Critics to Ignore

The Democratic convention speeches I watched were very good, and full of intelligent reframing — especially the emphasis on freedom. I’ve seen some strange criticism of the theme of “joy” that several wove into their speeches. If you’re finding fault with that, then you’re really grasping at straws. Also, the idea that the Harris campaign is somehow light on substance because they’re good at social media or vibes or whatever is simply laughable.

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Vance, Friend to Women

Most people have heard about Vance’s “childless cat ladies” comment, but did you know he has used it on multiple occasions, and rudely insulted people who don’t have kids at least 13 other times, including in fundraising emails? He’s called childless people “sociopathic,” and the Democrats a “childless cabal of people who don’t really care about the future.” Over and over again, he uses this line about “people who don’t have a direct stake in the country’s future,” as though it’s impossible to care about anyone else besides your own offspring. Which is just bizarre if you ask me. Ironically enough, it is fossil fuel-supported politicians like Vance dooming the earth for future generations.

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Weirdo Welfare

I’m fully on board with the trend of calling these far-right extremists “weird,” as the Harris campaign has savvily been doing. This is the marginalization of fascism that should have been happening all along, instead of the normalization we’ve been seeing from so many mainstream institutions. I think that’s why it feels so refreshing. These people ARE fringe, and it’s okay to say so!

As I was reading about how Vance has been lavishly funded by Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, the old expression “wingnut welfare” came to mind. Vance was hired by Thiel after meeting him at Yale Law School, set up by Thiel with his own venture capital fund, given $15 million by Thiel to run a Senate campaign in Ohio, and now he’s the Vice Presidential nominee at the tender age of 39. Yet, as this excellent essay by a fellow Ohioan notes, Vance has expressed disdain for the lack of bootstrapping by the poor people he grew up around, and doesn’t support policies now that would actually help them.

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Ad-Vance-ing an Extreme Agenda

Vance has, in fact, endorsed a national ban in plainer language than this. Rolling Stone reports that in a 2022 podcast interview he said:

“I certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally,” Vance said in the episode, explaining why regulating abortion at the state level wouldn’t work. “Let’s say Roe v. Wade is overruled,” he said. “Ohio bans abortion … you know, in let’s say 2024. And then, every day, George Soros sends a 747 to Columbus to load up disproportionately Black women to get them to go have abortions in California. And of course, the left will celebrate this as a victory for diversity.” 

Not sure even where to begin with that, so I’ll move on to a couple other useful links. This TPM article explains everything you need to know about the “menstrual surveillance” letter Vance signed, along with a handful of the zaniest members of Congress. 

Vance has more recently said he would allow exceptions for rape and incest, citing “political reality” as opposed to “moral legitimacy,” which implies that he still sees these exceptions as wrong. And Mother Jones has a good writeup on how Vance would use the dormant Comstock Act of 1873 to block mifepristone (and possibly medical supplies used by abortion clinics) via the mail. It’s worth noting that this is part of Project 2025.

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Lowering the Temperature

I thought it was time for another appearance of the Flaming Conservative. But I need to start calling him something else because the word “conservative” no longer fits. Don’t call this movement authoritarian, though! Shortly after the assassination attempt, before evidence about the shooter’s identity was available, soon-to-be-named Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance stated, “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.” This is one of the most preposterous and Orwellian arguments I have ever heard in my entire career as a political cartoonist. When you consider the January 6 insurrection and the long list of violent and threatening rhetoric from Trump and other Republican officials — too many to enumerate here — while Democratic leaders have not engaged in such tactics, blaming the Biden campaign is a ridiculous act of gaslighting.

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Podcast interview

I recently did a lengthy interview with Geoff Grogan’s Blockhead podcast, which focuses on comics creators. We talked about politics a lot! The interview was conducted on the weekend after the presidential debate and Supreme Court’s Chevron ruling. Apple podcast link is here.

A Second Revolution?

The day after the Supreme Court’s ghastly immunity ruling, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts rejoiced in an interview on the pro-insurrectionist War Room podcast. (Host Steve Bannon was absent due to being sent to prison for defying a Congressional subpoena related to January 6.) “We ought to be really encouraged by what happened yesterday,” Roberts enthused. He proceeded to explain why a chief executive unfettered by pesky laws is great for the republic, then slid into the chilling quote about the maybe-bloodless second Revolution. The Heritage Foundation is the source of Project 2025, the radical blueprint for Trump’s second term. 

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Supreme Debacle

The Supreme Court ruling overturning the Chevron doctrine was largely overlooked in the wake of the debate, but possibly even more apocalyptic. In short, the Republican majority gutted the precedent that gave deference to scientists and other experts at setting regulations for pollution, safety, worker rights — i.e., basic functions of government. Everything now has to go through the courts, which are jam-packed with Trump appointees and other Federalist Society-backed corporate extremists. This Slate article provides a good overview. To quote Justice Kagan, who I attempted to draw in the first panel: “the majority today gives itself exclusive power over every open issue—no matter how expertise-driven or policy-laden—involving the meaning of regulatory law. As if it did not have enough on its plate, the majority turns itself into the country’s administrative czar.”

We all breathe air and eat food, and I assume many of the justices have children that they don’t want poisoned. No one escapes the impact of these rulings. But it’s their reality now and we’re just living in it. 

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A Smaller Tent

In my experience, Dems do better when they at least acknowledge the concerns of different factions of the Big Tent. In 2004, during the height of Iraq war jingoism, they were at their milquetoast Republican-lite worst — and Kerry lost to Bush. This era was was formational to me as a cartoonist; it was a time when many were galvanized to build a more progressive party that reflected its own constituents. My growing concern with the Democratic party this election season isn’t coming from a place of “purity” per se, but fears that they are underestimating the risk of alienating voters they need to win — not fringe zealots, but people who care about the basic values of human rights, democracy, inclusivity, and intellectual honesty. Republican-lite pandering makes the party less able to deal with the pressing issues of our time: the Supreme Court, big money in politics, authoritarianism, and other crises that require the courage to speak frankly. Cede too much ground and you’ve lost moral clarity and moral authority.

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Are You Experienced?

At some point, marketers began slapping the words “curated experience” on just about anything. An internet search brings up nice hotel rooms in Nigeria, a visit with coconut shell carvers in the Andaman islands, countless restaurants, event planners billing themselves as “Experience Curators,” advice for realtors on creating curated experiences for their clients (that is, figuring out what they really need)… the list goes on. Today, “curated” simply means that someone or more likely something — such as an AI algorithm — picked stuff, while experience has become so vague that it refers to every waking moment, which isn’t saying much.

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Billionaires Fund Human Intelligence

AI technology has spread into every nook and cranny of digital life with alarming speed. Now Apple has just announced they’re getting in on the game. So much of it feels like gilding the lily, adding unnecessary bloat to things that worked well enough already. I’m not the first to make this comparison, but AI-assisted software reminds me of Clippy, the famously annoying animated paperclip from Microsoft Word who constantly offered unwanted help. And the models are being trained on the stolen work of artists and writers who are already struggling to find new ways of earning a living. While I’m sure there are some narrower areas where AI is useful, much of it seems like Silicon Valley cloaking self-interest in the language of altruism. 

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