Russia Gate

DOJ Happy Place

cjones05272018

For a bunch of people who hate “fake” investigations, they sure do like calling for them. Or in this case, demanding. In case you haven’t noticed, Trump and his defenders don’t even argue the facts anymore in defending him on charges of collusion with Russia and obstruction. Instead, they attack the Department of Justice and the FBI.

A few weeks ago while screaming at the country on Fox & Friends, Trump said at some point he was going to get involved with the Justice Department. That’s exactly what he did Sunday. Trump issued an order through a tweet, “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”

There was a time when we believed it was a good thing that our law enforcement was protecting us from foreign spies. The Republican Party used to be about law and order. Not anymore.

Russia engaged in a campaign to interfere in our election. Law enforcement warned the Trump campaign and asked them to report anything suspicious. Instead, at least seven members of the Trump campaign met with Russians and were very eager to receive their help in defeating Hillary Clinton. The FBI spied on the Russians in the Trump campaign, not to hurt Trump, but to protect America.

In fact, the FBI told us they were investigating Clinton but never said anything about investigating people in the Trump campaign. It’s a hard argument to say the FBI was favoring Clinton over Trump, but Republicans don’t do reality anymore.

Trump’s newest deflection is that the FBI was spying on his campaign. Next, he’s going to claim they threw a porn star at him. Now he’s ordering the Justice Department to investigate those investigating him. This should not be allowed.

A few weeks ago, Deputy Attorney General, who is overseeing the Special Counsel’s investigation into Trump’s collusion with Russia said, “the Department of Justice is not going to be extorted. We’re going to do what’s required by the rule of law, and any kind of threats that anybody makes are not going to affect the way we do our job.” Now, he has caved to the bully.

There is no reason, evidence, or signs that the FBI planted moles into the Trump campaign. Donald Trump and his goons in Congress claim they did. Trump may be president, but that doesn’t mean he understands how anything works. The man asked Bill Gates twice if HIV and HPV was the same thing. Donald Trump is stupid.

Rosenstein may be just placating Trump, but the Justice Department should not cave to a bully. The Department of Justice and those in Congress should educate Trump that he is not an authoritarian leader and there are limits to what he can do. They should not be lickspittles.

Trump will not stop with this request to investigate those investigating him. Giving a bully your lunch money never stopped the bully from demanding it again. It only encouraged him. Trump has been encouraged by Rosenstein, just as he’s been by those in Congress who deem protecting Trump at all cost as their jobs.

Trump believes the Justice Department should be his own protection agency and go after his enemies. He’s complained how Attorney General Jeff Sessions isn’t protecting him and that he needs a Roy Cohn, Trump former lawyer who was counsel for Joseph McCarthy and eventually disbarred. That is the kind of lawyer Trump wants.

This is not North Korea, Cuba, Iran, China, Russia, or the Philippines. Trump should not be allowed to be a bully or a strongman potentate. Congress and the DOJ need to educate him where the lines are drawn and what he can’t get away with.

We don’t need a Roy Cohn. We need leaders in DOJ who will not let Trump put his little grubby orange hands on Lady Justice.

Watch me draw.

Please consider making a donation to keep the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. Reader contributions, small and large, really do help and are appreciated in a time of dwindling revenue for political cartoonists. You will also be supporting free speech and liberty while those in power are doing all they can to suppress it. You can also support by purchasing a signed print for $40.00. Just look at the right of this page and click the PayPal button, or you can email and make other arrangements. Thank you!

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Spies Like Us

cjones05222018

The priorities for the Trump administration and the entire Republican Party are seriously messed up. When the press reports that a White House staffer dissed Senator and Vietnam veteran John McCain by saying, “he’s dying anyway,” the outrage isn’t directed at the staffer, who still has her job, but at the leaker.

Now it’s reported that the FBI may have had an informant following the moles Russia had in the Trump campaign. Is Trump’s outrage directed toward Russia? Of course not. It’s toward the agency that’s trying to protect our nation from interference from a hostile foreign power.

Trump tweeted, “Wow, word seems to be coming out that the Obama FBI “SPIED ON THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN WITH AN EMBEDDED INFORMANT.” Andrew McCarthy says, “There’s probably no doubt that they had at least one confidential informant in the campaign.” If so, this is bigger than Watergate!”

Trump has to say “Obama’s FBI” so it’ll gin up his base with outrage. But he is right about one thing. If Donald Trump allowed Russian spies into his campaign, it’s bigger than Watergate.

And Trump did allow Russians into his campaign headquarters. When the Russians contacted them claiming they had dirt on Hillary Clinton, did Donald Trump Jr say “no thanks?” Did he report it to the FBI? No. That treasonous trust-fund baby said, “I love it!” If the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia, it’s not for lack of trying.

While the campaign was ongoing, Trump was trying to work out a business deal with Russia. When Trump says he doesn’t have any business with Russia, again, it’s not for lack of trying. And on that issue, he’s probably lying.

While the FBI was secretly following Trump’s Russians around, they announced to the world that they were investigating Hillary Clinton, and then they weren’t, and then they were. The FBI was also leaking information about the investigation into Clinton to Rudy Giuliani, who is now complaining about the bias at the FBI. I’m a cartoonist and even I can’t make this stuff up.

Trump sycophants who parrot his claim of the investigation as a “witch hunt” and “no collusion” don’t stop for a second and ask, but why were there so many people with Russian connections in your campaign? What sort of organization was Trump running that let spies in to sit at the big table with Trump?

Now, Trump, Republicans in Congress, the idiots in conservative media like Breitbart and Sean Hannity, are screaming for the FBI to publicly identify the informant. What happened to protecting sources? Why would they want to give someone up, not just for the conservative base to chew apart, but for Vladimir Putin? People who anger Putin have a tendency to suffer accidents, like falling off buildings and walking face-first into a batch of Russian-made nerve agent.

This is another instance of Republicans putting sycophancy over country. They worship at the altar of a stupid, racist, snake-oil selling conman complicit with Russia, and their love for their deity is stronger than their love for the country.

You know what they say runs downhill. You know who’s on top of that hill. Trump’s leadership has set an example of the corruption rampant throughout his cabinet. His leadership encourages leaks from the White House. And, it was his leadership that invited Russians into his campaign. This is a man who didn’t devote himself entirely to his country while seeking to be its leader, as he was working business deals with Moscow at the same time while also asking for them to hack his opponent’s campaign.

We need to leave the informant alone. Quite frankly, Melania’s been through enough this week.

Here’s the video.

Please consider making a donation to keep the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. Reader contributions, small and large, really do help and are appreciated in a time of dwindling revenue for political cartoonists. You will also be supporting free speech and liberty while those in power are doing all they can to suppress it. You can also support by purchasing a signed print for $40.00. Just look at the right of this page and click the PayPal button, or you can email and make other arrangements. Thank you!

Sullying The Office

cjones04062018

Donald Trump is stupid. An excellent example of this is his belief that submitting to an interview with Robert Mueller will clear his name and end the Russia Investigation. Stupid. Perhaps the only people dumber and more gullible than Trump are those who voted for him.

While it’s fun to make light of Trump’s stupidity when he tells us what uranium is, or that healthcare is hard, or about the history of China and Korea, or that nobody knows the difference between community colleges and vocational schools, it is actually dangerous to our nation. It’s especially dangerous when Trump deals with Putin.

Combine Trump’s stupidity with his man-crush for Vladimir Putin, and the next thing you know the Russian dictator will be sitting in the Oval Office with his feet on the Resolute Desk.

Trump claims he’s been tougher on Russia than Obama.

Trump refused to accept our intelligence agencies’ analysis that Russia tampered in our election. He took Putin’s word over the FBI and CIA’s. He’s worked to discredit our Justice Department while they look into his collusion with Russia.

Trump refused to enact sanctions against Russia, and when he finally did it was only because he was forced by our allies when they placed their own sanctions and expelled Russian diplomats after the poisoning in England of a former Russia spy.

Trump talked to Putin after the sanctions were placed, and he failed to mention those or the poisoning, but he did congratulate Putin on winning his sham election.

Shortly after assuming office, Trump had the Russian ambassador and foreign minister in the Oval Office, at the request of Putin. No American press was allowed, but the Russians were able to bring in their photographers and recording equipment. They even told Trump the photos wouldn’t be published. Stupid and gullible. Now, Putin is playing that for his own invite.

Usually, when we discover a new twist in the Trump/Putin relationship, we learn it from Russia. Once again, Russia has reported that Trump invited Putin to the Oval Office during the congratulatory phone call.

You can’t say you’re tough on Russia, place sanctions on them, then invite their leader over for a playdate.

What better photo-op for Putin than from inside the Oval Office? This will be a huge sign to his people, and the world, that he won the American presidency.

Is Trump dumb enough to let Putin sit at the Resolute Desk for a photo? Yes.

Here’s the video.

Please consider making a donation to keep the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. Reader contributions, small and large, really do help and are appreciated in a time of dwindling revenue for political cartoonists. You will also be supporting free speech and liberty while those in power are doing all they can to suppress it. You can also support by purchasing a signed print for $40.00. Just look at the right of this page and click the PayPal button, or you can email and make other arrangements. Thank you!

Blackmail

cjones03132018

Alyssa Mastromonaco, former deputy chief of staff for operations in the Obama administration recently wrote, “When you go to work in the White House, you divest yourself of your secrets for the same reason you divest yourself of your financial holdings: so people can’t blackmail you.”

Jared and Ivanka Trump both lied about their debt while filing their disclosure forms with the FBI for their security clearances. They initially claimed their debts were somewhere between $19 million to $98 million. Later, they had to resubmit to claim their debts were actually somewhere between $31 million to $155 million. They’re either liars or they don’t own a calculator.

People working in the West Wing who don’t come clean about the amount of their debt, or who they’re indebted to, or the fact they’re wife beaters, are susceptible to blackmail. This doesn’t apply just to people who work for the president, but the person who is the president. Our first warning sign was the fact he wouldn’t release his taxes.

Donald Trump is the first president in the modern era not to release his taxes. He promised he would and then reneged on that promise. Whether his supporters care or not, he’s got something to hide. While we initially thought he was hiding the fact he’s not as rich as he claims, it’s come to light that he’s hiding where his money is coming from and who he’s indebted to.

While Donald Trump may be more of a collection of horrible traits than an actual human being, the horrible trait of being exposed to blackmail may be the most serious and dangerous to our nation.

There shouldn’t be a debate whether Trump is susceptible to blackmail because blackmail has been paid in the past to protect him. It may not ever come to light that Trump ever paid blackmail himself, as his friends at the National Enquirer and his lawyer have covered his ass for him in the past.

The National Enquirer buys stories from women who claim they’ve slept with Trump, sign the rights so the publication has the exclusive story, and then never publish the story. Trump’s lawyer claims he paid off porn star Stormy Daniels without ever consulting with his client, was never paid back by Trump, the Trump Organization, or the Trump campaign. Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer, claims he used his home equity line to pay Daniels $130,000. He just hasn’t admitted what that payment was for, though we all know what it was for.

Cohen could be disbarred for violating ethic rules. He is also in trouble for violating campaign finance rules, as his payment, a few days before the election, was to help Trump’s campaign. Cohen did not make the payment out of the goodness of his heart. He’s a lawyer for a right-wing scumbag. He doesn’t have a heart.

Is Stormy Daniels the only woman who has been paid to keep quiet about an affair with Trump? If not, who has made those payments in the past? More troubling, if Trump will pay blackmail to hide infidelity and other assorted sex scandals, how far will he bend for more serious players, like Vladimir Putin? How clean can someone be when the main selling point for their property is that it’s great for money laundering?

A person open to blackmail is not a person we want negotiating with Vladimir Putin or even Kim Jong Un. The fact Trump hasn’t criticized Putin, enacted authorized sanctions against Russia, or even attempt to protect our nation from Russia is an indication that someone somewhere connected to Russia has something on Trump.

When Trump is questioned by Robert Mueller, he’ll be asked about Stormy Daniels and the payoff. Republicans considered perjury an impeachable offense for Bill Clinton. It should still be an impeachable offense when Trump lies about Stormy Daniels.

The Stormy affair may not be dangerous to the nation, but if it removes Trump from office it will protect us from more dangerous players.

Here’s the video.

Please consider making a donation to keep the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. Reader contributions, small and large, really do help and are appreciated in a time of dwindling revenue for political cartoonists. You will also be supporting free speech and liberty while those in power are doing all they can to suppress it. You can also support by purchasing a signed print for $40.00. Just look at the right of this page and click the PayPal button. Thank you!

Thirteen Russians

cjones02192018

If there’s one thing we should all be sure of, Hillary Clinton was the best presidential candidate because Vladimir Putin wanted us to elect Donald Trump.

On Friday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted thirteen Russians. Donald Trump FINALLY admitted Russia meddled in our election in a statement that was focused, surprise, entirely on himself. Trump believes the indictments are vindication that there was no collusion with his campaign. No, it doesn’t. Mueller isn’t done. What the details of the indictments do confirm is that Donald Trump would not be president without the help of Vladimir Putin and Russian meddlers. It’s time to ditch the idea that Russia had no effect on the outcome of our election.

The Russians didn’t just post a few memes with outrageous conspiracy theories for your gullible right-wing friends to share on Facebook. They ran a third presidential campaign. While the campaign was designed to make the worst human being possible the president of the United States, its higher objective was to derail Hillary Clinton and throw our government into chaos. Part of that strategy was to support, not just Trump, but Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein.

Trump’s margin of victory in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan was smaller than the votes Stein received in each of those states. Russians focused on those states by purchasing pro-Stein ads on Facebook. Trump would not have won the presidency without Stein’s performance.

Jill Stein is not the spoiler or scapegoat. It’s Vladimir Putin.

The Russians posed as Americans to coordinate and infiltrate political activities. They organized grassroots rallies. They paid for a cage large enough to hold an actress impersonating Clinton in a prison uniform. They stoked racial tensions and sowed social discord. They had a troll farm with a budget of over $1 million a month.

Trump has spent over a year denying the Russians meddled in our election, and he’s called it “fake news” and a hoax. This was not a hoax.

Trump has done nothing to punish Russia and his inaction has only encouraged them to continue their attacks on our nation. He has never convened a Cabinet-level meeting on Russian interference and has even refused to enact sanctions on Russia passed by Congress that he himself signed. During the transition period, Obama leveled sanctions against Russia and seized two of their compounds in the U.S. Trump’s people were telling the Russians not to retaliate because the new president would take care of it.

Vladimir Putin wanted Donald Trump to be our president. Putin does not want what’s best for the United States. No American should want our president to be the person Putin picks. Our president is a Russian troll, and he has proved Clinton right. He’s Putin’s puppet.

Right-wing fanatics always claimed Obama is a traitor, hated America and sought to destroy it. How ironic they’ve given us a president who actually fits that description.

One of the most damning aspects of this indictment is the revelation (though many of us already knew) that Russians recruited Americans to help them subvert our Democracy. They had Americans help spread propaganda, “fake news,” and conspiracy theories. They coordinated with members of the Trump campaign (which we’ll be hearing more about in the future from the Special Counsel). They even paid Americans to dress as Hillary Clinton in prison garb at rallies.

Turn on the TV and you’ll see and hear conservatives echo Trump’s talking points of no collusion or that the dossier is fake and evidence of Clinton’s collusion with Russia. Go to social media and you’ll see posts by idiots echoing the same points. Look at Congress and you’ll see Republicans writing fake memos in order to subvert Mueller’s investigation. Talk to your crazy uncle and he’s talking about Hillary’s Russian uranium deal.

The Russian’s attack against our nation isn’t over and it continues today. What is also continuing is that many Americans are still helping them.

Here’s the video. 

I want to thank everyone who has donated in the past. Your support helps me continue creating cartoons and columns with a little less stress in my life. Between competing syndicates with much larger resources, timid editors, and Trump supporters who attempt to intimidate the editors who do publish anything that criticizes their idol, it’s a challenge to make a career out of this. So your support (if you can) is appreciated. Want to help me continue to create cartoons and keep doing what I’m doing (pissing off conservatives)? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through PayPal. Every $40 donation will receive a signed print (please specify which print you want or I won’t mail one). All donations will receive my eternal gratitude

No Collusion?

cjones01022018

Why did I draw a cartoon on New Year’s Eve? Most of my colleagues have taken the day off. I’m two days ahead, so I didn’t need to draw one. Also, my last few cartoons are on Trump, so I didn’t need another on the guy. But, I really wanted to draw Beetlejuice. Plus, just the thought of not drawing another cartoon in 2017 kinda bothered me. Look at it this way: You’re not going to see a new cartoon from me until 2018. You can laugh now.

Many people were surprised Donald Trump allowed a reporter from The New York Times to interview him without any of his handlers present. What wasn’t surprising was how many times Trump said “no collusion,” or that his mind went in several directions during the 30-minute interview.

Trump said “no collusion” sixteen times, and said the word “collusion” 23 times. Kinda like when Trump says he knows more than the generals, understands healthcare better than anyone, and is the greatest at taxes. Saying something doesn’t make it true.

Trump said it’s been proven there’s no collusion, that “virtually every Democrat” has said there is no collusion, and that the only collusion with Russia during the 2016 election was with the Democrats. Those are all lies.

Not one Democrat has said there has been no collusion between Trump and Russia. There is no evidence of any collusion between Democrats and Russia. Paying an independent source for opposition research is not collusion with Russia. And, nobody can say with certainty that there is no proof of collusion between Russia and Trump.

Before Paul Manafort was indicted or Michael Flynn pled guilty, you could have said there was nothing on either of them. Unless you work for Robert Mueller, or you are Robert Mueller, you don’t know if the Special Counsel has evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia.

But, we do know representatives from the Trump campaign were meeting with Russians and exchanging messages with WikiLeaks. They even hosted Russians in Trump Tower seeking damaging information on Hillary Clinton. That sounds like an attempt at collusion at the very least.

Collusion between Trump and Russia may never be proven. Collusion between Trump cohorts and Russia will be proven because it happened. I totally expect Trump to go from, “Michael Flynn being a great guy,” to “Michael Flynn is a proven liar.” I expect him to go from, “there was no collusion,” to “I didn’t know about that collusion.” I expect him to go from, “I am putting heavy responsibility on my son-in-law Jared Kushner” to, “I knew I never could trust that guy.” At some point, he’s going to say “Donald Trump, Jr? Never heard of him.” He has already changed his stories on why he fired James Comey and Michael Flynn.

If there really wasn’t anything to this Trump/Russia stuff, and absolutely no collusion at all, then Trump, the Republicans, and all the nimrods on Fox News wouldn’t be attacking Robert Mueller, the Justice Department, and the FBI. They wouldn’t be deflecting by talking about Hillary Clinton. The Trump team knows this: If there’s any evidence of collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice, Robert Mueller is going to find it.

And, there’s no magic phrase, chant, or whataboutism that will save Donald Trump.

Creative notes: Since this is the last cartoon and post on this website for 2017, let’s summarize a bit.

I posted 401 times this year. I’m not sure if those were all new cartoons, but it’s close. Between my syndication and commission cartoons for The Costa Rica Star and other newspapers, I drew nearly 400 cartoons in 2017. In case you’re a Republican, there are not that many days in a year.

There were over 318,000 views on this website this year, which is one thousand more than it got in 2016. That’s kinda odd because there were actually fewer visitors this year than last. Some of you guys hung around longer.

I created this website in 2013 (after I was laid off from newspaper employment and started my own syndication) and in that time I’ve posted 1,494 times. That’s a lot of cartoons.

I wish each of you a happy new year. Thank you for your support, visiting this site and reading my cartoons. I don’t know if I’ll give you 400 cartoons in 2018, but I promise you will get a lot of them.

See you on the other side.

I want to thank everyone who has donated in the past. Your support helps me continue creating cartoons and columns with a little less stress in my life. Between competing syndicates with much larger resources, timid editors, and Trump supporters who attempt to intimidate the editors who do publish anything that criticizes their idol, it’s a challenge to make a career out of this. So your support (if you can) is appreciated. Want to help me continue to create cartoons and keep doing what I’m doing (pissing off conservatives)? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through PayPal. Every $40 donation will receive a signed print (please specify which print you want or I won’t mail one). All donations will receive my eternal gratitude.

Defected Deflect

cjones12262017

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani said he knew the FBI planned to review more emails tied to Hillary Clinton before FBI Director James Comey publicly announced that was what they were doing. Basically, he claimed the FBI LEAKED information to the Trump campaign, and he was proud of it.

Giuliani said agents of the bureau were frustrated and outraged with how the investigation into Clinton’s emails was handled. Two days before Comey’s announcement, Rudy teased that Trump’s campaign had a “couple of surprises left.”

Giuliani told Fox & Friends, “I did nothing to get it out, I had no role in it. Did I hear about it? You’re darn right I heard about it, and I can’t even repeat the language that I heard from the former FBI agents.”

Now, the very same FBI that employed those “outraged” agents and had leaked to the Trump campaign is being attacked by Trump, Republicans in Congress, and the sycophants on Fox News. If you listen to these people you’d get the idea the FBI is a bunch of Birkenstock-pussy hat-wearing, Hillary voting, reeking of Patchouli funk bohemians.

Comey’s announcement that the FBI was reopening the case against her, and without revealing that Trump was also under investigation, is largely credited with helping Trump win the election. After he became president, Trump fired Comey for investigating his former National Security Advisor and friend Michael Flynn, his campaign’s ties to Russia, and also for not declaring his loyalty to Trump. There are repercussions for not eating the meatloaf.

Trump has accused the FBI, Robert Mueller, and his entire investigation of being full of partisan Democrats out to get him. He’s attacked the FBI’s Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who is now expected to retire in 2018. He’s accused the Deputy Attorney General, who appointed Mueller, of being a Democrat, even though he’s a Republican who Trump appointed.

Any day now I half expect Trump to accuse his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, who was the first sitting U.S. Senator to endorse Trump, of being a Democrat who supported Hillary Clinton.

Trump’s defense is going on offense. His legal team and Republicans are very afraid of what Mueller will find and present in court…and ultimately to Congress. While they have claimed the investigation is a hoax, a hoax doesn’t produce indictments and guilty pleas, which Muller has done.

Congress is trying to end their investigation, and the Republican in charge of the House’s effort, Devin Nunes, has done everything in his power to manipulate and obstruct it. It’s funny they claim the FBI is biased against Trump while the head of their investigation is a Trump supporter who served on his transition team.

The thing is, people do have political opinions. But, I fully expect professionals to be able to do their job, abide by their oaths, do what’s legal and in the name of justice, no matter what their personal opinions may be of Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. The reason Republicans and Trump sycophants claim that can’t be done is because they can’t do it. Have you ever watched a House hearing on Benghazi? You had plenty of opportunities as there were a lot of them.

There are legitimate concerns that the reason Trump is trying to convince the public that those investigating him are crooked is so he won’t receive a backlash if he fires those investigating him, or he pardons those brought up on charges. At some point, Trump is going to trigger a Constitutional crisis, and he’s working to get away with it. If it goes unchecked, the Republicans will let him. For them it’s not just party over country, it’s Trump over country.

The only reason to continue the attacks on the FBI, the Department of Justice, and Robert Mueller is because the Russia investigation is not a hoax and there will be more charges. The closer the charges get to Donald Trump, the more they’ll attack the good guys.

Right now, keep your eyes on the bad guys. They’re not in the FBI, the Special Counsel’s office, or in the media. They’re in the White House.

Notes: Yeah, I’m working today. I have to work on the new year’s cover for one of my clients and I will be drawing another cartoon later tonight.

I want to thank everyone who has donated in the past. Your support helps me continue creating cartoons and columns with a little less stress in my life. Between competing syndicates with much larger resources, timid editors, and Trump supporters who attempt to intimidate the editors who do publish anything that criticizes their idol, it’s a challenge to make a career out of this. So your support (if you can) is appreciated. Want to help me continue to create cartoons and keep doing what I’m doing (pissing off conservatives)? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through PayPal. Every $40 donation will receive a signed print (please specify which print you want or I won’t mail one). All donations will receive my eternal gratitude.

Scamelot

cjones11142017

I said it in a blog post a few days ago, and I’m gonna say it again. I’m old enough to remember when protecting America from Russia was a part of the Republican Party’s platform. And, I don’t think I’m that old.

Like Trump, when John F. Kennedy took office, critics questioned if he was up to the task. People worried he was too young, inexperienced, and that a much more seasoned player on the international stage like Nikita Khrushchev would manipulate and get the best of him. In Trump’s case, people worry he’s not up to the job because he’s a narcissistic idiot.

JFK was tested like no president before him. Lincoln may have had the hardest challenge of keeping the nation together, but Kennedy had the task of preventing nuclear Armageddon.

The Bay of Pigs disaster gave Kennedy’s critics every right for concern, but he proved he was the right man at the right time when he stared down Khrushchev, and Khrushchev blinked. Nearly every presidential historian has JFK and Lincoln in their top five of the greatest American presidents. Trump will be in every historian’s bottom five, if not rated the very worst.

If you’re a geek like I am, you read books grading each of our presidents. Even the worst presidents have a few positive details included about them. Most historians give Nixon high marks for his foreign policy and economic performance, and even James Buchanan is given credit for receiving concessions from Paraguay, China, and England…before he allowed the nation to split in two. Trump will probably only be given credit for winning an election, and even that will have an asterisk.

If Trump was president during the Cuban Missile Crisis, today there would be a lot of Soviet missiles 90 miles from Miami pointed at the United States. Trump has shown only appeasement to Russia, the nation that helped him win the presidency.

You wonder what else Putin has on Trump, as our president has never said one critical word about Russia’s president. Trump still cannot acknowledge the fact Russia meddled in our election. The guy truly is Putin’s puppet.

Trump isn’t just Putin’s puppet. He’s everyone’s puppet. All you have to do is give him praise or insults, and you can manipulate him to do what you want. China gave him a state dinner and in return, Trump refused to criticize their atrocious human rights record. He even followed China’s lead and didn’t allow our press to ask questions when he was in China, which is customary.

During the presidential campaign, Trump said China was raping us. During his Asia trip, he said he didn’t blame China for raping us. Like most Republicans, Trump would rather blame the victim of rape instead of the rapist.

Saudi Arabia gave him a sword dance and in return, Trump supported their criticism of Qatar (where we have a military base) and their recent internal power grab. He said, “they know what they’re doing.”

After Turkish President Erdogan seized more power and even had his security detail attack American protesters outside the Turkish embassy, Trump praised the guy and said, “he’s getting very high marks.”

The White House says Trump spoke to President Duterte of the Philippines about his extrajudicial killings, and the Philippine government tells us it never came up. However, Duterte did serenade Trump with a love song called “You are the Light.” Seriously. In fact, Trump said Duterte is doing an “unbelievable job” in fighting the drug war. Trump also chuckled when Duterte chastised the American press for asking questions and when he called them “spies.” So much for the President of the United States being a defender of freedom.

As much as Trump has sucked up to other autocrats, Putin takes the cake. Hell, Trump has probably baked him one. After Trump came into office, Putin asked him to host the Russian ambassador and Foreign Minister in the Oval Office. Trump dutifully complied, kicked out our press and allowed the Russians to bring their own.

During an international summit in Germany, Trump met with Putin and didn’t bring an American translator to their chat. He also went light on Putin about their meddling in our election and those of other nations.

Congress passed sanctions on Russia, and Trump has yet to implement them even though it’s past the deadline the legislative branch mandated.

Trump has continued to deny Russia ever meddled in the election, despite daily revelations of his campaign colluding with Russians. During Trump’s Asia trip, he got to hang out with Putin again.

During this meeting, Trump says he talked to Putin again about the meddling and Putin said he didn’t do it, and he’s offended by people saying he did. Trump said he believes him. Later, Trump said he believes our security experts, but he also believes Putin doesn’t think he meddled. Say what now?

Is Donald Trump seriously trying to convince us that Russia meddled but Putin isn’t aware of it? Seriously? That makes about as much sense as Roy Moore telling us that he never dated someone without their mother’s permission…when he was in his 30s.

Donald Trump is no JFK, no Abraham Lincoln, and he’s no Barack Obama. He’s not even a James Buchanan.

Creative notes: I can’t recall the last time I drew JFK or RFK. Maybe I never have. I wasn’t sure if I should go with this idea as I was wondering if it was funny enough, but I really got into it when I started adding all the little details. While writing today’s blog, the idea of including a Life Magazine came to me. It bugged me enough that I went back and added it, and then resent it to my clients, who already had the first version.

It would have eaten me alive every time I looked at the cartoon if I didn’t have Life Magazine.

I want to thank everyone who has donated in the past. Your support helps me continue creating cartoons and columns with a little less stress in my life. Between competing syndicates with much larger resources, timid editors, and Trump supporters who attempt to intimidate the editors who do publish anything that criticizes their idol, it’s a challenge to make a career out of this. So your support (if you can) is appreciated. Want to help me continue to create cartoons and keep doing what I’m doing (pissing off conservatives)? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through PayPal. Every $40 donation will receive a signed print. All donations will receive my eternal gratitude.

Indictment Palooza

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If you’re feeling squishy about yourself because you boldly predicted Mueller’s first indictment would be for Paul Manafort, give yourself an obvious cookie. What will you predict next? Sarah Huckabee Sanders will deflect with something stupid?

One person who deserves a cookie, or an entire box, is Robert Mueller. This man, despite being accused of leaking by Trump sycophants, keeps his cards close to his vest. Manafort was not a surprise. Rick Gates, OK that makes sense. George Papadopoulos? Who? I recall hearing about that guy months ago and how bizarre it was that his qualification to serve as one of Trump’s foreign policy advisers was that he played on the model U.N. when he was in school. But, if you had picked Papadopoulos then that would have been as brilliant as when I picked Adrian Peterson in fantasy football his rookie year. Though, with my fantasy football team, that involved more dumb luck than brilliance.

Donald Trump and his idiotic followers have been telling us for about a year that there has been no collusion with Russia. It’s all “fake news.” Every intelligence agency tells us there was collusion. Facebook and Twitter have told us Russia bought ads, thus collusion. Trump even begged for Russia’s help during the campaign. Yet, it’s all “fake news.” Now, it has come out that Donald Trump Jr. wasn’t the only goon seeking information on Hillary Clinton from the Russians. How much longer are the sycophants going to continue parroting the lies from the Trump administration?

Mueller indicted Paul Manafort on twelve counts, some being conspiracy against the United States. Trump has boasted that all the charges against Manafort and Gates were for crimes committed before they worked for Trump. Like it’s a great big accomplishment that his campaign manager conspired against America. It’s indicative of what kind of people Trump surrounds himself with. Next time he hires someone, he needs to conduct a background check that at least involves reading their Wikipedia page.

Just after Trump tweeted that he had no connection to the crimes and there was no collusion, word came out about Papadopoulos and how he was seeking collusion with Russia as a representative of the Trump campaign. Oops.

Papadopoulos pleads guilty to lying to the FBI and has made a deal with Mueller. He’s cooperating with the Special Counsel’s investigation and has been for months. Does this mean he may have had conversations with Trump people while wearing a wire. Oh, please say yes.

Trump’s defense is that he doesn’t remember Papadopoulos, despite claiming he has one of the best memories. He and his collection of stupid people have claimed that Papadopoulos was a low-level staffer, thus he didn’t have any real important job with the campaign. They made it sound like the guy only fetched coffee and made copies. In reality, he fetched covfefe.

A low-level staffer was apparently what his campaign was looking for to make connections with Russia. In one email from a top unnamed staffer, he was encouraged to travel to make a connection between Trump and Putin. One email read, “We need someone to communicate that DT is not doing these trips, It should be someone low level in the campaign so as not to send any signal.” If that is not collusion then I don’t know what is. It’s a lot heavier than the Uranium deflection or hiring someone to conduct opposition research on your opponent.

For a low-level guy, he got some good play from Trump. The then-candidate mentioned him as an adviser and how he was a good person. A photo has also surfaced of him sitting at the same table with Trump and Jeff Sessions at a policy meeting. He was not delivering coffee.

The White House says they believe Mueller is wrapping up his investigation. This just might be the end of the beginning. Mueller is just warming up his arm. There could be more charges on Manafort. Papadopoulos may not be the only one who’s been secretly working with Mueller. This will and probably has already, created an environment in the White House where no one trusts anyone. Who’s wearing a wire? Who’s working with Mueller? Who will send me to prison so they don’t have to go? What a great working environment. They go in thinking they’ll serve four to eight but in reality, most will be looking at ten to twenty.

What I’m looking at is how many people will be convicted of lying to the FBI, because everybody who works for Trump lies their ass off. I feel sorry for Huckabee Sander’s future jailhouse bitch. I’m going to feel sorry for Sean Spicer and Jared when they’re both the jailhouse bitches. When Trump testifies, and he will, he will commit perjury. The man can’t talk about anything without telling a lie. I bet that chocolate cake even tasted like crap.

Despite their argument that they’re focused on the nation’s business, the White House is panicking. There’s a report that Trump wants Ivanka and Jared out of the White House and return to the private sector. He should never have brought his kids into his corruption.

There are things to expect, like Michael Flynn’s upcoming indictment. There will also be surprises. Apparently, this Mueller guy is really good at what he’s doing. He’s not distracted by shiny objects.

Shit got real yesterday. It’s only going to get worse for the White House. There are reports that Trump was fuming at the indictments. Expect a full meltdown when Mueller goes after his taxes.

I’ll supply the popcorn…and the ink.

Creative notes: I tweeted out the line to this cartoon yesterday. As I started working on an idea this morning (after having several), I kept going back to my smart-ass comment on social media. I liked it better than the cartoon I had started. So, I debated myself and stared at the Surface Pro for an hour before deciding to erase everything and start over.

I hate tweeting out the idea before I use it, because that ruins the surprise for my readers on social media, at least for the ones who saw it. Also, a fellow cartoonist once admitted to me that he got one of his cartoon ideas from one of my tweets. Sheesh. You’re supposed to get your ideas from Trump’s tweets, not mine.

I want to thank everyone who has donated in the past. Your support helps me continue creating cartoons and columns with a little less stress in my life. Between competing syndicates with much larger resources, timid editors, and Trump supporters who attempt to intimidate the editors who do publish anything that criticizes their idol, it’s a challenge to make a career out of this. So your support (if you can) is appreciated. Want to help me continue to create cartoons and keep doing what I’m doing (pissing off conservatives)? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through PayPal. Every $40 donation will receive a signed print. All donations will receive my eternal gratitude.

Skeletons And Then Some

cjones07252017

Donald Trump says that if Special Counsel Robert Mueller looks into his or his family’s finances that aren’t related to Russia, then that’ll be going too far. He’s hinting that he may fire Mueller.

Our president is a man who doesn’t understand a lot of things. We can add investigations to that ever-expanding list. You can’t tell investigators not to look where you don’t want them to look. It doesn’t work that way. Trump is having a hard time casting an image of an innocent man. While declaring all the coverage of collusion with Russia as “fake news,” he’s talking about issuing a pardon for himself and firing Mueller. On top of all that, he’s putting together a smear campaign against everyone in the Special Counsel’s office. I’m half expecting him to write a book like O.J. did, titled “If I did it.” Though, like all of Trump’s other books, he’ll hire someone else to write it because Trump is barely literate.

Trump believes Hillary Clinton and James Comey committed crimes, even though there’s no evidence to hold that belief. He thinks President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. He’s created a commission to investigate non-existent voter fraud from the 2016 presidential election. In the past, he claimed Obama wasn’t born in his country and that he saw thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating 9/11. I’m not sure his feeble mind is able to understand what about his finances are connected to Russia or not.

What is known is that Trump has millions in loans from Deutsche Bank, who continued to loan him money after he sued them. Deutsche Bank, who also has Ivanka and Jared as clients, has been accused of laundering money out of Eastern Europe. Trump sold a house in Florida that he bought for $41 million to a Russian oligarch who paid The Donald $95 million (five years later the property was valued at $60 million and the oligarch only visited once before having it demolished).

The conservative media and Trump sycophants keep telling us to stop talking about Russia, even though Trump himself can’t stop talking about it. Thankfully, the press, the FBI, the Special Counsel, and Congress disagrees with the sycophants and find treason to be a very serious matter.

And please, Mr. Mueller. Look in the bank accounts, the closet, under the bed, the car trunk, the piggy bank, under the floor, etc.

Creative Note: I’m really hoping there aren’t any law enforcement agencies tracking all my Google searches. I had to look up a lot of creepy stuff for this cartoon.

I want to thank everyone who has donated in the past. Your support helps me continue creating cartoons and columns with a little less stress in my life. Between competing syndicates with much larger resources, timid editors, and Trump supporters who attempt to intimidate the editors who do publish anything that criticizes their idol, it’s a challenge to make a career out of this. So your support (if you can) is appreciated. Want to help me continue to create cartoons and keep doing what I’m doing (pissing off conservatives)? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through PayPal. Every $40 donation will receive a signed print. All donations will receive my eternal gratitude.