of the article reads "Republicans will reveal the identity of the Mystery Candidate only after he, or she, wins the election." Cartoonist Bob Gorrell remembers.

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Bob Gorrell, The Week

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Trump will go into the convention with his new running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. (Be aware, Hillary's campaign ads are posted smack dab in the middle of the article.)

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Gary Varvel, The Week

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So, is the GOP deceased?

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Tom Toles, The Week

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-- Marge