Trump Train Wreck

Republicans have politicized the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, blasting President Biden, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and other Democrats while never mentioning Norfolk Southern, the Republican-lobbying railway corporation responsible for this mess.

This week’s talking point was attacking President Biden for visiting Ukraine before visiting East Palestine as if it’s not an American president’s job to oppose fascism and stand up for democracy. Others, like MAGAt cartoonists Steve Kelley and Dana Summers, blast him for directing taxpayer money to help Ukraine fight Russia while not sending any to East Palestine.

Steve and Dana are great examples of how partisan and inconsistent the Right is. They oppose funding infrastructure while screaming for public funds to go into cleaning up a toxic train derailment. They gripe about public debt but want taxpayer money spent to clean up a toxic disaster created by a corporation that spends millions lobbying Republicans to cut regulations that create toxic train derailments. Republicans who scream about debt are just fine with tax cuts for billionaire assholes, spending millions on racist walls, and cleaning up disasters created by corporations. Steve and Dana would rather taxpayers clean up the toxicity than the corporation that made it.

By the way, we can care about both, the war in Ukraine and the train derailment. One doesn’t actually have anything to do with the other. But, goons gotta goon. Take in point, Donald Trump.

Donald Trump visited East Palestine this week and brought MAGA hats and Trump-branded water even though there isn’t a brand of Trump water. This is like the time when candidate Trump sent Play-Doh to hurricane survivors in 2016.

Here’s a clue for you MAGAts: If a candidate visits your disaster area and hands out products with his name on them, he doesn’t actually care about you. He’s campaigning. And in Trump’s case, he’s probably also grifting.

Trump, who won’t go out in the rain less enough walk through a war zone while air raids sirens are going off, said while posing in front of crates of “Trump Water,” “You are not forgotten. We stand with you. We pray for you. And we will stand with you and your fight to help ensure the accountability that you deserve.”

Trump refuses to “ensure the accountability” they deserve. He’s the guy who deregulated the railway industry making it easier for toxic train derailments to happen. He demands accountability while refusing to say “Norfolk Southern.” He shouldn’t be handing out bottles of water with his name on them. He should be handing out checks.

How can Republicans spend so much time and energy howling about a corporate-made disaster without mentioning the corporation? If you listen to these goons, you’d think Pete Buttigieg’s gay marriage caused the train derailment. Or maybe it was Pete and his husband adopting babies.

And as if East Palestine hadn’t suffered enough from leaking toxic chemicals, Rudy Giuliani and his hair dye made a visit.

Marco Rubio says Buttigieg is more focused on his political future than his job as Transportation Secretary, but remember that Rubio ran for president during his first term as a U.S. Senator.

Every single Republican who has tried to score political points from this needs to put up or shut up. Notice that none of them have offered solutions. But I got one. each of them, from Marco Rubio to Sean Hannity to Marjorie Taylor Greene to Jim “Gym” Jordan to Donald Trump, and even MAGAt cartoonists need to throw their support for heavier regulations on the railway industry. And they all need to support stiffer fines on these greedy corporate bastards when they make these messes.

How about a new law that whenever a railway company creates a toxic disaster they have to spend at least the same amount on the cleanup that they did on stock buybacks?

Everything President Biden is cleaning up now is leftover from Trump. We have a recession because of Trump. We had a supply-chain crisis because of Trump. We have high gas prices because of Trump. the high cost of eggs we’re paying today is because of Trump. We’re still cleaning up the mess from Trump ignoring the coronavirus pandemic. Even the war in Ukraine is partly because of Trump. And this toxic train derailment belongs to Trump too.

The entire Trump presidency (sic) was a toxic train wreck that we’re still cleaning up and that motherfucker shows up with a straight orange face in the middle of it for a photo-op.

And here’s another piece of advice: Don’t drink Trump water.

Music Note: I listened to Billy Joel.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 19 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.

Watch me draw: