Watch Your Step

The Fox News debate between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and California Governor Gavin Newsom was a red state versus a blue state. The deck was stacked for DeSantis as it was on Fox News and hosted by Sean Hannity who asked questions based on Republican tropes, like asking DeSantis if President Biden is in “significant cognitive decline.”

The debate was mostly for pure entertainment since these guys aren’t in a race with each other, despite presidential candidate DeSantis accusing Newsom of conducting a shadow campaign. But if you want to argue red state versus blue state, or DeSantis’ accomplishments versus Newsom’s, soak in the fact that DeSantis is behind Donald Trump by over 40 points…in Florida. Republicans in Florida would rather have a racist twice-impeached Putin-loving pussy-grabbing fascist who’s currently facing 91 criminal charges to be president over their governor.

You can also look at the fact that two-thirds of Florida’s deaths occurred after the rollout of vaccines while less than half of California’s Covid deaths happened during that time. This is because the red state governor is anti-science and discourages his constituents from taking preventive care for Covid while the blue state governor uses sciences, facts, and promoted vaccines to his people. Ron DeSantis is personally responsible for tens of thousands of Floridians dying from Covid because he wanted to be a hero on Fox News.

Instead of looking at facts, DeSantis would rather you look at a map that tracks feces.

During the debate, DeSantis pulled out a map that tracked locations of human feces in San Francisco. The map was from a website that claims to track human waste reported in San Francisco from 2011 to 2019. It was DeSantis’ argument that San Francisco is a failed leftist hell hole with a runaway homeless problem. The city is a favorite punching bag of the right, who claim the sidewalks aren’t just covered in human poo, but needles, and you can’t walk through the city without being randomly attacked by “illegal” immigrants who’ve been given sanctuary by “leftist” politicians.

This was big talk from a guy who has Jacksonville in his state. As you may recall, I took a train from Fredericksburg to Miami last June and Jacksonville is where all the freaks got on. Oh my god, so many freaks. So…many…freaks. To be fair, I did like Miami.

Newsome replied to DeSantis’ with laughter and pointed out that Florida has the worst health system in the nation after Texas and Mississippi.

Democrats later claimed that props weren’t allowed, except for DeSantis, and that he was also granted the privilege of having a monitor to show him the upcoming questions while Newsom did not. Fox News denied this which means it’s true.

I can tell you from very recent personal experience, that San Francisco is NOT covered in human feces. Last October, I walked all over that city.

I walked with a few colleagues (Matt Davis, Rob Rogers, Nick Anderson, Kevin Kallaugher, Ted Rall…yes, really, and Mark Fiore) to Grant Avenue, through Chinatown, from the Cartoon Museum that is across from the Bay, which was about a 20 block walk. I later walked from the Capital One Cafe (where I drew) to Fisherman’s Wharf, which was about 22 blocks. I walked up Washington Street to a diner with several cartoonists who can vouch that it felt like ten blocks all uphill. I walked eight blocks from my hotel to the Golden State Tap Room to watch the 49ers beat the Cowboys. I took a very long walk of about 15 blocks one night during my trip. My usual drawing spot was closed on Saturday, so I took a long walk to find a decent coffee shop to draw in, which was probably about another 15 blocks.

Sure, I saw homeless people but I didn’t see any needles on the ground. I didn’t see a lot of litter either. I didn’t get stabbed. In fact, even walking at night and seeing homeless people, I didn’t even panhandled. The one thing I definitely did not see, and if I had, it would have stood out to me, was…feces. I didn’t see any poo. I didn’t see human poo, dog poo, cat poo, horse poo…I didn’t even see sea lion poo. I didn’t see one turd on the sidewalk or streets of San Francisco.

Ron DeSantis once claimed that during a trip to San Francisco, he saw someone taking a dump. Maybe he did. Once while getting breakfast at a McDonald’s in Washington, D.C., I saw a homeless guy peeing in a garbage can while there was a lot of pedestrian traffic. It happens but I can’t take that one experience and tell you that the city smells like urine. That’s New Orleans. D.C. is actually a very clean city, and I loved San Francisco. It’s a beautiful place that I hate to see Republicans trash out of stupidity and ignorance.

Someone told me that the city was probably cleaned up for the then-upcoming APEC summit, but I seriously doubt someone was following homeless people around with a pooper scooper.

I will take living in a blue state over living in a red state.

Ron DeSantis is full of shit.

Music note: I listened to the Black Keys.

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.

Tales From The Trumpster Fire: I have seven copies and you can order yours, signed by me, for $45.00. You can pay through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.

Knee-Deep In Mississippi: There are only 16 copies left of my first book, published in 1997. These can be purchased for $40.00. This is the last of the last of these and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

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: