Ron DeSantis

Space Man Meets Florida Man

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis finally announced his candidacy for the White House yesterday, after his state legislature removed the legal burden preventing current governors of that state from running. And DeSantis’ announcement was a total and complete disaster. The “failure to launch” is only part of it.

Every presidential candidate makes their announcement from a safe environment. Most announcements, whether the candidate is a Democrat or a Republican, are at rallies full of supporters. Hell, Donald Trump held his first one in the lobby of Trump Tower (where he paid people to pretend to support him) and his second in the ballroom of his Mara-a-Lago (which Fox News stopped airing live out of boredom, but told us to take Sean Hannity’s word for how awesome it was). I didn’t think it could get much friendlier than that until DeSantis did what he did yesterday.

DeSantis didn’t hold a rally or even make the announcement on a talk show (like Arnold Schwarzenneger did when he announced his campaign for governor of California). DeSantis held it on Twitter Spaces, which is a new platform for audio conversations. DeSantis was trying to get around traditional media as he hates most news outlets, although he did run to Fox News right after his Twitter Spaces event.

And, it was hosted by Twitter owner Elon Music and moderated by David Sacks, who most people don’t know. And, it took 20 minutes for the event to get rolling because the platform kept crashing. Elon claimed it was because of the amount of users logging on to witness the audio-only event, but the real blame falls on Elon for running a shitshow, and on DeSantis for not thinking this one through. How great of a campaign can DeSantis run if his first move was to follow Elon?

DeSantis was avoiding crowds because he has zero charm, charisma, and personality. he’s not good with humans which explains why he hung out with Elon. And he was avoiding real news outlets because he’s a coward. He fielded softball questions from goons like Republican congressman Thomas Massie, Chris Rufo, Dana Loesch, and Iowa radio host Steve Deace. It was a real slobberfest as DeSantis promised to bring his brand of Florida fascism to the rest of the nation.

Elon called the event “historic,” though it was really just a radio broadcast which has been done. Elon is going to claim he invented radio after this. And it was a platform, “Twitter Spaces,” that most people have never heard of before. They may as well have made the announcement on MySpace.

Elon is working to turn Twitter into a right-wing paradise. Many of my readers have told me that my posts no longer show up in their feeds, and my news feed is made up mostly of right-wing goons I don’t follow.

This was a stupid move for DeSantis because most Americans are NOT on Twitter. Only 42 percent of Americans aged 12-34 are on Twitter. And that’s Twitter, not Twitter Spaces. DeSantis isn’t going to win by only appealing to 12-34-year-olds. If DeSantis had made his announcement at a rally, or even just by zooming it from his broom closet, every news outlet would have run it live, at least for the first few minutes before viewers got bored.

This fiasco of a campaign announcement isn’t just great news for Donald Trump and other Republicans but for the entire nation. It’s an indication of just how bad of a campaign DeSantis is building. Sure, Bootsie has a lot of cash on hand but he doesn’t know how to spend it. Puddin’ Fingers might be able to build a statewide coalition, but it’s after he steps outside of Florida that everyone sees his pudding is vanilla and boring.

We probably don’t have to fear a Ron DeSantis presidency but we still have to fear Republican fascism. We still have to fear a Florida Man.

Creative note: The cartoonist I compete against the most is myself. When I do these types of cartoons, I try not to repeat Easter eggs from previous cartoons…but a few are still repeated. C’mon, if I did a cartoon like this without Pizza Rat, an angry mob would show up at my door with torches and pitchforks.

Music note: Something made me want to listen to the soundtrack to Little Shop of Horrors.

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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Mickey Walks

Your mouth has probably gotten you in trouble at least once in your life. Hopefully, when you did it, it was when you were much younger and back in school and not during your adulthood like Ron DeSantis just did. What I’m talking about is when you say something and get yourself into trouble yet you keep talking, dig a deeper hole for yourself to climb out of, and get yourself into more trouble. Maybe it got you extra homework, suspension, detention, being grounded by your parents, or even getting your ass kicked. I think I did all of those. What Ron DeSantis did was keep talking until he got his ass kicked. What’s he doing about it now? He’s still talking.

Ron DeSantis is not smart enough to know when to shut up.

When the Walt Disney Company opposed the “Don’t Say Gay” law, DeSantis and Republicans should have just shrugged their shoulders. Speaking out in disagreement with Disney wouldn’t have harmed them either. But instead of just accepting that not everyone agrees with their homophobia, Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans in the legislature declared war. Ron DeSantis set out to punish Disney for exercising its right to free speech.

Remember, this was over a difference of opinion. Disney was not campaigning against Ron DeSantis, Republicans, or even their hateful legislation. For the goons, it was, “How dare they disagree with us.”

First, Republicans took Disney’s self-governing district from them, of which there are over 1,800 in the state. It was just this one that belonged to “woke” Disney that had to be dealt with. But DeSantis and his goons then had to figure out how to move the costs of the district, that Disney was going to pay for it, back onto Disney and not the residents inside that district. It looks bad on a Republican governor, especially one who’s about to run for president, to raise taxes.

DeSantis created a new board to govern the district and filled it with religious fundamentalist goose-stooping zealots of his. The intentions of the new board weren’t just to regulate roads and sewage, but to hold Disney hostage, and refuse to improve areas in the district unless Disney made its entertainment product more family-friendly as Ron DeSantis saw it. It was a fascist move. But, before the new goon board took over, Disney pulled a fast one and the outgoing board made new rules that made is so the new board couldn’t make any changes until the years after the last living member of the royal family dies. This means the new board will NEVER make any changes or be able to hold Disney hostage to its fundamentalist whims.

So Ron DeSantis sued Disney…and then Disney sued DeSantis for attacking their freedom of speech which is how this entire thing started.

Ron DeSantis likes to say Florida is “where woke goes to die.” DeSantis is making Florida where the First Amendment goes to die. Ron DeSantis is making Florida hostile to business and free speech.

DeSantis should have known to leave well enough alone, but he’s stupid and he doesn’t have the personality or charisma to fight this war with one of Florida’s largest employers and largest tourist attractions.

Last Thursday, Disney announced it was scrapping plans for a $1 billion development in Orlando that would have involved the creation of a new office complex, importing a division from California, and generating 2,000 new jobs.

Disney intended to relocate its famed Imagineering department over the protests of its employees to take advantage of Florida tax incentives. Those employees did NOT want to leave California for Florida. Who can blame them? Now, Disney is going to keep those people in California. Some employees have already been relocated to Florida and Disney is working on new plans for them which may be re-relocating them back to California.

Disney parks chief Josh D’Amaro didn’t mention the culture war with DeSantis when he made the announcement, but Disney CEO Bob Iger was explicit in a call with investors last week when he asked, I’m assuming rhetorically, “Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people, and pay more taxes, or not?” Apparently, the state does not.

Ron DeSantis is stupid. He’s a Republican and Republicans are supposed to be good for business. Right? DeSantis is always talking about how great Florida is for business, yet here he is going to war with one over free speech. DeSantis has even talked about raising taxes on Disney, installing toll roads into and out of the resort, and even building a state prison next to it. Do you really want to move your business to Florida where there’s a petulant governor who may use his power to go after your business if you dare disagree with him?

So, how does Ron DeSantis run for the Republican presidential nomination when he’s killing business, jobs, and revenue for his state? Riddle me that, dumbass.

David Jolly, a former Republican Congressman from Florida said, “I think it’s a humiliating defeat for DeSantis nationally. It shows a mix of incompetence, vanity, stubbornness, and failure. Those are all the wrong themes for someone about to announce a run for the White House from a relative position of strength.”

Chris Christie said, “I don’t think Ron DeSantis is a conservative, based on his actions towards Disney.”

Donald Trump said DeSantis had been “caught in the mouse trap” and “now is doing even less for Florida’s economy.” Do you know how stupid you have to be to get owned by a Donald Trump quote? That’s like losing a spelling bee to Lauren Boebert.

Ron DeSantis understands business less than Donald Trump understands tariffs. Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed greatest businessman who ever lived (not true), and who also claims to have given Americans the largest tax cut in history (also not true), raised tariffs on imports that American consumers paid, which was a tax hike of over $80 billion.

Right now, Ron DeSantis is trying to save face and his ego, so he’s continuing his war with Disney when if he was really smart enough to be president, he’d know it’s past time to shut the fuck up.

Ron DeSantis isn’t even smart enough to understand that eating pudding with his fingers or stomping around in big white rubber boots will go viral, but it’s Mickey’s boots that are made for walking…walking out of Florida.

Creative note: I struggled this morning. I didn’t care that I had just drawn a cartoon on Ron DeSantis a few days ago (which went crazy popular on social media) or that I had just drawn Mickey for CNN. I hadn’t touched this issue yet and I made it a priority to do it today. The only problem was that I didn’t have a good idea for it. I wrote three ideas this morning and I think they were all OK, but I kept writing even though it was getting later in the day. Then I wrote a fourth idea I liked very much. And just as I was finishing up the rough outline of it, this idea hit me. And for a few seconds, I thought which one do I go with…Yeah, I gotta go with the boots.

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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Slip Him A Mickey

Here’s your cartoon for this week’s CNN Opinion newsletter. Please sign up to get these in your inbox every Sunday

I wrote this cartoon several months ago and put it in my Maybe folder though I knew I was definitely going to draw it at some point. On Friday, my editor at CNN asked me to do a cartoon on this subject and I whipped them out. They went for it.

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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DeSantis Movie Night

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to announce his candidacy for the presidency next week, but he’s already starting out way behind the one man standing in his way to the Republican nomination, Hair Fuhrer himself, Donald Trump.

DeSantis is way behind Trump in the polls but it’s early in the primary season and things can change, but they have to change a LOT for DeSantis to be competitive with Trump and they gotta start changing soon, like yesterday. And he’s not going to win the presidency by going after abortion, history lessons, Disney, or with legislation that goes after gay and trans kids. Sure, that could work in the GOP primaries but not in the general election.

Florida’s Department of Education (sic) is investigating a teacher who showed her class the Disney film that features a gay character. Would there be an investigation if it wasn’t a Disney movie? Who knows. Maybe.

The teacher showed it to her fifth grade class and a parent lodged a complaint. The teacher says this movie focuses on humans’ relationship to the environment, which was why she chose to show it to her class after a section on ecosystems, plants and animals. She said a subplot about a boy having a crush on another boy never crossed her mind before screening the film.

She’s right. Strange World is about the environment as well as the family structure, specifically from son to father to grandfather, what they have in common and their differences which doesn’t even involve the gay thing. The son appears to be more like his grandfather which his father has issues with but they all learn to accept each others differences and yadda yadda yadda, it’s a Disney film and there’s a lesson in it and everybody grows.

The part about the kid being gay is a subplot and isn’t a factor in the main story. If his crush was swapped from a guy to a girl, it wouldn’t have changed anything. But, it shouldn’t have to be swapped out because a Florida mom gets her bloomers in a twist. The subplot is a sly way of normalizing the fact that people are gay. It’s a sly way of showing its acceptance. By the way, the gay kid’s parents are also a mixed-race couple and that has nothing to do with the plot either. There’s no consternation in the film about race or being gay. The greatest dilema in the film is about saving an environment over one’s own legacy and fame while repairing relationships.

I love animated movies. The most original plots in today’s movies are in animations (except for sequels). When you get tired of all the remakes and sequels, go watch an animated movie. I especially love Disney and Pixar movies and trust them on their reputations alone. If I really like it, I will watch it about 15 times. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched Wreck-It Ralph. Now, Strange World is not Disney’s best but it’s a good movie. I’ve only watched it once but will probably watch it again at some point. I would recommend it for kids. After the hullabaloo over it in Florida, I think every kid should see it.

Strange World is a wholesome movie but it has a lot that Republicans hate. It’s environmental, there’s a mixed-race family, there’s a gay kid and all that’s missing are abortions, immigrants, and a war on Christmas.

It’s the kind of movie that the new board of DeSantis-picked goons that’s to control Disney’s special district wouldnt approve of. DeSantis said he hopes his board will influence Disney’s content to be more wholesome for families as he sees it. He would probably hate Strange World if he saw it. But Strange World is a family movie. It’s all about the family. The problem DeSantis would have with “Strange World” is that it doesn’t teach hate, which is what he and the Republican Party are all about.

If DeSantis was to personally pick a movie to show to fifth graders, like he picked the board of goons, he’d probably pick The Birth of a Nation.

The school district sent a letter to parents alerting them that a teacher showed Strange World to her students and that it would never be shown to their students again because it may violate Florida’s “Parental Bill of Rights” law…you know….”Don’t Say Gay.” But, would The Birth of a Nation violate any state laws?

The Birth of a Nation is actually a landmark film and in 1992, the Library of Congress deemed it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. Roger Ebert says it’s a “great movie that teaches evil.”

The film was made in 1915 and was the first non-serial 12-reel film ever made. It was shown in two parts with an intermission (it’s longer than Avenger Endgame). It was the first film to have a musical score for an orchestra, despite being a silent film. It pioneered closeups and fadeouts. It was the first to use hundreds of extras. It was the very first movie to be screened in the White House (Woodrow Wilson). The day after Wilson watched it in the White House, it was screened for the entire Supreme Court and the majority of Congress in a Washington hotel ballroom where the audience reportedly cheered. It was the most commercially successful film ever made up to that point. And…it also gave rebirth to the Ku Klux Klan.

Ya see, the KKK had diminished since it’s creation after the Civil War. The Birth of a Nation, which is taken from the book, The Clansmen, shows the KKK as a heroic force needed to save American values from Blacks, who it portrays as stupid and rapey. Most of the Black characters are played by white people in black face. The film has been described as “the most reprehensibly racist film in Hollywood history.”

Most of the Confederate statues being taken down in the south that Republicans are trying to preserve were erected in 1915 and shortly after The Birth of a Nation was released. What a coincidence, eh?

There were protests against the movie organized by the NAACP, but America seemed to love it. The Los Angeles Times called it the “greatest movie ever made.” Riots broke out, not from Black Americans but by white people attacking Blacks. During a scene in the film of the white heroine being pursued by the main Black character, an audience member fired a gun at the screen trying to kill the Black character (that was probably in the south).

The rebirth of the KKK began in 1915 with a cross burning at Stone Mountain thanks to the success of The Birth of a Nation. Historian John Hope Franklin wrote that if had it not been for The Birth of a Nation, the Klan might not have been reborn. The Klan was reborn and then all those Confederate statues went up.

History.com writes, “There is no doubt that Birth of a Nation played no small part in winning wide public acceptance” for the KKK, and that throughout the film “African Americans are portrayed as brutish, lazy, morally degenerate, and dangerous.” David Duke used it to recruit members to the KKK in the 1970s. Tommy Tuberville probably loves it.

But, there are no gays in it and it doens’t promote whites poorly in history. DeSantis and Republicans in Florida would find more to be angry about in Strange World than in The Birth of a Nation. And this is where we are today.

We are in a strange world, indeed.

Music note: I listened to the Foo Fighters while coloring this.

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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Lawsuits For Touchy Republicans

E. Jean Carroll is suing Donald Trump for defamation and Disney is suing Ron DeSantis over what it calls a “relentless campaign to weaponize government power” and attacking free speech.

Carroll took the stand yesterday in a New York City courtroom and testified, “I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it did not happen.” Trump’s claim that it didn’t happen is why there’s a lawsuit. Trump is not on trial for rape but for defamation.

Last night on MSNBC, Alex Wagner said more than once that Trump could be a “convicted rapist,” but that is not true, and why I don’t normally watch MSNBC. That’s sloppy and irresponsible journalism and presenting an opinion as fact. Trump will NEVER be convicted of raping E. Jean Carroll but the jury may still believe her anyway and award her financially for defamation.

I believe E. Jean Carroll, but her only evidence is corroborating witnesses, other witnesses who claim Trump sexually assaulted them, and Trump’s own words in the Hollywood Access tape. Carroll can’t even remember the year that she claims the rape happened. When there are over 20 women who claim they were sexually assaulted by Donald Trump, combined with his own braggarts of sexually assaulting women, it’s very believable that he assaulted E. Jean Carroll. But convincing a jury that Trump committed rape is a higher burden.

Writing for The Daily Beast, trial attorney Mitchell Epner said the jury has probably already made up its mind. And Trump won’t be present to try to change their minds as he does not plan to testify. The burden may be higher on Trump’s attorneys to debunk Carroll’s claims. Hell, Trump may have already written this off as another loss and be looking forward to the appeal.

The only testimony Trump has given on this case has been on Truth Social where in addition to claiming Carroll wasn’t attractive enough to rape, that her lead attorney is a “political operative” funded by a “big political donor,” and that the entire trial is another “witch hunt.” The judge admonished Trump’s lawyers over these posts, as they may be attempts to influence a juror. The judge also said tweets by Eric Trump may be illegal as they too could be attempts to influence jurors.

Without evidence or exhibits, this case isn’t as much of a he-said/she-said as it is a she-said/tweet-said. If this was a criminal trial, Carroll would lose. The hurdle is much lower in a civil case.

In Florida, Disney filed its suit against DeSantis minutes after his newly-installed handpicked board of goons declared a Disney-friendly deal null and void. DeSantis and the state legislature stripped away Disney’s special governing district (which is a huge thing for corporations in the Sunshine State) in an attempt to punish the mouse for opposing his ‘Don’t Say Gay” law. In creating a new board that governs the district Disney is in, DeSantis is also attempting to influence the product Disney produces. In doing so, DeSantis is trying to take away Disney’s freedom of speech.

DeSantis’ war on Disney has become personal. On DeSanti’s part, it’s fascist, anti-business, and narcissistic, all of which he has in common with Trump. Now, they’re both being sued in civil courts. Hopefully, in the future, DeSantis will face criminal charges for human trafficking when he used refugees as political props and flew them from Texas to abandon them in Martha’s Vineyard. The two main candidates for the Republican nomination facing criminal charges sure would be sweet.

Trump and DeSantis are both assholes who violate the rights of other people. Fortunately for them, Republican voters love assholes.

Music Note: I listened to The Hives and Incubus.

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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Hold My Trans Beer

Right after Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender actress, activist, and social media influencer (that means I don’t know who she is because I’m old) posted a video on Instagram announcing a partnership with Bud Light, Kid Rock went on a tangent, shot a bunch of beer cans, then went on his “No Snowflakes tour.” Yes, I see the irony, thank you. Kid Rock does not.

Kid, who’s 52 and used to sing about being a pimp “smacking all the hos,” posted a video on Twitter of him shooting the trans cans while wearing a backward MAGA cap. Backward is quite appropriate. In the video, he says, “Let me say something to all of you and be as clear and concise as possible.” He then shoots several cans with his boomstick, and finishes his statement, “Fuck Bud Light. Fuck Anheuser Busch.”

Maybe Kid Rock isn’t really upset but was actually just trying to find an old photo of himself drinking a Bud Light with a drag queen, because if you can’t find an old photo of yourself drinking Bud Light with a drag queen, a sure way to find it would be to post a video of yourself shooting at Bud Light cans because you’re upset over the company partnering with a transperson and voilà, someone will find and tweet that old photo of you enjoying a Bud Light with a drag queen.

By the way, here’s an old photo of Kid Rock drinking a Bud Light with a drag queen. Someone has a lot of explaining to do but we haven’t heard it yet from Wanda the Drag Queen, who had lousy taste in company and alcoholic beverages in 2003.

Today in Florida, a drag queen might have a difficult time enjoying a Bud Light or any alcoholic beverage where she’s performing as Ron DeSantis has made it a mission to personally revoke liquor licenses from establishments that host drag shows where children are allowed. Personally, I have a much greater issue with children being allowed in bars than I do with them seeing drag shows.

DeSantis is a bigger bigot than Kid Rock and I say this because Rob Ritchie (Kid Rock) may be faking it for his audience (this is a guy who panders to the point of drinking a Bud Light while wearing a Coors hat) where as Puddin’ Fingers is the real deal. DeSantis has banned the word “gay” in public schools, has banned gender-affirming care, has gone on rants and tirades about men in women’s sports, and is scared of drag queens. His lead is being followed in every red state in the country. Even in blue states, Republicans are trying to push through homophobic and transphobic legislation. Even if it fails, it solidifies their bigotry to their base almost as well as shooting trans beer cans.

I don’t see why homophobic fucknuts like Kid Rock and Travis Tritt (yeah, he’s upset too) are angry over Bud Light being associated with a transgender person. It’s not like they’re bailing on their sponsorships in the NBA, NFL, and oh my God, even NASCAR. How much more redneck do you get than sponsoring NASCAR? Yeah, sure. NASCAR won’t let you fly the hater flag or allow nooses at the track anymore, but it’s still a Bubba sport. Even the only black guy is named “Bubba.” Heck, Bud Light is still the beer mentioned in Billy Currington’s “Pretty Good at Drinking Beer” which if you’ve ever heard once, is now stuck in your head until next Tuesday.

Despite its country music and Talladega street cred, Bud Light is scared, Brendan Whitworth, the chief executive of Anheuser-Busch, issued an apology that we think is probably about the sponsorship with Mulvaney.

He tweeted a statement saying, “We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.” That was a pissy apology in order to keep selling watered-down pissy beer.

Nobody should have to apologize for being tolerant. Nobody should cower and cave into the bigoted likes of Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump, Travis Tritt, or Kid Rock. You don’t end hate by caving in and enabling it. Dividing people by being inclusive is like when Facebook (and all the others) accuses me of hate when I criticize Nazis (they do that).

And to all my right-wing homophobic colleagues who’ve been drawing on this issue over the past two weeks, if you’ve drawn more than one cartoon on this, then it’s time for you to come out of the closest.

Music note: I listened to Beck.

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:

Sticky Mickey

Florida Governor Ron “Puddin’ Fingers” DeSantis signed into law last Thursday a ban on abortions after six weeks. Several women attended the signing but we haven’t heard yet whether they were barefoot or not.

A lot of women, maybe most, are not aware they are pregnant until after six weeks. Florida Republicans are not using science with this legislation as much as they’re using dogma from their fundamentalist religion.

Currently, there’s a 15-week ban that’s being challenged in Florida’s Supreme Court. Republicans couldn’t wait to end that one before passing a six-week ban because they hate being out-gooned by other red states like Texas and Alabama. Every judge currently on the Florida Supreme Court was appointed by a Republican governor, four of the six by DeSantis (there is a vacancy so it’ll soon be five by DeSantis). Yikes. This is some Tallahassee Taliban shit, people.

As soon as the state Supreme Court affirms the 15-week ban, it’ll be overridden by the six-week ban. This court has all the legitimacy of the newly created board seated entirely of DeSantis goons that are set to oversee Disney’s special district.

If this becomes law, which it will, it’ll deny abortion access to over four million women in Florida. It’ll also affect women in surrounding states that already have abortion bans. Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi have each banned abortion at any stage. Georgia has banned abortion after six weeks. The closest state for Florida women to receive an abortion after six weeks is South Carolina, but not for a lack of trying. South Carolina Republicans tried to enact a six-week ban, but the state Supreme Court narrowly voted that abortion is protected by the state constitution. But Republicans are scrambling an even called a special session of the state legislature to try again to ban abortions after six weeks. Florida’s ruling may push them further out of fears of becoming an “abortion haven,” as one fundamentalist lawmaker put it.

But if you were afraid Florida was actually going to make itself “pro-life,” don’t worry. It’s not. Murderering is their favorite. The Florida Republican super-majority legislature passed a bill last week that Bootsie DeSantis is expected to sign that will allow juries to recommend the death penalty in capital cases on an 8-4 vote instead of unanimous votes (In case you’re a Republican, “unanimous” means everybody). In order to kill someone, an eye for an eye, Florida will no longer require that everyone vote yes…just most of them. What fun is there in being governor if you can’t kill people?

Boots has also suggested building a state prison next to Disneyland which could be the new home for death row. That should be great for tourism. Good job, Meatball. Award yourself with some pudding.

As for Mickey and Minnie, they may soon be doing some out-of-state tourism of their own.

Music note: I listened to The Shins, Colin Hay, and U2.

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:

Mouse Poker

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is making his fight against Disney personal. It has less to do with what’s best for the people in the state of Florida and more to do with Boots DeSantis’ fragile ego. In fact, the entire squabble started over his ego.

When the “Don’t Say Gay” law was first proposed, Disney came out against it. The smartest thing DeSantis and Republicans could have done with that was to ignore it. Nothing would have changed from it. The homophobic bill would have still become law, Florida bigots would all high-five each other, and Disney would continue going about business as usual and bringing in money to the state as it’s been doing for the past 56 years. After all, Disney is the largest employer in Florida. It would take a real dumbass to fuck with that.

So Governor Dumbass fucked with that. Making it personal, he and his Republican goons sought to punish Disney and did so by revoking the status of their special governing district. Florida is full of these special districts. They allow a company to self-govern an area, like with sewer and road maintenance thus reducing the tax obligations of citizens in those districts. It’s more complicated than how I explained it, but that’s the gist. Disney maintained its own local government, police department, and fire department for 56 years.

By taking away the special status, Republicans put the tax burden on citizens in the district. It took them a year to pass a new bill to put all the financial obligations back onto Disney while still not allowing them to self-govern. And, a new board was created to oversee the district. Naturally, the board is full of religious fundamental homophobic goons DeSantis appointed. DeSantis stated that he expects the board to go beyond making decisions on matters like water, roads, and sewage, and work to influence the content Disney puts out. But right before DeSantis’ new board of religious zealots, sycophants, and fucknuts could take control, the Mouse pulled a fast one. And it did it in broad daylight.

At the 11th hour, the outgoing board approved a change that allows Disney to retain control over the land within the outer limits of Orange and Osceola counties “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England.” That fucks things up for DeSantis and basically makes the new board powerless. The new rule states, “Any changes will be “subject to Disney’s prior review and comment” to “ensure consistency with the overall design and theming” of the company’s park.” The good news for DeSantis and Republicans is that they’ll have full power to put Disney in its place 21 years after the last member of England’s royal family dies.

With this new ruling, Disney no longer needs board approval to build high-density projects or buildings of any height and can sell or assign development rights. It also bans the board from using Disney’s name or any of its characters.

One of DeSantis’ board members, Ron Peri, a right-wing homophobic Christian pastor said, “This board loses, for practical purposes, the majority of its ability to do anything beyond maintain the roads and maintain basic infrastructure.” You know this board full of homophobic religious fundamentalists didn’t join the board because they care about water and sewage. You know these goons joined up to prevent Disney from making future movies where Disney princesses marry Disney princesses. I’d watch that.

Disney issued a statement saying, “All agreements signed between Disney and the District were appropriate, and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida’s ‘Government in the Sunshine’ law.” Disney made the entire process public with notices knowing that Republicans were too busy high-fiving each other to notice.

Florida Republican lawmakers are once again talking about changing laws to invalidate the new rules. DeSantis himself is promising to punish the corporation further by piling on new taxes and toll roads to Disney, which is a weird position to take if you want to be the Republican nominee for president. How do you tell Republicans to vote for the guy who just raised taxes on a corporation? How do you tell Republicans to vote for the guy that just added higher fees to families visiting Disney World in Orlando? Disney isn’t going to pay those tolls, tourists are.

And, if DeSantis is hoping toll roads will discourage people from visiting and spending their money at Disney World, then he’s also discouraging people from visiting and spending their money in Florida. I don’t think even Donald Trump, who doesn’t understand that Americans pay for higher tariffs on China, is that stupid. Most governors want tourists to visit and spend money in their states, right?

In Kenny Rogers’ song “The Gambler,” he sings, “You gotta know when to hold them. Know when to fold them. Know when to walk away. Know when to run.” Ron DeSantis needs to know when he shouldn’t be playing poker because he doesn’t know how.

This is why I always try to play poker with Republicans.

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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Got Boots?

The Israeli Supreme Court has 15 judges who are all appointed by the president after being nominated by the Judicial Selection Committee. The extreme Right in Israel, which includes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wants to change that.

Netanyahu has proposed to “overhaul” the courts which would enable the Knesset (Israel’s Congress) to override Supreme Court decisions, diminish the ability of the court to conduct judicial review of legislation and of administrative action, prohibit the court from ruling on the constitutionality of basic laws, and change the makeup of the Judicial Selection Committee so that politicians could influence the makeup of the court. By the way, Netanyahu is facing multiple corruption charges that could make their way to the Supreme Court.

Until recently, the Supreme Court of Israel was the only government body that had a majority approval rating from both Jews and Arabs in Israel. Not so much anymore. Conservative extremists have a solid majority in the Knesset, which would totally control the nation if they control the courts. The proposed changes to the court system have rocked Israel and protests have taken over the nation.

Israelis have been protesting against these changes and on Monday, protesters surrounded the Knesset as it was preparing to vote on the “overhaul. Protesters have blocked highways and Israel’s largest trade union, Histadrut, called a national strike for Monday. That prompted shutdowns in schools, hospitals, and government buildings. It even shut down Israeli embassies including the one in Washington, D.C.

And then, Netanyahu put the plan on hold.

This shit hit the fan on Sunday when Netanyahu fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, who is the only government minister who publicly opposed the judicial overhaul. The rest of the Israeli government ministers, much like Republicans in this country, are cowards. Roads were blocked by protesters immediately with bonfires being set throughout the nation.

Netanyahu plans to hold more “discussions” before holding the vote in April. Note, he has not canceled the fascist plan at all.

In Florida, Governor Ron DeFascist is firing elected prosecutors he disagrees with. He’s banning specific topics from education and has even created a board to control Disney’s content. There are bills in Florida, Missouri, Indiana, and Pennsylvania to remove “woke” prosecutors that the legislatures (Republicans) don’t like.” A bill just passed the Georgia House that will create a commission to discipline and remove wayward prosecutors, like the one in Atlanta currently investigating Donald Trump’s election interference in 2020 (“find me 11,780 votes”).

This is fascism. This is democracy dying. Protesters shut down their nation in Israel to save democracy. So far, I haven’t heard of any protests shutting down the governments in Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Indiana, and Pennsylvania to save democracy. But we did have huge protests that turned into riots on January 6, 2021, designed to murder democracy. Americans need to save America. We need to save the United States from Republicans.

When Donald Trump said there will be “death and destruction” if he’s prosecuted, he wasn’t kidding. Donald Trump and Republicans will be the death and destruction of our democracy.

It was reported today that President Biden will not invite Netanyahu to the White House in the near future. Good.

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:

The Day After

There’s a lot to be concerned about the day after Ron DeSantis wins the presidency…if he is ever to win it. There’s a lot of time between now and election day, 2024 so it’s very early in the race despite the fact we already have two official candidates, and DeSantis isn’t one of them. But, it doesn’t look like DeSantis will be the GOP nominee in 2024.

A Harvard University poll has Trump over DeSantis by 12 points but a poll by Morning Consult has him up by 25. Neither of those has him as high over DeSantis as Trump’s favorite pollster which he touted at his recent Waco hate rally, Catturd2, a Twitter account that has Trump 45 points over DeSantis. I’m sure we’ll all be keeping our eyes on Catturd’s prognostications throughout the presidential race.

But time can change perceptions. For example, there were a few minutes in 2008 when some people didn’t see Sarah Palin as a raving lunatic shooting wolves from helicopters. Maybe between now and November 2024…or 2028, DeSantis will develop some charm and a personality. Maybe people won’t see him as much of a high white boot-wearing goose-stepping knee-jerk fascist asshole pointing his finger in the faces of high school students. Maybe people other than Nazis will have warm gushy feelings deep down inside when they hear the name “Ron DeSantis.”

But whether you have warm gushy feelings for Meatball Ron or not, he’s a fascist. He’s looking to turn Florida into a dictatorship where he chooses the kind of education your kids have, tells Disney what content they can create (only Herbie movies), and a place where he fires elected officials. Also, no images of penises allowed which is ironic since the state resembles a flaccid penis.

So if Meatball becomes president, will there be a national ban on black history, science, math, or any education on LGBTQ?

For example: After it was revealed that yesterday’s shooter was a transgender person, I had fucknuts tweeting at me that my cartoon was wrong because trans is the same as drag. Those people need to be educated that trans and drag aren’t the same thing, but under a Meatball regime, that education won’t be available.

Ron DeSantis is smarter than Donald Trump and his legislative record is more successful than the Former Guy’s. Ron DeSantis as governor gets things done, sure they’re all horrible things, but he gets them done. The only thing saving us from a Ron DeSantis dictatorship is his lack of a personality. Florida is not the rest of the nation and Pudding Fingers has a steep hill to climb to win over the rest of the nation. Spoiler alert: He will not charm the country.

Donald Trump is an entertainer. Sure, it’s only appealing if you have the maturity of a stupid racist 12-year-old, but he wins over those people. People like what DeSantis does while not really liking him. He’s not a cult leader the way Trump is.

DeSantis has huge obstacles preventing him from defeating Trump in the Republican primaries. He has to win over Trump’s voters. He can’t do that by telling the truth and saying Trump lost the 2020 election and he can’t do it by attacking Trump. And if he flatters Trump, then he’s telling primary voters to vote for Trump. So far, he’s doing a weird tightrope walk by defending Trump from the Manhattan Attorney General while saying, “I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair.” Be careful what you stick your fingers into there, Meatball.

Oddly enough, I don’t believe Trump can win the general election as he’s lost the popular vote in two straight elections, but he will probably win the nomination. While I don’t think DeSantis can win the nomination, I think he would have a better chance than Trump to win the general election if he were to win the nomination.

Trump needs to be careful too because he’s criticizing DeSantis’ record as governor but even Trump supporters like the job Meatball’s done as governor. They are fascists. Trump should stay away from policy because he’s not good at it, and stick with what he does best, which is create juvenile nicknames.

So far, we have “Ron DeSanctimonious,” which DeSantis has said he kinda likes. There’s also “Meatball Ron” and I hear Trump is workshopping “Ron DisHonest,” “Ron DeEstablishment,” and “Tiny D” which could bounce back on Tiny Donald. How about “Boots DePudding Fingers?” Ron claims he never finger-banged that pudding, but Trump also lies about where his fingers have been. Has Trump tried “Ronald McSantis?” What about “Ron DeDumDum?” I got it! “Ron DeDumbass!”

Either way, a Trump or DeSantis presidency would be ruinous for this nation. Maybe the Washington Monument isn’t as much of a phallic symbol and more of a middle finger to Republicans.

Creative note: I wrote this last Friday and was drawing it yesterday (Monday), but I put it aside to cover the school shooting in Nashville.

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: