Because we were working early before Thanksgiving, the first three were drawn on Wednesday, November 22.
A lot of people were trying to show how sharp they were by pointing out on social media that the Rolling Stones’ new and probably last tour is being sponsored by AARP. They all thought they had a clever joke about it except it wasn’t a joke and it wasn’t ironic. It’s called marketing and knowing your audience. I think at this point, the Stones know they’re old. I knew there was something there for me in a cartoon but this wasn’t it. No, it was this.
I think my editor at CNN was hungry for some turkey and didn’t want to mess around, so he took this cartoon after I had only sent three ideas (or maybe it was just a really good cartoon). If he hadn’t taken this one, I would have done it for my newspaper clients. I think they would have loved it. Check it out.
I don’t even know if this is good or not. You tell me.
And now we start with the roughs drawn last Friday, December 1st.
One thing I didn’t want to do was draw Kissinger in a tribute going to Heaven. I also didn’t want to fall back and draw him in Hell either, not because I don’t think he belongs there but because I knew that’s where every other cartoonist was going. No, not to Hell, well maybe some of them, but with the Kissinger in Hell idea.
But I knew that if I was going to put him in Hell, then he’d have to meet up with his old praying buddy, Richard Nixon. But yeah, I saw too many Hell cartoons and even a couple of Kissinger in Heaven.
And then I drew this and was bombarded with stupid comments. It got a lot of praise too, but the stupid ones really stood out. Several people had to show how smart they were and that Kissinger, being a Jew, wouldn’t go to Heaven because Jews don’t believe in it. But it’s a cartoon. Get over it. I think putting him in Heaven when he’s Jewish is stupid, but drawing a cartoon of a bad person, who happens to be Jewish, not being able to get into Heaven because he’s a bad person is OK. And then there were those upset I put evil Kissinger in Heaven overlooking that he was sneaking in. I have a hard time ignoring stupid comments.
This was the cartoon for the CNN Opinion newsletter. It was chosen kinda early in the day, around 2ish, which was good since it required lots of details. I was kinda surprised they took it and if they hadn’t, it would have been drawn for my newspaper clients. I think the finished cartoon came out very well.
This was a standalone cartoon but then I thought it might work out as one of the panels in the one CNN took, so I submitted two versions with one including this…
There was just something really bizarre about it that made me laugh. There’s an additional story to this in my head and it’s Travis Kelce not realizing he’s with a body double and he’s eventually going to find out in a very horrible way. That makes me laugh.
This made me laugh too but it didn’t make any strong political points.
I thought CNN might take this one and when they didn’t, I chose to do it for my newspapers. I was surprised at how many reactions and reshares it got on social media. I liked the way it came out.
I thought this was OK but it didn’t go anywhere.
Which of these are your favorites?
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 ten 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
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