Cap-itulation

I’ve seen snippets of commentary from some Democratic officials and prominent opinion-havers suggesting, somewhat ominously, that the party needs to shift to the right culturally (sometimes expressed in the veiled language of “abandoning special interests”) in order to appeal to working class voters. But as I’ve noted before, nothing the Dems do is going to make a difference in this media environment. 

All the rage that should have been directed at private equity, extreme inequality, the top-heavy billionaire class, union-busting CEOs, hedge funds buying up real estate and evicting renters, corporate consolidation and monopolies, and the lack of a national health insurance system for all, was redirected towards marginalized groups — women, people of color, immigrants, transgender people. Anyone who defends the old values of democracy, human rights, and evidence-based reality is going to be demonized no matter what they do or do not say. The GOP’s media juggernaut will always find something to hold up for mockery. The angertainment will never stop. We need to double down on decency or we have nothing left.

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From Dawn to Dusk

Post-election commentary has largely devolved into a circular firing squad aimed at various Democratic subgroups while ignoring the elephant in the room. I think the main question we should be asking is not “What did we do wrong?” so much as “How did something this depraved happen?” I found myself agreeing a lot with this New Republic article, which makes the case for the overwhelming dominance of right-wing media and how it sets the agenda for the national conversation. While Democrats have not always been great about messaging (though they made a pretty good effort this election cycle), it’s not like any improved messaging is going to be heard by a majority of Americans at this point.

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It Did Happen Here

I actually think Harris ran a good campaign. I give her credit for choosing a solid progressive in Tim Walz. This was a largely pro-labor, pro-union administration, not that most people know it.

This election was utter madness. If you want to point fingers, point them at democracy’s most powerful saboteurs:  the oligarchs who destroyed reality through deranged media, and those who carried water for them. Also, misogyny didn’t help. 

(And by “we,” I mean the nation as a whole blew it — not the people who worked hard to prevent this from happening.)

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Election Preppin’

This week’s comic was tricky since I had to draw it on Monday, but it won’t be published most places until Wednesday or later. This is a little professional challenge that comes up every four years.

The Roy Ayers album is a reference to one of the purchases Kamala Harris made at a DC record store, ultimately inspiring the “Kamala holding vinyl” internet meme. 

I find myself thinking of the George W. Bush quote, “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on – shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” 

Let’s hope we don’t get fooled again.

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The Last Firewall

Looking back at the past several years, the cascade of institutional failures leading up to this moment is nothing short of breathtaking. Remember that brief period after January 6 when nearly everyone was appalled at what had happened, and major corporations suspended their donations to House Republicans who refused to certify the 2020 election results? Now we have the Washington Post and the LA Times unable to publish endorsements for Harris because their multibillionaire owners with obvious conflicts of interest forbade their editorial pages from doing so.

After finishing this cartoon and trying to decide on a title, I Googled the phrase “It’s down to us” and found that Jamelle Bouie had written a similar opinion piece with that headline a few days ago. I guess a lot of people are thinking along the same lines. 

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Performance Issues

At the Lancaster, PA rally, Trump got on the subject of being interviewed for his mental fitness, and stated “I have no cognitive. She may have a cognitive problem, but there’s no cognitive problem… Got no cognitive.” 

I have been impressed with Harris’s campaign, and I marvel at her ability to remain so energetic and composed throughout it all. The fact that the contest is so close given Trump’s history of embracing violent extremism, his affection for Putin, and his obvious unfitness for office is not only unfair, but a damning indictment of our entire political system. This isn’t a “polarization” crisis, but an epistemological crisis. I just hope there’s enough reality left to save us.

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Swing State Confidential

With Pennsylvania being the must-win battleground state in this year’s election, I’ve found myself thinking about my formative years there (shout out to the Lancastrians on this list!). Trump has won Lancaster County handily in the past, which I find a little difficult to square with my memories of the place. Yes it’s a Republican area, but also a place of humility and decency. 

Hog Maw is a Pennsylvania Dutch delicacy (and a dish also eaten in the South) consisting of pig stomach stuffed with sausage and boiled potatoes. I served this at a family restaurant that still exists. Fasnachts are like hole-less donuts, often made from potato flour. They are primarily eaten on Fasnacht Day, which marks the day before Ash Wednesday.

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Project 1025

The Project 2025 paragraph about deleting the words “gender” and “reproductive health,” etc. from every government document veers straight into Year Zero cultural purge territory:

“The next conservative President must make the institutions of American civil society hard targets for woke culture warriors. This starts with deleting the terms sexual orientation and gender identity (‘SOGI’), diversity, equity, and inclusion (‘DEI’), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists.”

Thinking about this for a moment, I’m not sure how you ban abortion without using the word, but I’m sure they won’t let that get in their way.

Also, as ProPublica revealed when they published Project 2025’s secret training videos, a representative of the group said “If the American people elect a conservative president, his administration will have to eradicate climate change references from absolutely everywhere.”

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Innovations in Hypocrisy

Electricity demand for massive data centers used for AI and cryptocurrencies is growing rapidly, and by 2026, may equal the power consumed by the entire country of Japan. A researcher quoted in the linked Vox article notes that generative AI can, in many cases, use 30-40 times more energy for the exact same task (such as an internet query) than earlier technology. Microsoft talks a good game about climate change and using AI to accelerate decarbonization, but at the same time, they’ve been marketing AI to ExxonMobil and Chevron as a way to find oil and gas reserves and speed up production.

Then there’s Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputing facility in Memphis. The area where it was just built is a historically Black neighborhood already suffering from high asthma and premature death rates due to pollution from other industrial activity. The data center requires so much power that some 18 portable methane gas-burning generators have been installed to run it, bathing the community in smog. The plant powers Musk’s chatbot called Grok, which is integrated with X/Twitter and has a “fun” mode that delivers mildly profane responses and, according to Vice, is prone to spreading inaccuracies.

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Actual Moms for Liberty

Most of you have probably heard of Moms for Liberty, the extremist pro-Trump group that has been pushing for book bans and anti-LGBTQ legislation for a while now. Last year, an Indiana chapter of the group infamously quoted Hitler in their newsletter (ominously named THE PARENT BRIGADE), featuring the line “He alone, who OWNS the youth, GAINS the future” right at the top of the front page with an attribution to The Führer. The group apologized and condemned Hitler, for whatever that’s worth. This little faux pas came up recently on social media, which got me thinking about a cartoon idea I’ve had for a while, envisioning what actual moms for liberty might say. Because let’s face it, Hitler was the opposite of freedom for a lot of people. 

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Don’t Take the Bait

Vance admitted on CNN that manipulating news coverage was the whole point of the fake stories they were telling (while of course arguing it was “disgusting” to suggest that the ensuing bomb threats that closed schools and hospitals had anything to do with their rhetoric).

I recommend this excellent Jamison Foser post about how the press should cover the lies about Springfield. To quote Foser:

When Donald Trump lies that Haitian immigrants are stealing and eating pets, that should be the hook for an article about Donald Trump’s long history of lying; about the fundamental lack of honesty, character, and integrity that this demonstrates. The result of Trump’s lies shouldn’t be articles about immigration, it should be articles about Donald Trump’s lifelong dishonesty and the consequences it poses, and articles about Trump’s lengthy history of directing hatred at racial minorities, and about his lengthy history of intentionally inciting threats of violence as well as actual violence.

It is possible to have a good-faith discussion of immigration policy, but this isn’t it.

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