Mark Meadows

Mucked Up By Merrick

First, “Meadows and Scavino” sounds like one of those soft rock musical duos from the 70s that’d sing songs like “Precious and Few.”

It is a good thing that the Justice Department under Merrick Garland isn’t political as it was under William Barr. But It’s a bad thing the Justice Department under Merrick Garland isn’t enforcing the law and going after some criminals.

William Barr used the Justice Department to act as Trump’s legal services and go after his political enemies. He appointed John Durham as a Special Counsel to investigate investigations of Donald Trump. Since it’s now been proven to be total bullshit, there should be an investigation of that investigation. Talk about a waste of time and taxpayer money.

Merrick Garland promised he wouldn’t use the department to go after Trumpers politically, but it needs to go after Trumpers who broke the law.

Garland’s Justice Department previously indicted Trump goon Steve Bannon for Contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena from the January 6 Committee. On Friday, the DOJ indicted Trump goon Peter Navaro. Both of these goons were a huge part of the plan to steal the election from Joe Biden, who legitimately won it. They shouldn’t just be in jail for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena. They should both go to prison for sedition.

On the same day that Peter Navaro was indicted, the DOJ announced that it would NOT indict former Trump chief-of-staff Mark Meadows and social media director Dan Scavino for refusing to comply with subpoenas from the January 6 Committee. DOJ did not give a reason as to why.

Bannon and Navaro refused to cooperate with the committee, both claiming executive privilege though Trump isn’t president anymore to grant executive privilege. Navaro wrote a book and went on talk shows and spilled the so-called privileged information he claimed he couldn’t give in testimony. He also claimed the January 6 Committee wasn’t legal.

Meadows and Scavino initially cooperated with the committee and negotiated over several months on executive privilege and testimony. Meadows also turned over thousands of text messages and communications he had with members of Congress and other White House advisers. But then they both refused to comply with subpoenas.

The January 6 Committee can’t arrest or charge anyone. The committee can’t send people to prison. It’s an investigation and what they find will be sent to the Department of Justice with recommendations over who to indict. From there, DOJ makes its own decisions. That’s what it did with the referral from the committee to charge Bannon, Navaro, Meadows, and Scavino with Contempt of Congress. DOJ charged two and let two off. They should have charged all four and let them have their days in court.

What’s horrifying about DOJ’s refusal to indict people refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas is that it gives other people arguments to ignore subpoenas, especially since DOJ didn’t explain why Meadows and Scavino should not be charged. Others who receive subpoenas may borrow Navaro’s argument that the committee isn’t legal. Even House Republicans have claimed the committee isn’t legal, and they’re in Congress.

Nobody gets to pick and choose what hearings are and aren’t legal. As politically motivated and illegitimate as the Benghazi Committee was, it was still legal. It was legal even though it was chaired by Trump butt boy Jim Jordan, who used the power of congressional subpoenas to call Hillary Clinton, Trump’s opponent, to testify for 11 hours. Instead of whining about it, calling the committee illegal, or claiming executive privilege, Clinton complied.

Everything about the January 6 Committee is legitimate and legal. It’s an investigation on an insurrection, a coup attempt. It’s the Republicans’ fault they didn’t take it seriously and blew their opportunity to their members on it. Instead of appointing serious people to the committee, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy appointed Trump goons, several of whom are actually witnesses who helped spread the election lie and even aided to stop the certification of the winner of the 2020 election. Knowing that McCarthy’s picks were chosen to poison the committee, Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected all of them and appointed two Republicans who actually want to investigate Trump’s treason.

Republicans will gloat and avoid testifying before this committee, but what happens if they regain Congress this fall and get to create their own investigative committees in 2023? What will they say if Democrats refuse to comply with subpoenas to their Hunter Biden’s Laptop Committee?

Republicans believe laws should apply to Democrats but not to them. Don’t take my word for it. Take the word of a Republican.

When asked to comment on the arrest of Peter Navarro last Friday, Republican congressman Louie Gohmert said, “It actually puts an exclamation point on the fact that we have a two-tiered justice system. If you’re a Republican, you can’t even lie to Congress or lie to an FBI agent or they’re coming after you. They’re gonna bury you. They’re gonna put you in the D.C. jail and terrorize and torture you and not live up to the Constitution there.”

He’s whining that Republicans can’t lie to Congress or the FBI. This also might be the only time Louie Gohmert has ever told the truth. Also, goons who tried to overturn an election shouldn’t be allowed to lecture on the Constitution.

During his court appearance last Friday, Peter Navarro said, “This is not America. I mean, I was a distinguished public servant for four years and nobody ever questioned my ethics. And they’re treating me in this fashion.”

Navarro told two lies in court. He was never a “distinguished” public servant and EVERYBODY questioned his ethics.

But why should Trumpers obey the law when Merrick Garland’s Justice Department says they don’t have to?

Music note: I listened to the Stone Temple Pilots’ album “Purple” while drawing this cartoon.

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.

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Ginni’s Disappointing Hole

When the Supreme Court rejected Donald Trump’s efforts to block the National Archives from giving documents from his presidency (sic) to the January 6 committee investigating the attack on the Capitol building, only one justice dissented. I’ll give you one guess who that justice was.

In the weeks between the 2020 presidential election, won by Joe Biden over Donald Trump, and the January 6 attack, Ginni Thomas sent multiple text messages to Trump’s Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows to do everything he could to overturn the election. Ginni is the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Did you think that same-last-name-thing was just a coincidence?

In one of those messages, she urged Meadows to “release the Kraken and save us from the left taking America down.” The “Kraken” is what Trump’s ridiculous Qanon lawyer Sidney Powell kept promising to release which would prove the election was stolen by Democrats. We never got that Kraken. We did get a bunch of Crapen. Get it? Crap, Crapen, Kraken? Never mind.

In another text, she wrote, “I can’t see Americans swallowing the obvious fraud. Just going with one more thing with no frickin consequences.” She also wrote, “We just cave to people wanting Biden to be anointed? Many of us can’t continue the GOP charade.”

The texts were a part of more than 9,000 documents turned over to the Jan 6 Committee. The texts detailed Meadows’s interactions with Republican politicians and other assorted goons as they planned strategies to steal the election and install the guy who lost it, Donald Trump, as a fascist Cheeto dictator.

The committee got 29 text messages, most of which were from Ginni which makes me assume that at some point, it got too crazy even for Meadows to respond to, which is like the morning I woke up to find 19 blood-curdling messages from the girl I met in Las Vegas. Is it blood “curdling” or “curling?” Anyway, I was scared.

Here’s the thing, kiddos: Ginni was a part of the effort, coordinating with the Trump White House (sic), to steal an election and install Tiny Orange as a dictator. Her husband sits on the Supreme Court, which is supposed to be a check on the other branches of government (in case you’re a Republican, there are three branches of government, In case you’re Senator Tommy Tuberville, Congress is NOT two of them), and would later hear cases involving Trump’s attempt to overturn the election he lost.

Ginni is a GOP operative goon and a lot of the crap she’s involved in lands before the Supreme Court…which her husband, who is also a goon, will vote on. Does he ever recuse himself from cases that involve his wife? No. She claims they never discuss their work with each other. If they did, I can see it in my head in the style of one of J.D’s fantasies from the TV show Scrubs.

Clarence and Ginni are at the breakfast nook.
Clarence: Ginni, what will you be working on today?
Ginni: Oh, Clarence. I expect a busy day trying to install Donald Trump as a fascist Cheeto dictator by overturning the election he lost to the actual winner, Joe Biden. Grr, I hate Joe Biden.
Clarence: And how will you overturn it?
Ginni: By releasing the Kraken. What are your plans for today?
Clarence: Obviously, voting to support your Kraken. Grr, I hate Joe Biden too.
Ginni: You are the bestest judge ever, Clarence.
Clarence: I know. Can you pass the Coco Puffs? I’m really coo-coo for them.
Ginni: The doctor says you’re supposed to be eating Grape Nuts, but since you’re going to vote for my Kraken…

So, have you figured out which one of the nine Supreme Court justices voted to keep the Jan 6 Committee from seeing that Ginni Thomas tried to overturn a democratically-held election and install a fascist Cheeto dictator?

I’ll give you just one hint: He’s coo-coo.

Music Note: It’s Friday and I don’t have the idea for this week’s CNN cartoon yet, so I didn’t listen to music. I was thinking and watching news. It didn’t work.

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.

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Nothing But The No-Truth

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You can’t expect a Trump cultist to straight up tell the truth, but you can get the truth out of them if you understand Trump talk. It’s pretty simple actually. If a Trumper says someone did something, that means they did it. If they say there’s election fraud, it’s their election fraud. “Election integrity” means making it harder for minorities to vote. If they say they have a “black friend,” that means they’re racist. When they say they’re “constitutionalists,” that means “let’s destroy the Constitution.” When one of them says he’s the “best negotiator” ever, it means he’d trade all of our nuclear secrets to Vladimir Putin for a Happy Meal. “Grab them by the pussy” means grab them by the pussy.

So, what does the January 6 Committee hope to gain from sending subpoenas a bunch of gaslighting liars? The first thing they might get is having all these jackholes sent to prison. Steve Bannon, who was not a member of the Trump administration at the time of the white nationalist insurrection, or a lawyer, claimed executive privilege. He’s not even an executive. All he can claim is white privilege (dammit. Another cartoonist is going to read this blog and steal that). Now, he’s facing some serious jail time.

Mark Meadows was Trump’s chief-of-staff at the time and he has a better argument than Bannon does for executive privilege…and even then, his argument sucks. Here’s the thing, kids (and it’s going to come as a shock to some of you), Donald Trump is NOT president.

No, Donald Trump is not president because he lost the election to the man who is now president, Joe Biden. President Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by over seven million votes. He beat Trump’s ass like he owned it though not literally. Nobody wants to own that ass. But anyway, if you’re NOT president, you can’t cite executive privilege. Even then you can’t claim executive privilege for anything you want. It’s not a rich baby’s candy store.

But it’s the current president, Joe Biden because he spanked that ass, who can claim executive privilege. And in this case, he said, “Nope.” But, Trumpers don’t believe him because they don’t believe in the Constitution. We only have one president at a time, and it’s not Trump…because he lost a free and fair election to Joe Biden. Again, he spanked that orange ass.

So, Mark Meadows will not get away without testifying. Meadows was a big part of the Big Lie. He even tried to get the Justice Department to investigate voting machines being tampered with by Italian Satellites. I think the Justice Department officials who read Meadow’s memo should be forced to testify too…so they can tell us how hard they laughed.

Kayleigh McEnany has been a Trump goon since she bailed from being a Cruz goon. On her first day as White House spokesgoon, she lied by saying she’d never lie. McEnany now works for Fox News and has a new book out. I’m sure she’ll use both platforms for only telling the truth. McEnany was still serving as Trump’s spokesgoon at the time of the insurrection while also working as a campaign adviser which is illegal. You can’t work for a campaign and the government at the same time. But then again, using government property for a political convention is supposed to be illegal too.

McEnany spread lies about election fraud from the podium in the White House press room. She was present while Trump was giddily watching the white nationalist attack on the Capital building.

Trump Campaign goon Jason Miller was subpoenaed. He was a player in spreading election fraud lies and trying to convince legislators to overturn the election in their states. Miller was a contributor to CNN but left in 2018 after being accused of drugging his mistress.

Stephen Miller was director of Trump’s racism department and another spreader of election fraud lies. He may have been subpoenaed just to see if he appears with spray-on hair.

Alex Jones and Roger Stone were also recipients of the January 6 Committee’s subpoenas. Both of these guys are notable liars. Stone is a self-described “dirty trickster” who has a Richard Nixon tattoo on his back. Alex Jones is a right-wing liar and conspiracy theorist who uses his website, InfoWars, and his podcasts to spread them. Last week, a Connecticut court ruled he was liable for spreading defamation about the Sandy Hook school shooting. These guys are the crap that crap craps. You will have to learn how to read right-wing tea leaves to get anything out of them. Both men were a huge part of planning and promoting the insurrection.

If all these goons testify, it will be impossible for each of them NOT to perjure themselves. I’m looking forward to it by stocking up on popcorn.

These goons shouldn’t just go to prison if they defy these subpoenas. No, they should also be charged for their parts in an insurrection against the U.S. government.

And when all this crap goes to prison, I hope they take an orange turd with them.

Creative note: I actually got this idea after I went to bed. Then I laid awake for over an hour wondering how I was going to draw Stephen Miller laughing. This morning, I decided not to. Another thing, I labeled Miller with his full name because I was planning to include another liar named “Miller,” Jason Miller. Then I forgot.
And another thing, this might be the first time I’ve drawn Representative Bennie Thompson since I lived in Mississippi back in the 1990s.

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.

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Black Prop

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Michael Cohen claimed during his congressional testimony last week that Donald Trump is a racist and he’s heard him make racist comments over the years, including, “that black people would never vote for him because they were too stupid.”

Congressman Mark Meadows, a Republican on the House Oversight Committee, was expecting this and had a prepared defense of Trump. He brought out Lynne Patton, an African American business associate of the Trumps who is now working for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Patton’s qualification for her job with HUD was being a wedding planner for Eric Trump.

With Patton standing behind him, Meadows argued, “as a daughter of a man born in Birmingham, Ala., that there is no way that she would work for an individual who was racist.” She would if she’s stupid…or an opportunist. According to The Washington Post, she’s attempting to use her position at HUD to land a reality TV show.

Lynne Patton is another example of Trump surrounding himself with idiots, conmen, mafioso wannabes, and opportunists. It’s very difficult to find anyone in the Trump orbit who is ethical.

There was pushback to Meadows using Patton as a political prop. Democratic representative Brenda Lawrence said, “To prop up one member of our entire race of black people and say that that nullifies racism is totally insulting.”

Democrat Ayanna Pressley asked Michael Cohen, which was indirectly meant for Meadows, “Would you agree that someone could deny rental units to African-Americans, lead the birther movement, refer to the diaspora as ‘shit-hole countries,’ refer to white supremacists as ‘fine people,’ have a black friend, and still be racist?”

But it was Democrat Rashida Tlaib’s comment which truly infuriated Meadows. She said, “just because someone has a person of color, a black person working for them does not mean that they aren’t racist. … The fact that someone would actually use a prop, a black woman in this chamber, in this committee, is alone racist in itself.”

Meadows was outraged and defended himself by claiming he can’t be racist because he has black family members and is friends with the chairman of the Oversight Committee, Elijah Cummings, who is African American. Meadows used the black friend defense to defend his use of the black friend defense.

Republicans still don’t get that having a “black friend” doesn’t mean you’re not a racist. A Pew study found that 9 out of 10 whites who think that most blacks aren’t intelligent, law-abiding, honest, hard-working and/or generous have African American friends. Sometimes, they’re more than friends.

Strom Thurmond was a racist, pro-segregationist Democrat. When his party became more liberal and the Republicans more racist, he switched. He conducted the longest filibuster in Senate history, speaking for 24 hours and 18 minutes in opposition to the Civil Rights Act. The man literally bitched for over a day about black people being able to vote.

Thurmond ran for president in 1948 after President Harry Truman ordered the end of racial discrimination in the U.S. Army, proposed the creation of a permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission, supported the elimination of state poll taxes (designed to prevent blacks from voting), and supported drafting federal anti-lynching laws.

During his campaign, Thurmond said, “I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there’s not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the Nigra race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches.”

You can’t get much more racist than Strom Thurmond, yet he denied he was a racist. And, if she wasn’t a secret, he probably would have said at some point, “I can’t be racist because I have a black daughter.”

Being a racist troglodyte didn’t stop Strom Thurmond from sleeping with black women and having a child with one. Having a black daughter didn’t stop him from being a racist, and if you’re a Republican, your “black friend” isn’t stopping you. Having black family members and “black friends”didn’t stop Mark Meadows from talking about sending President Obama “back to Kenya” on multiple occasions.

People like Mark Meadows and Trump sycophants need to expand their worlds. It’s good to have friends of a different race, religion, sexual orientation, and political opinions. But when it comes to your “black friend,” stop using them as political props and calling them your “black friend.”

Just call them your friend.

Be Complicit

What kind of person would want to be part of something that disparages, slanders, and disrespects Dear Leader and his sycophantic followers? Hopefully, you. 
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