“To say the least, they are bewildered why Americans would vote this man into office again.”
It’s embarrassing to tell people from other countries that many millions of people in your own country are utter fools. Brainwashed to “stick it to the Liberals” no matter the consequences, they treat our national elections like a demented game show. All that matters is WINNING…..even if your “winner” burns the country to the ground. Better to have that than to have a dark-skinned, female Liberal in the White House…..
It was not a "dark-skinned female" that gave Trump the country--it was two, or more, generations of propaganda blasting away around the clock, the month, the year... Anti-Democrat propaganda. The MAGA forces HATE Democrats, and always will. They have been well-trained to do so.
Let's go back to root clause: Newt Gingrich... He unleased the monster, that even he couldn't reign in. And then, Mitch McConnell who's purpose in life was to ensure Obama fail.
The root cause, in my opinion, was the anti-abortion movement in the late 70’s/early 80’s. Jerry Falwell, Pat Roberson, Reagan, Jack Kemp and many other social conservatives created their plan to win votes by demonizing “Roe v. Wade” and anyone who supported women’s right to an abortion.
Over 40 Years of constant propaganda and campaigning created a political agenda of condemning Democrats and Liberals. The plan worked.
Yes, Newt the unsung villain. A professor who wielded the history he taught rather than learning from it. Let’s not forget Rush Limbaugh who poisoned the minds of the gullible. I heard him speak to a small gathering in Sacramento in 1977 when he was just starting out, and he told us not to worry if he said things that were provocative or even false, because, “I’m just an entertainer.”
Gingrich definitely played a role, but the GOP’s shift started earlier—Nixon’s Southern Strategy set the stage, and Atwater, Reagan, and H.W. Bush sharpened it. Racial dog-whistles, voter suppression, and cultural resentment were baked in long before Gingrich turned obstructionism into an art form.
I remember (vaguely) the violence,hatred and conspiracy theories directed at Democrats, liberals and especially anyone connected with the Roosevelt presidency. Republicans were much more reasonable in the Fifties, as witness the very liberal Republican platform of 1956. Conservatism was more moderate then. The peasantry were less so, notably at the Paul Robeson concert at Peekskill, N.Y. after which the people leaving the concert were attacked, chased, pelted with rocks, etc. Anything that threatened their atavistic BIRTH OF A NATION fantasies triggered mob violence. The atmosphere after Brown v. Board of Education was toxic and violent at the site of every attempt at integration. Etc., etc. with a few brief rest periods. Now there is a far better organized battle plan to dismantle the civilized checks and balances that kept IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE from happening until now.
You’re misquoting me. A dark-skinned female definitely did not give the Sociopath the country. It was millions of fools who have been brainwashed to hate the dark-skinned female LIBERAL and all other LIBERALS. They gave the country to the Sociopath.
For 50 years, the Republican Party has been demonizing liberals and Democrats, starting with the farcical “pro-life” movement in the late 70’s. Women, dark-skinned people, gay people, anyone with the Liberal worldview was deemed the Enemy. Today, dimwitted voters blindly vote AGAINST the Democratic candidate, just because. No rational reason - just “because”.
Let's not forget that Democrats make it too easy for republicons in red states by not bothering to nominate or financially support ANY Democratic candidates in red states.
Arkansas is a great example. In the last gubernatorial election, Democrat Chris Jones, who has all kinds of college degrees and is 1000% smarter than crown princess Huckabee, got no support - financial or otherwise - from the national Democratic party. He got 37% of the vote anyway. Think what he could have gotten with support!
The last time Cotton ran in 2020, there was no Democratic candidate at all. He is running again in 2026 and with his negative rating everywhere, it would seem to me his seat could be won by a good Democratic candidate with lots of national support and funding. I bet the Democrats just ignore us in Arkansas again.
These people are cultists. Devotees cannot escape easily, and as we've seen in multiple cults, they will sacrifice themselves and their children to please the leader.
I remember Patrick was let go by The NY Times for a Netanyahu caricature that wasn’t even his work. They stopped publishing any political cartoons after that. I admire you both tremendously.
There has always been a cult of ignorance in the US. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge'----Isaac Asimov
“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...
The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”
Carl Sagan, “The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”
Ann… thank you for including us in your trip to Geneva. Wonderful to have you, Patrick and Liza out there banging the drums! Congratulations on your well deserved Pulitzer Prize. You are a beacon of light!
Thank you for being a great representative of the US on the world stage and for reminding the rest of the world that there are good, talented and sane people in the US (we just don't get the headlines).
Never underestimate the power of the gop/russian/orban propaganda machine combined with the scotus majority deciding that corporations and the ultra rich and their dollars have more voice than the average person. We are where we are now because of forces who have used the openness of democracy to undermine democracy. Trump is NOT the tip of the spear IMO. He is the hand on the shaft ...the tip is the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, and all the various right wing think tanks pushing the poison through FOX and both sideism journalism. I hope the documentary can be streamed.
I wish one of our billionaires would put together a paper full of great editorial cartoons and place it for sale for five or 10 cents in the supermarkets right next to The Examiner. Cartoons get through where words fear to tread.
I’m afraid the explanation is that our American friends have fallen for the ultimate bait & switch. The Atlantic’s David Drum explains that Trump is playing a sidewalk card game called Three Card Monte, in which he, the dealer, talks non-stop to distract the suckers from the reality of the grift and it’s theft of their money. He points out that, “the dealer is typically assisted by confederates in the crowd. These confederates help the dealer misdirect the suckers and elbow out of the way anybody who seems wise to the hustle. Pro-Trump media play that same role in the tariff debate.”
“The Kraken has been released from the depths and the Trumpocalypse is at hand. Hang on tight, it’s gonna be a rough ride Back to when things were “great”.
— To clarify, This was meant to be a “Kraken”, not an Octopus. The Kraken is a mythological sea monster of Norwegian lore. Derived from krake, a word designating an unhealthy animal or something twisted (cognate with the English crook and crank) Historically depicted as an Octopus like animal. This image was inspired by the famous cartoon about the Standard Oil monopoly by Udo Keppler in 1904. The tentacles are also an irresistible metaphor for political satire. I had reservations about using an octopus like image because they really are amazing and intelligent beings. I apologize to them everywhere.”
Keep spreading the word on glimmers of hope. Leonard Cohen's Anthem comes to mind: Ring the bells that still can ring/Forget your perfect offering/There is a crack, a crack in everything
/That’s how the light gets in. Admittedly he was a Canadian, but truths are truths. Sending a big hug to you.
November 2026 seems so far away. 18 looooooong months of Congress allowing a dictator to destroy the Executive Branch, the Department of Justice and our Economy.
I'm not optimistic for the far distant future. The damage that has been/is being done is deep and abiding. We don't/won't "just get over it," "put it behind us," and go on with our lives. We have been betrayed, lied to, done wrong in ways that do not go away. We will walk with a limp for the rest of our lives.
“To say the least, they are bewildered why Americans would vote this man into office again.”
It’s embarrassing to tell people from other countries that many millions of people in your own country are utter fools. Brainwashed to “stick it to the Liberals” no matter the consequences, they treat our national elections like a demented game show. All that matters is WINNING…..even if your “winner” burns the country to the ground. Better to have that than to have a dark-skinned, female Liberal in the White House…..
It was not a "dark-skinned female" that gave Trump the country--it was two, or more, generations of propaganda blasting away around the clock, the month, the year... Anti-Democrat propaganda. The MAGA forces HATE Democrats, and always will. They have been well-trained to do so.
Let's go back to root clause: Newt Gingrich... He unleased the monster, that even he couldn't reign in. And then, Mitch McConnell who's purpose in life was to ensure Obama fail.
The root cause, in my opinion, was the anti-abortion movement in the late 70’s/early 80’s. Jerry Falwell, Pat Roberson, Reagan, Jack Kemp and many other social conservatives created their plan to win votes by demonizing “Roe v. Wade” and anyone who supported women’s right to an abortion.
Over 40 Years of constant propaganda and campaigning created a political agenda of condemning Democrats and Liberals. The plan worked.
Yes, Newt the unsung villain. A professor who wielded the history he taught rather than learning from it. Let’s not forget Rush Limbaugh who poisoned the minds of the gullible. I heard him speak to a small gathering in Sacramento in 1977 when he was just starting out, and he told us not to worry if he said things that were provocative or even false, because, “I’m just an entertainer.”
Gingrich definitely played a role, but the GOP’s shift started earlier—Nixon’s Southern Strategy set the stage, and Atwater, Reagan, and H.W. Bush sharpened it. Racial dog-whistles, voter suppression, and cultural resentment were baked in long before Gingrich turned obstructionism into an art form.
I remember (vaguely) the violence,hatred and conspiracy theories directed at Democrats, liberals and especially anyone connected with the Roosevelt presidency. Republicans were much more reasonable in the Fifties, as witness the very liberal Republican platform of 1956. Conservatism was more moderate then. The peasantry were less so, notably at the Paul Robeson concert at Peekskill, N.Y. after which the people leaving the concert were attacked, chased, pelted with rocks, etc. Anything that threatened their atavistic BIRTH OF A NATION fantasies triggered mob violence. The atmosphere after Brown v. Board of Education was toxic and violent at the site of every attempt at integration. Etc., etc. with a few brief rest periods. Now there is a far better organized battle plan to dismantle the civilized checks and balances that kept IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE from happening until now.
You’re misquoting me. A dark-skinned female definitely did not give the Sociopath the country. It was millions of fools who have been brainwashed to hate the dark-skinned female LIBERAL and all other LIBERALS. They gave the country to the Sociopath.
For 50 years, the Republican Party has been demonizing liberals and Democrats, starting with the farcical “pro-life” movement in the late 70’s. Women, dark-skinned people, gay people, anyone with the Liberal worldview was deemed the Enemy. Today, dimwitted voters blindly vote AGAINST the Democratic candidate, just because. No rational reason - just “because”.
Let's not forget that Democrats make it too easy for republicons in red states by not bothering to nominate or financially support ANY Democratic candidates in red states.
Arkansas is a great example. In the last gubernatorial election, Democrat Chris Jones, who has all kinds of college degrees and is 1000% smarter than crown princess Huckabee, got no support - financial or otherwise - from the national Democratic party. He got 37% of the vote anyway. Think what he could have gotten with support!
The last time Cotton ran in 2020, there was no Democratic candidate at all. He is running again in 2026 and with his negative rating everywhere, it would seem to me his seat could be won by a good Democratic candidate with lots of national support and funding. I bet the Democrats just ignore us in Arkansas again.
It's even worse that so many of those who voted him in, STILL would vote for him again!!! Who are these people???
These people are cultists. Devotees cannot escape easily, and as we've seen in multiple cults, they will sacrifice themselves and their children to please the leader.
They are the Morlocks, and the Democrats and “libs” are the Eloi. H.G. Wells could see this setup coming very clearly.
I remember Patrick was let go by The NY Times for a Netanyahu caricature that wasn’t even his work. They stopped publishing any political cartoons after that. I admire you both tremendously.
There has always been a cult of ignorance in the US. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge'----Isaac Asimov
“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...
The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”
Carl Sagan, “The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”
Prescient . . .
Both. Asimov and Sagan
Truer words were never spoken!
So true and so disheartening. This attitude will be our undoing.
Ann… thank you for including us in your trip to Geneva. Wonderful to have you, Patrick and Liza out there banging the drums! Congratulations on your well deserved Pulitzer Prize. You are a beacon of light!
The short answer to why Americans voted him into office again is that it was a “perfect storm of ignorance and malice.”
Thank you for being a great representative of the US on the world stage and for reminding the rest of the world that there are good, talented and sane people in the US (we just don't get the headlines).
Ann Telnaes belongs in the pantheon of great cartoonists (and social commenters) along with Herblock and Walt Kelly (Pogo).
What an honor to be included with those two legends.
“We have met the enemy and he is us”. Walt Kelly
Never underestimate the power of the gop/russian/orban propaganda machine combined with the scotus majority deciding that corporations and the ultra rich and their dollars have more voice than the average person. We are where we are now because of forces who have used the openness of democracy to undermine democracy. Trump is NOT the tip of the spear IMO. He is the hand on the shaft ...the tip is the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, and all the various right wing think tanks pushing the poison through FOX and both sideism journalism. I hope the documentary can be streamed.
I wish one of our billionaires would put together a paper full of great editorial cartoons and place it for sale for five or 10 cents in the supermarkets right next to The Examiner. Cartoons get through where words fear to tread.
I’m afraid the explanation is that our American friends have fallen for the ultimate bait & switch. The Atlantic’s David Drum explains that Trump is playing a sidewalk card game called Three Card Monte, in which he, the dealer, talks non-stop to distract the suckers from the reality of the grift and it’s theft of their money. He points out that, “the dealer is typically assisted by confederates in the crowd. These confederates help the dealer misdirect the suckers and elbow out of the way anybody who seems wise to the hustle. Pro-Trump media play that same role in the tariff debate.”
Ann, thank you for the uplifting photo. We need more women leaders like the three of you!
One Cartoonist I wonder if Ann is familiar with is Mark Bryan, he serves Trump & chumps up on a cool platter : https://artofmarkbryan.com/nightmare-trump-art/
— The Nightmare Poster available
“The Kraken has been released from the depths and the Trumpocalypse is at hand. Hang on tight, it’s gonna be a rough ride Back to when things were “great”.
— To clarify, This was meant to be a “Kraken”, not an Octopus. The Kraken is a mythological sea monster of Norwegian lore. Derived from krake, a word designating an unhealthy animal or something twisted (cognate with the English crook and crank) Historically depicted as an Octopus like animal. This image was inspired by the famous cartoon about the Standard Oil monopoly by Udo Keppler in 1904. The tentacles are also an irresistible metaphor for political satire. I had reservations about using an octopus like image because they really are amazing and intelligent beings. I apologize to them everywhere.”
Would have loved to be in the audience!
Editorial cartooning, like yours, is more important than ever as we navigate the constitutional crisis we now face.
Thanks for doing your part, which makes the challenge of getting through this that much more bearable!
Keep spreading the word on glimmers of hope. Leonard Cohen's Anthem comes to mind: Ring the bells that still can ring/Forget your perfect offering/There is a crack, a crack in everything
/That’s how the light gets in. Admittedly he was a Canadian, but truths are truths. Sending a big hug to you.
Leonard Cohen simply got better with age, didn’t he?
I consider him a world citizen, actually, and in a class of his own improvisation.
“I’m not optimistic for the immediate future.”
November 2026 seems so far away. 18 looooooong months of Congress allowing a dictator to destroy the Executive Branch, the Department of Justice and our Economy.
I'm not optimistic for the far distant future. The damage that has been/is being done is deep and abiding. We don't/won't "just get over it," "put it behind us," and go on with our lives. We have been betrayed, lied to, done wrong in ways that do not go away. We will walk with a limp for the rest of our lives.