State Of The Union

Crazy or Crazy

Did you really think I was going to let the GOP response to President Biden’s State of the Union address slip past me? It may be a few days late, but here it is.

The Republican Party is so out of touch that it doesn’t realize it’s out of touch. As for myself, I know sometimes I’m out of touch. I attended the wedding of my niece Lyndsay last week and every time I opened my mouth, I could hear those new home buyers turning into their parents from those insurance commercials. Is the groom nervous? I couldn’t tell because he was running away too fast. HAHAHAHA no?

Republicans should have made huge gains in last year’s midterm elections but nominated wackjobs like Herschel Walker, Dr. Oz, and Kari Lake. Before the elections, they celebrated the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v Wade and pushed red states to ban abortions. Another major message from the party was hate as they used refugees as political pawns to “own the libs.” After gaining the House with a slight majority, Speaker Kevin McCarthy caved in to the goons like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert and put them on some of the most important committees in Congress.

When placed in the same room with President Biden last week, Biden came off as the reasoned, rational, and mature one while the GOP came out like howler monkeys that ate a lot of paste while growing up under electrical wires.

Republicans gave us another huge example of how out of touch they are with their choice to give their response to President Biden’s State of the Union address. Claiming they were trying to appeal to American youth, they chose Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I know I make a lot of jokes here but that’s not one of them. They chose Sarah Huckabee Sanders to appeal to the youth vote. Seriously. You can Google this.

Appealing to the nation’s youth, Huckasans is not a great choice…unless you’re going for young hillbillies. But if they were looking for experience in lying, one of the former White House spokesgoons from the Trump administration isn’t a bad choice. Personally, I think they should have had Sean Spicer deliver it while wearing his puffy pirate shirt from his Dancing with the Star appearance.

Huckasans went from being a spokesperson to governor which would be a huge step up if the state weren’t Arkansas. The biggest feature of Sarah Huckabee Sanders is that she’s a liar and a defender of the worst behavior.

When Trump caged immigrant children, she said it was “very biblical.”

When Trump retweeted Islamophobic videos chock full of lies, she said it didn’t matter if the videos were “real” and told reporters that if they were focusing “on the nature of the video, you’re focusing on the wrong thing.”

How out of touch is Huckasans? Weeks after the Uvalde shooting that killed 19 children, she said, “We will make sure that when a kid is in the womb, they’re as safe as they are in a classroom.” There were 51 school shootings in 2022 that resulted in injuries or death.

After Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, she told the press that “countless” FBI agents told her they were happy with the firing. She later testified under oath that she made that up. She lied. She later claimed her lie, some bullshit she totally invented, was a mere “slip of the tongue.” She even lied about what a “slip of the tongue” is. A “slip of the tongue” is a mistake in speech, like saying the wrong name during sex. Slips of the tongue usually reveal more truths than lies.

She committed illegal ethical code violations by using her government Twitter account to slam a restaurant that refused to serve her and to attack The New York Times for running an anonymous Op-Ed from an insider within the Trump administration (sic).

She posted a video from InfoWars of CNN’s Jim Acosta that was doctored to make him seem physically aggressive toward a White House intern and used it to defend the Trump administration taking away Acosta’s White House press credentials. They couldn’t admit the real reason they took away his press credentials was that he asked tough questions.

She claims she’s a Christian and “God wanted Trump to be president.” God did send several plagues on us so that could be true. Why couldn’t we get frogs?

She claimed that Trump’s unfinished border wall had stopped nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018 when it only stopped six people who were on the no-fly list. Lots of people get placed on the no-fly list. You can get placed on it for trying to transport potato salad with raisins. OK, that might be terrorism.

She claimed the Mueller Report was “a total and complete exoneration” of Donald Trump even though it states inside the report that it “does NOT exonerate” him.

She played the victim when that restaurant denied her service because they don’t want to serve lying right-wing goosestepping goons who are destroying the nation. She also played it in another incident, After a reporter used the term “lopping of heads” while saying there should be a staff shakeup on the White House communication team, she cried, “They’ve said I should be choked, they said I should deserve a lifetime of harassment, but certainly never had somebody say that I should be decapitated.”

She’s out of touch from her own party. While a candidate for governor, she said she would outlaw all abortions in the state and wouldn’t allow any exceptions for rape or incest. A majority of Republicans disagree with this.

One of her first acts as governor was to ban the word “Latinx” from all state documents claiming it constitutes “ethnically insensitive and pejorative language.”

During her response to the State of the Union Tuesday night, she said, “Most Americans simply want to live their lives in freedom and peace, but we are under attack in a left-wing culture war we didn’t start and never wanted to fight. Every day, we are told that we must partake in their rituals, salute their flags, and worship their false idols, all while big government colludes with Big Tech to strip away the most American thing there is—your freedom of speech. That’s not normal. It’s crazy, and it’s wrong. She later added that the “dividing line in America is no longer between right and left, it’s between normal or crazy.”

So the party that gives us Huckasans, Lauren dumbest-person-in-Congress Boebert, Jim Gym Jordan, pathological liar George Santos, Ms. Frazzledrip Gazpacho Police Jewish Space Lasers Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Matt Giggity Gaetz is the normal choice?

Even some Republicans thought Huckasans was a lousy choice. White nationalist Steve Bannon, while talking to asshat Lou Dobbs, blasted her saying she’s not “intellectually capable of going to the heart of the matter.”

Bannon and Lou Dobbs were mostly upset she didn’t mention Donald Trump once in her speech. But an editorial in the Arkansas Times criticized her for “snarling about wokeness and the radical left.” Austin Bailey wrote, “It got pretty dark and weird” and described it as a “word salad of talking points and name-calling, with some attempts at folksy relatability thrown in.” He wrote, “Sanders’ rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union address was light on policy, heavy on menace.”

Conservative commentator Amanda Carpenter contrasted Biden’s speech, saying focused on “the economy and concrete issues,” with Sanders’ speech, describing it as a “deep plunge into dystopian culture wars.”

Carpenter wrote for Bulwark, “These annual canned rebuttals usually come off as tone-deaf. but with Sanders, there was an additional, unexpected contrast with Biden. She spoke for a dreary 15 minutes — all scripted according to teleprompter, with no audience. Biden spoke for more than an hour, with a teleprompter in front of plenty of hostile Republicans. Biden, 80 years young, rolled with it, tackling every tough subject on his agenda, inviting Republicans to join him at every turn. Sanders, 40 years old, droned on, her entire speech devoted to demonizing Biden.”

Former GOP strategist Steve Schmidt said Sanders was “abusing” viewers with “MAGA lies.” Schmidt said, “It was stale. It was old. It was an ugly speech from a lying governor who is unfit for any type of public service.” I disagree and believe Sanders would do an amazing job at picking up dog poo in public parks.

Sanders did this culture war thing for the Republican response to the State of the Union thinking it would work nationally because it worked in Arkansas. But what’s the Republican Party’s reasoning for choosing her? Granted, their choices of rational people in their party are limited, but couldn’t they have found at least one person in the GOP who’s not a raving barking lying lunatic? One. We only need one for one night. No? No.

With these kinds of decisions from the GOP, I half expect George Santos to give the rebuttal next year.

Music note: I listened to Audioslave.

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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Mittens Meets Santos

I drew a lot of derogatory cartoons on Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential race. He was fun to make fun of. I called him “Mittens.” His economic policies were wrong for the nation and he was another out-of-touch Republican millionaire. Also, he had flip-flopped from being a governor of a state that was the first to offer its citizens government healthcare, to a Republican opposed to the Affordable Care Act. Now as a U.S. senator from Utah, he seems to be flipping back to being a rational person.

Mitt Romney is a good guy and he always has been. He may be the last Republican you can actually disagree with on politics without hating, although I read that President Obama didn’t like him very much in 2012.

Mitt Romney opposed Donald Trump’s political campaign in 2016. While some people like Nikki Haley went from opposition to Trump sycophant. Romney gave a now-famous speech mocking and tearing Trump apart, calling him a “phony” and a “fraud.” Mitt was right. He did visit Trump Tower in the transition period between election day and inauguration after Trump won (sic) the 2016 election, which many found to be humiliating for Mitt as he groveled for the job of Secretary of State over crawfish.

But after Mittens became a senator, he marched with Black Lives Matter and voted to impeach Trump both times. He voted to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.

According to one book, on the night he won Utah’s senate seat in 2018, Mitt Romney received a congratulatory call from Joe Biden, which is unique because Biden was veep to the guy who beat Romney in 2012. This is another example of the kind of person Joe Biden is, to call a political rival from the opposite party to congratulate him in a race he had nothing to do with. This was reported in the book “The Long Alliance: The Imperfect Union of Joe Biden and Barack Obama” by Gabriel Debenedetti.

According to the book, Romney told Biden during this call, “You have to run.” In telling Joe Biden “you have to run,” Romney did what most Republicans are incapable of doing, putting the nation not just before their political party, but their cult.

Mitt Romney is a reasonable person and a good guy. And on Tuesday night shortly before the president delivered his State of the Union address to Congress, Romney displayed it again.

George Santos is not a good guy. He’s a pathological liar who will lie about anything and everything. He’s the kind of guy who will steal money from a dying dog that belongs to a military veteran after making promises to save the dog. The best way to describe George Santos is by saying he’s a POS.

Santos arrived early at the State of the Union to get a sweet spot along the aisle all the important people would walk down, like cabinet members, Supreme Court justices, and the president of the United States. When Senator Romney came in and saw where Santos was positioned, he had some choice words for him.

Romney told Santos, “You don’t belong here,” probably referring to where he was standing at that very moment considering that he is under investigation, criminally and ethically. It was brazen and out of touch for him to be there when he should have either been sulking in the back of the room or better yet, watching on TV at home. Or, maybe when Romney said, “You don’t belong here,” he was talking about Santos being in Congress.

What should also be noted is that Mitt Romney was the only Republican walking by who told Santos he didn’t belong there. He’s the only one who spoke out for what is right. The rest of the Republicans cowardly kept their mouths shut. You would think that at least one would have backed him up. Nope.

According to Santos, he replied to Mitt, “Go tell that to the 142,000 that voted for me.” It was later reported that Mitt called Santos an “ass” and Santos said something to the effect of, “I know you are but what am I?”.

But Mitt’s reply to Santos’ remark of 142,000 people “that voted for me,” should have been, “They did not vote for you. They voted for your lies.”

Afterward, Romney told reporters that Mr. Santos is “a sick puppy, he shouldn’t have been there. Given the fact that he’s under ethics investigation, he should be sitting in the back row and being quiet instead of parading in front of the president.”

Just about everyone who’s ever met Mitt Romney will tell you he’s a nice guy. He doesn’t chew people out. His 2012 opponent, President Barack Obama, talked in 2016 about how at least Mitt Romney was qualified for the presidency, unlike Trump who was “uniquely unqualified.” Saturday Night Live made jokes about Mitt’s hard-drinking of milk. So for Mitt Romney to say what he did to Santos is probably the equivalent of me calling Santos a POS.

Santos later said that what Romney told him wasn’t “very Mormon-like,” which is rich coming from a pathological lying dog killer. He then said, “It’s not the first time in history I’ve been told to shut up and go to the back of the room, especially by people who come from a privileged background. I’m never going to shut up and go to the back.”

Santos was out to make himself the victim, as though he was the underdog to the elite millionaire that Romney is. But George, you being told to shut up and go to the back of the room isn’t based on your economic status or being gay. It’s based on the fact that you’re a lying piece of shit that sleazed and cheated his way into Congress. It has to do with the fact you’re currently under investigation. It has to do with the fact that a large portion of those 142,000 people who voted for you want you to resign.

Santos tweeted to Romney, “You will never be president.” George, you will never be a two-term congressman.

George Santos did not belong along the aisle to shake the president’s hand. President Joe Biden refused to shake his hand when he saw Santos. Santos also does not belong on any congressional committees. He doesn’t belong in any classified meetings or hearings. George Santos doesn’t belong in Congress. The thing is, George… Mitt Romney is better than you. Of course, that’s not saying much because you’re a POS. Dung beetles are better than you.

Did you know that Mitt Romney, at 68, boxed a 52-year-old Evander Holyfield in a charity boxing match? Of course, Mitt didn’t win but it was for charity and fun. Holyfield was easy on him and even fell to the canvas once (and even helped train Romney). But, if Mitt Romney can go two rounds with Evander Holyfield, then I put my money on him kicking George Santo’s ass. I would very much like to see that, please.

Blog note: I titled this thing “Mitt Meets,” which was unfinished. I was trying to think of the right word for Santos but went and wrote the blog first, and then I forgot. Shit. So I added “Santos” after publishing. Duh, again.

Music note: More B-52s

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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SOTU Heckler

This year’s State of the Union speech to Congress was interesting, to say the least. In fact, it may have even been exciting. What?

I wasn’t looking forward to watching and considered skipping it and catching the highlights later. In fact, since my TV is on news 90% of the time, I just had it on mute when the speech started. I had already heard all the warmups and I was expecting a slow an methodical speech by the president. President Joe Biden is not the best speaker in politics and I really wasn’t expecting much. I wasn’t expecting Joe Biden to bring it.

He brought it.

Not only did he bring it, but he played rope-a-dope with the GOP and negotiated them into agreeing that cuts to Social Security and Medicare are “off the table.”

President Biden stated that there were some who wanted those cuts, which is true. But Republicans booed and called him a liar. So, Biden said “we agree” and those cuts are “off the table.” Damn! He got them. He got them good.

Rick Scott, the Republican senator who’s led the charge to make those cuts, released an ad this morning calling for Biden to resign. Why? Because he shut you down? If anything from last night’s speech, Biden should definitely run again.

Republicans want cuts but they don’t know what to cut, especially after last night. What President Biden did last night was protect Social Security and Medicare for every American. Republicans hate that.

Sitting behind President Biden was, of course, Vice President Kamala Harris and the weakest Speaker in the history of the House, Kevin McCarthy, who seemed to keep sinking in his chair.

Before the speech, McCarthy told his caucus to behave. They didn’t. Weakest Speaker ever.

Marjorie Taylor Green, who McCarthy has elevated in the House, heckled the president, which is what she did last year with Lauren HaveYouSeenMyHusband’sDick Bocbert. MTG heckled, screaming “liar” and booed while wearing some white varmint around her shoulders that I’m sure she shot herself while it was on a rack in a Sears. You gotta be tricky to sneak up on those things. Earlier, she was seen walking around holding a balloon, as if her looking like an idiot was owning the libs or something.

It was a shocking big deal when Representative Joe Wilson shouted “you lie” at President Obama during one of his State of the Union speeches. The House floor is supposed to be sacred and the office of the presidency is to be respected, even if you don’t like the guy in it. Wilson apologized the next day. Now, after birtherism, four years of Trump, an insurrection, Matt Gaetz showing pics of his naked girlfriends on the House floor, and two years of antics by Lauren IfYouHaven’tSeenMyHusband’sDickYetIt’sProbablyOnlyBecauseYou’reNotHangingOutWithTeenageGirlInColoradoBowlingAlleys Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Frazzledrip Queen Greene, Republicans making asses out of themselves during a State of the Union speech isn’t as big of a deal as it used to be.

Before the speech, Lying congressman George Santos arrived early so he could be in position to shake hands with the important people as they walked down the aisle…and possibly pick their pockets. Along came Senator Mitt Romney who told Santos, “You don’t belong here.” You could see Santos mouthing off to Romney after that as the distinguished senator walked away. Later, Santos tweeted at Mitt, “You will never be president.” To that, I say to Santos, you will never be a two-term congressman.

What we saw last night was a president with plans to move this nation forward, to help Americans, to help build this nation, and to leave a better nation for those who will follow us. All we saw from Republicans was heckling, which they do year-round. Republicans don’t know to legislate or negotiate. Add the weakest Speaker in American history, and the GOP is kinda screwed because President Biden does know how to govern. He also knows how to rope a dope.

And last night, President Biden roped the entire Republican Party. That’s gonna leave a mark.

Creative note: I had two other ideas I couldn’t choose between, so I showed them to my two proofers. One of them told me they were both “meh.” That meant they were OK but not great. She said they were “not funny.” So, I decided to trash them. You’ll see them later in a blog of roughs. So that led me to come up with this cartoon within minutes. And I laughed. When I make myself laugh, it can mean the cartoon is great or it can mean the cartoon is very moronic and I’m laughing because I’m a Beavis.

Music note: I listened to The Vines and Veruca Salt.

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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Mean Girls

There’s something seriously wrong with people who think being vile and disgusting is cute and clever. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene appear to be in a race to be the most horrible creatures alive. Toxic Betty and Veronica are proof that being able to walk upright and have opposable thumbs doesn’t make you human.

The president deserves respect while delivering his (or her) State of the Union speech unless, of course, that president doesn’t respect the process himself. President Biden respects the presidency, the courts, Congress, and tradition. He deserves respect. But, there is room to express disagreement. If applause is allowed, then a certain amount of objection should be allowed as well. If the opposition party objects, it’s fair for them to grumble and boo…to a certain point.

There were boos from Republicans the other night that lasted about two seconds each and were delivered in unison. I think that’s fine. Two presidents who were great at shutting those down were Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. A president knows which parts of his speech will receive boos, though Donald Trump (sic) always seemed surprised anyone would dare object to what he said. And it was fair when Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore her copy of Trump’s address after you heard what was in it.

President Joe Biden also did a great job dealing, not just with the boos, but with outright heckles. When the Republicans booed him, he just kept rolling with his speech. When two Republican goons started heckling, he ignored them and kept going with his speech. The best response was the non-response. Besides, that’s what I’m here for.

Because of continued COVID precautions, President Biden’s State of the Union address to Congress had a limited attendance yet, somehow Heckle and Jeckle got in. Of course, I’m referring to the Republican troglodytes Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

President Biden called on Congress in his speech to pass legislation to aid veterans exposed to toxins while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said it’s a problem that leads to cancers “that would put them in a flag-draped coffin.” As he was saying, “One of those soldiers was my son, Major Beau Biden,” an Iraq war veteran who died from brain cancer, Boebert shouted out, “You put them there. Thirteen of them!”

Boebert was referring to the 13 U.S. troops killed during a suicide attack during the last days of America’s evacuation from Afghanistan.

Throughout the speech, Boebert and MTG were snickering, laughing, making odd comments, and live-tweeting. Boebert tweeted over 50 times during the speech. When the president talked about immigration, the troglodyte twins attempted to start a “build the wall” chant that didn’t take off.

Have you ever been to a sporting event and watched a couple of people fail to get a wave started? They look like morons in their failure and you’re kinda embarrassed for them. But here, I’m not embarrassed for Boebert and MTG. I’m disgusted for them. The people who should be embarrassed are their constituents.

I would say that daycare would be a better place for these two than Congress, but I know daycares typically have standards, and these two would probably be rejected. They’re bullies.

Before she was in Congress, Marjorie Taylor Greene stalked survivors of school shootings. After she was sent to Congress, she went to the congressional office of her colleague Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and shouted through her mail slot. She even expressed support for executing the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Lauren Boebert’s list of vile accomplishments includes accusing her colleague Ilhan Omar of being a terrorist. Both of these women have promoted Qanon conspiracy theories. During the white nationalist terrorist attack on the Capitol building, Boebert was tweeting what she believed was the location of Pelosi. I don’t think I’ve used the word “vile” enough in this blog.

There has been plenty of Democratic condemnation of these two hyenas. What we need are Republicans to condemn these two. And in a speech with limited attendance, why were Bizarro World’s Lucy and Ethel allowed to attend.

There’s this joke comedian Louis C.K. says his daughter wrote (let’s ignore his wacky past for a moment). The joke is, “Who didn’t let the gorilla into the ballet?” The answer is, “Just the people who are in charge of that decision,” and “just the folks who make that assessment,” with “their judgment was that it wasn’t a good idea to let him in.” Louis speculates that the gorilla is stopped in line, asks why he can’t get in and believes he should at least get some credit for being able to talk and wanting to attend a ballet. But the door guy says, “yeah, you’re good now but it’s a long show. You’re not gonna make it.” That should have happened at the State of the Union.

The State of the Union was about an hour long and the two cackling goons probably didn’t make it through the first 30 seconds before acting like gorillas. If anything, gorillas would have behaved better.

My point is, as Louis’ daughter pointed out, there should be someone making that decision not to let them in. You don’t need a precedent to know it’s a bad idea to let the gorilla into the ballet and here, we have precedent that it’s a horrible idea to allow Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene anywhere civilized people gather. There should have been a door guy, perhaps named Kevin, to stop them before they entered for the State of the Union address.

I’m not a snooty person. I’m a punk rock guy and I know there are times and places for a mosh pit. I’m OK with the girl seated behind me at Yankee Stadium heckling the Tampa Bay “Fuckaneers.” I’m even kinda OK with the guy on the bus screaming he’s the mayor of Duckburg. There are times and places for that stuff.

The State of the Union is NOT the time and place for the gorillas to be heckling. If LaLoon and Squirrely want to scream and heckle about the 13 deaths in Afghanistan, then do it at a Trump rally. Since he’s the one who negotiated the collapse of Afghanistan with the Taliban, those deaths are Donald Trump’s fault anyway.

Music Note: Today’s tooning tunes were off the Foo Fighter’s best album, “The Colour and the Shape.”

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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Ya Ukrayinets’

President Joe Biden delivered his first State of the Union speech last night, and he delivered. Last night, we saw leadership from an American president. It was refreshing.

President Biden came out strong in his first SOTU address, standing with Ukraine and condemning Vladimir Putin’s tyranny. A heartwarming moment was when he pointed out one of his special guests, the Ukraine ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, who appeared moved by the sustained applause. Markarova even got a hug from First Lady Jill Biden.

President Biden stated, “In the battle between democracy and autocracies, democracies are rising to the moment and the world is clearly choosing the side of peace and security.”

President Biden pledged to stand with Ukraine and pointed out other nations doing the same. He said, “Members of the European Union, including France, Germany, Italy, as well as countries like the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and many others — even Switzerland — are inflicting pain on Russia and supporting the people of Ukraine. Putin is now isolated from the world more than he has ever been.”

He pointed out the Justice Department and our allies’ efforts to seize and freeze assets of Russian oligarchs. He said, “Tonight, I say to the Russian oligarchs and the corrupt leaders who bilk billions of dollars off this violent regime: No more. I mean it. We’re coming for you.” Russian oligarchs unable to access their fortunes or even sail on their superyachts will put pressure on Putin.

President Biden also announced a new ban on Russian aircraft from flying in the United States.

President Biden’s leadership is a welcome change from the former guy, who withheld American military support from Ukraine in an extortion attempt to receive a political favor. The irony here is, the former guy withheld the aid to hurt the current guy. Today, the current guy is delivering more military aid without demanding a quid-pro-quo.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday, “Biden is one of the leaders of the world and it is very important that the people of the United States understand despite the fact that the war is in Ukraine…it is a war for the values of democracy, freedom.”
President Biden made clear last night he fully understands that. Meanwhile, and despite rousing support from Republicans last night, the former guy doesn’t understand that and has yet to issue any criticism of Putin or Russia for their invasion of a sovereign nation. Trump has given blame to President Biden for the war rather than placing it where it belongs, on Vladimir Putin, who he called a “genius.”

Republicans were still nitpicking about our response to Russia’s invasion. In the GOP rebuttal, Iowa governor Kim Reynolds claimed the war only happened because of Biden’s “weak” leadership. But here’s a question for the goons: What should Biden be doing differently? Oh yeah, stop Russian gas imports into the United States. That’s fair criticism, but Reynolds also criticized high gas prices in her rebuttal.
You can criticize the administration for our nation still importing Russian fuel. You can criticize the administration for high gas prices. But, you can’t criticize it for both. Pick one. Republicans don’t have solutions. They only have dog whistles and methods to create new problems for Democrats to solve. Kim Reynolds opposed President Biden’s American Rescue Plan but took credit for that plan providing over $210 million in federal funding for rural broadband projects in Iowa.

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy called out Soviet tyranny in his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech.

Standing in West Berlin, Kennedy said, “Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was civis romanus sum (I am Roman). Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is “Ich bin ein Berliner!”… All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!'”

Kennedy was championing democracy over Soviet fascism. Last night, President Biden did the same, except now it’s just Russian fascism.

Presidents usually say the line “the state of our union is strong” at the beginning of their SOTU speeches, but last night, Biden saved it for the end. I liked it.

President Biden said of Putin, “He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead, he met a wall of strength he never imagined. He met the Ukrainian people.”

With President Biden’s leadership, rallying the world to place sanctions on Russia, Putin, and the oligarchs in ways the Russian dictator never imagined, he met Joe Biden.

Creative Note: I sent this cartoon to my proofers, Laura and Hilary after I had finished the drawing but before the shading and coloring. Always looking out for me, Laura asked where I got the translation. I got it from Google Translate, which is a really useful feature for a cartoonist like myself. The note I included with the cartoon said I had no idea why there’s an apostrophe after “Ukrayinets” and told my proofers to check behind me if they wanted to. Laura wanted to. And wouldn’t you know it? Laura has a friend from Ukraine she took a language class with…a friend who could also be a proofreader in English. A smart friend. So Laura asked her if I was correct.

Her friend, Marijka, replied: “The Ukrainian language has a soft sign/letter. The apostrophe is used to denote this. And the soft sign appears at the end of the word in this phrase.”

I got it correct. Thank you, Laura and Marijka. And thank you Google Translate. As I said, it’s a very useful feature. I’ve used it multiple times in the past as I like inserting languages other than English into my cartoons occasionally. What I do is type the phrase in English into Translate. Then, I take the translation and do a Google search of that to see where it comes up, just to double-check.

And since this cartoon didn’t take long to color and I was talking to Laura throughout that process, I didn’t have time to listen to any music.

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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Ripping Trump A New One

cjones02102020

Last night, Donald Trump delivered the most partisan, hateful, and divisive State of the Union since the one he delivered last year.

If you didn’t watch the speech, you probably haven’t heard anyone cite anything specific he said. If you did watch the speech, you probably haven’t talked about anything he said. Instead, you’ve talked about the dis.

Before the speech, Trump pretended not to see Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stick out her hand, and he dissed her by refusing to shake it. She dissed him in her introduction but excluding the traditional “the high privilege and distinct honor” of introducing the president. After the speech, she ripped in half her advance copy of Trump’s speech.

Liberals are applauding while conservatives are upset, which is a bit surreal. How can you cry about disrespect when you support Donald Trump, a man who’s feuded with veterans, Gold Star families, women, and children. You’re really upset Nancy Pelosi disrespected the State of the Union after Donald Trump turned it into a game show? Personally, I think Pelosi gave that speech all the respect it deserved.

It was full of lies. Donald Trump tried to claim all the credit for an economy that’s been on the upswing for 11 years. He claimed he rescued the nation from an economic disaster. He lied about the number of factories he’s brought to this nation. He claimed he’s built 100 miles of his racist wall on our border with Mexico when he hasn’t built 100 feet (and no mention of Mexico paying for it). He lied about the number of jobs the new trade deal with Mexico and Canada will replace. He claimed the U.S. became the world’s number one producer of natural gas and oil during his administration, which actually occurred in 2009.

But his biggest lie was the claim of protecting preexisting conditions. At this very moment, his administration is in court trying to take that away.

In addition to the lies, Trump made it hateful. Extremely hateful. He demonized sanctuary cities and immigrants. But then, he made a game show moment of having Melania place the Presidential Medal of Freedom around the neck of Rush Limbaugh.

Trump played to his base and threw out red meat for his 2020 reelection campaign. The GOP actually chanted “four more years” at one point. And yet, Nancy was disrespectful.

Pelosi later tweeted, “The manifesto of mistruths presented in page after page of the address tonight should be a call to action for everyone who expects truth from the President and policies worthy of his office and the American people.”

When asked why she ripped the speech immediately after Trump stopped talking and in clear view of the cameras, she said, “It was the courteous thing to do considering the alternative.”

With all the alternative things in my imagination she could have done to that speech, she did the courteous thing.

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You can help me continue to create cartoons, blogs, and videos by making a contribution. All support, large and small, is greatly appreciated. You can also support me by purchasing a signed print (8 1/2×11) for $40, or a signed poster (18×24) for $100 by clicking the PayPal button (just include a note if you’re purchasing a print). If you want to support but don’t want to use PayPal, you can send a contribution through the mail (address is on the contact page. Again, include a note for a print). I don’t plan on going anywhere and your support will help guarantee that. Whether you support, can’t. or just choose not to, please know that I am truly thankful that you visit my site and read my work.

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Trump Tax Scam

cjones02132019

If you voted for Donald Trump and you’re paying more in taxes this year than you did under Obama, it’s because you voted for Donald Trump. Welcome to MAGA.

Donald Trump’s biggest achievement in the two years since he started destroying America was giving himself a massive tax cut. It wasn’t a wall on our southern border paid for by Mexico. It wasn’t repealing Obamacare. It wasn’t even “locking her up.” It was giving himself a tax cut.

Trump claimed that the tax cut wouldn’t benefit him at all. Of course, like all things Trump has ever said, that was a lie. We knew it was a lie when he said it but that didn’t stop him from repeating it again and again. It didn’t stop Trump sycophants from saying “it won’t benefit him because he said so.” Tax experts estimate that Trump will personally save $15 million a year from these tax cuts. Jared Kushner will save around $12 million. Several members of his cabinet are expected to save $4.5 million each, including Betsy DeVos, Linda McMahon, Steve Baby Fishmouth Mnuchin, and Wilbur Ross, all rich assholes.

When I mentioned tax experts, I wasn’t talking about Ivanka Trump. When the tax legislation was being debated in late 2017, Ivanka went out and told everyone how they’ll see the gains in April 2018 and also be able to file their taxes on a postcard.

Ivanka Trump, Daddy’s little princess, has obviously never ever, ever, ever filed her own taxes in her entire ain’t-you-special sweet little life. You don’t need to be a tax expert to know that the taxes you file are for the previous year. Hence, 2018 filings would be for 2017. The tax cuts for assholes bill passed in December 2017 (in case you’re a Republican, December is the last month of the year. It’s when you’re hearing all that Christmas music and eating all that ham). That means none of it would affect you until 2018. Thus, if you’re a Trump supporter, you won’t be horrified until you start filing in 2019, and most likely NOT on a postcard.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, horrified is exactly how many Trump supporters are reacting. Many have already filed their taxes to discover they’re actually paying back now when under Obama, they got refunds. My own horror won’t happen until April 14th, because I procrastinate with everything.

The thing is the Republicans removed a lot of deductions, like for state and local taxes for people like you and me. Why? Because they don’t care about people like you and me. If you’re a Trump supporter, you’re probably not a rich asshole. You’re just a regular asshole…who’s going to be paying more in taxes now.

A lot of MAGA hat shitheads went on Twitter to express their dismay and outrage. Who could have predicted that voting for a rich, selfish, narcissistic asshole would only work out for rich, selfish, narcissistic assholes? For Trump to win them back, he’s going to have to do something extra racist. How about a talking border wall that screams racial epithets? “Well, I’m paying $4,000 more in taxes now, but the wall’s gonna scream ‘beaner,’ so I’m good. Trump 2020!”

In case racial insults don’t make the pain go away from paying these taxes, there are always payday loans, which Trump and the Republican Congress also removed restrictions from, so predatory lending can be even easier now.

In 2009 during his State of the Union address, President Obama was talking about healthcare reform and that it wouldn’t insure people in the nation illegally. It was kinda stupid that he even had to debunk a ridiculous right-wing rumor. Nevertheless, Republican Joe Wilson shouted, “You lie!” Of course, the only liar was Joe Wilson, who is still in Congress…lying about shit.

That’s exactly how Republicans are. They scream “liar” at the guy telling the truth and trying to help Americans and applaud and worship the lying fucker who’s fucking them over.

That’s MAGA.

Be Complicit

What kind of person would want to be part of something that disparages, slanders, and disrespects Dear Leader and his sycophantic followers? Hopefully, you. 
Making a contribution supports my work and keeps the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. My income is from newspapers that subscribe to my work and small contributors. George Soros hasn’t sent me a million dollar check in weeks. Making a contribution of any amount, or buying a print for $40.00, makes you part of this specific resistance, and a member of Team Claytoonz (we’re still working on the name). You are complicit, an accomplice, and in cahoots (and whatever gangster terms we can think of) with this political satire pointing out that the stupid emperor has no clothes. Contributions can be made through PayPal, checks, and wads of cash exchanged in back alleys.
Whether you can help support, can’t, or just choose not to, please continue to enjoy and keep reading my work. Thank you!!! 

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SOTU STFU

cjones02102019

Donald Trump is not a history buff. But “buff” is not a word usually associated with Trump. If Trump even had a cursory knowledge of history, or at least of the office he holds, he’d stop channeling Richard Nixon.

Out of the 44 presidents before him, Nixon is the one president Trump should bone up on the most, and not the fellow racist president currently overlooking the Resolute Desk.

Trump has channeled Nixon by claiming it’s not illegal if he does it. His “no collusion” and witch hunt” lines mimic Nixon’s “I am not a crook.” At last night’s State of the Union, he did the Nixon when he said, “If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just doesn’t work that way!” During the 1974 State of the Union, Nixon said before Congress, “I believe the time has come to bring that investigation and the other investigations of this matter to an end. One year of Watergate is enough.”

But, Trump is an idiot. He thought the women in Congress wearing white were applauding him when he commented on the high number of women in the workforce and the largest female body in the history of Congress. He didn’t realize they were applauding themselves…and mocking him. It’s the nation’s reaction to Trump’s racist, hateful, and stupid policies and actions that sent the largest female delegation in history to Congress.

Trump is wrong about “how it works.” While it is distracting, the multiple investigations into Trump’s crime syndicate do not prevent the government from doing business. Trump shutting down the government is what prevents it from working.

With the Trump organization, the Trump Campaign, and even the Trump Inaugural Committee under investigation, part of the government’s business is investigating Trump. When the nation elects a crook, it’s up to the nation to root out the corruption.

We can’t refuse to look into crimes because it bothers a corrupt president. It’s not the nation’s fault that a con man is currently in the White House. It was a minority of voters and Russian interference that placed him there as the majority of American voters opted for Hillary Clinton.

Nixon said, “One year of Watergate is enough.” I say two years of this corrupt, racist, stupid, inept administration is too many.

Be Complicit

What kind of person would want to be part of something that disparages, slanders, and disrespects Dear Leader and his sycophantic followers? Hopefully, you. 
Making a contribution supports my work and keeps the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. My income is from newspapers that subscribe to my work and small contributors. George Soros hasn’t sent me a million dollar check in weeks. Making a contribution of any amount, or buying a print for $40.00, makes you part of this specific resistance, and a member of Team Claytoonz (we’re still working on the name). You are complicit, an accomplice, and in cahoots (and whatever gangster terms we can think of) with this political satire pointing out that the stupid emperor has no clothes. Contributions can be made through PayPal, checks, and wads of cash exchanged in back alleys.
Whether you can help support, can’t, or just choose not to, please continue to enjoy and keep reading my work. Thank you!!! 

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

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Shutdown Sufferers

cjones01282019

Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi has officially canceled Donald Trump giving a State of the Union address before Congress. She sent a letter using language Trump can understand. Reportedly, it said “nyet.”

Trump intends to continue the government shutdown indefinitely as the White House is doing a study on how much damage will be inflicted on specific programs if it continues into March. We’re not even into February yet.

Trump believes the polls will shift in his direction and the public will turn their blame and anger on the Democrats for the shutdown, despite his boast of owning it before it started. I’m not sure the public will blame the Democrats, as Trump’s poll numbers have sunk to 34% and Pelosi is right under 50%.

Keep in mind, after over a decade of Republicans gaslighting the public and casting the Speaker as the Devil incarnate from liberal San Francisco, her numbers are always low…and now she’s scoring higher than Trump. If Trump is at 34%, then where’s flaming bags of dog shit, 35%?

Trump says Pelosi is afraid of hearing the truth during the State of the Union, says the guy afraid of Michael Cohen testifying. If he was to speak the truth, I don’t think any Democrat would be afraid of hearing him say, “Thanks to me, the state of our union is a flaming bag of dog shit.”

The state of our union is a burning bag of crap because this is what happens when you elect an incompetent, stupid, idiotic, narcissist who doesn’t just put his personal interests before the nation, but also his fragile thin ego.  This idiot couldn’t get funding for his racist, medieval vanity project from Republicans, so now he’s demanding it from Democrats. And the bigger idiots, the people who voted for him, have forgotten they were promised Mexico is going to pay for the wall, and they’re now upset that Democrats won’t force them to pay for it.

Trump claims he can relate to the 800,000 federal workers who have been affected by the shutdown and are about miss their second paycheck, thus being unable to pay their bills with many facing evictions. They have larger problems to deal with than not being able to give a speech where they want.

The empathy runs through the Trump family, as Lara Trump, wife of idiot son number two, said the shutdown is a “little bit of pain” for federal workers, but future generations will “thank” them “for their sacrifice.”

I believe encouragement to “hang in there” from ivory towers will fall on deaf ears of those out on the street. Nowhere on those lists of part time jobs issued by federal agencies for furloughed workers did I see “marry rich asshole.”

Donald Trump gave in to Pelosi on the State of the Union, announcing his surrender last night on Twitter. My hope is he develops a taste for having his ass handed to him by a woman who is much smarter and more talented than he is. He’s not in Pelosi’s league.

Trump isn’t used to being told no by anyone. Perhaps hearing it now and learning to lose over stupid problems he created will teach him to accept losing in the future. Even though losing the shutdown fight will prove to everyone that Trump manufactured the crisis and wasted everyone’s time over his ego, he needs to go ahead and lose for the benefit of the nation. There are bigger problems in this nation than Trump’s bruised ego.

Hopefully, Donald Trump accepts with dignity losing in 2020, quite possibly having his ass handed to him again by a woman, but then again…I couldn’t give a flaming bag of dog shit how he feels about it.

Be Complicit

What kind of person would want to be part of something that disparages, slanders, and disrespects Dear Leader and his sycophantic followers? Hopefully, you. 
Making a contribution supports my work and keeps the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. My income is from newspapers that subscribe to my work and small contributors. George Soros hasn’t sent me a million dollar check in weeks. Making a contribution of any amount, or buying a print for $40.00, makes you part of this specific resistance, and a member of Team Claytoonz (we’re still working on the name). You are complicit, an accomplice, and in cahoots (and whatever gangster terms we can think of) with this political satire pointing out that the stupid emperor has no clothes. Contributions can be made through PayPal, checks, and wads of cash exchanged in back alleys.
Whether you can help support, can’t, or just choose not to, please continue to enjoy and keep reading my work. Thank you!!! 

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

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Cork In The Union

cjones01232019

Cartoonist note: If you heard the analogy in this cartoon before, it’s because I tweeted and facebooked it yesterday.

In case you haven’t noticed by now, Donald Trump is a man-baby who doesn’t just need approval (why doesn’t The New York Times like him?), he craves adoration. Every cabinet meeting begins with genuflection and the entire room surrendering their dignity.

So, the yearly State of the Union speech before both houses of Congress where the entire room applauds when you walk in and your arrival is announced as if you’re Elvis is like a day of cake, ice cream, Time Magazine covers, and hamberders to Donald Trump. Taking that away from Trump would be a dagger to his ultra-thin whiny ego. That’s exactly where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stuck it.

Citing security concerns during the Trump shutdown, Pelosi suggested that Trump postpones or cancel his speech until the government reopens. It makes sense as the speech usually starts about how strong our union is. Naturally, Donald Trump wouldn’t want to lie during a government shutdown…oh yeah. This is Donald Trump.

There is no requirement for the president to deliver his speech in person. It’s more of a tradition, like the president saluting members of the military or releasing his taxes. The requirement in the Constitution is that the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” It doesn’t even say he has to do it annually (if you’re a Republican, “annually” means once a year). The tradition of delivering it in person was started by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913, which is something Trump probably does not know. It wasn’t even referred to as the “State of the Union” until 1934 when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt used the term.

President George Washington (if you’re a Republican, that’s our first president), did deliver his speech in person, but President Thomas Jefferson ended that, considering it too “monarchical” (if you’re a Republican, that means all king-like and prancy). Every president since Wilson has given it in person at least once except Herbert Hoover (Edit: I messed up and wrote that Hoover was Wilson’s “predecessor” intending to write immediate “successor,” and I even got that wrong. Hoover was two presidents after Wilson. I messed up). The last president to deliver it by letter was President Jimmy Carter in his last year, after being defeated by Ronald Reagan.

A lot of Republicans were angered by Pelosi’s move, because it was brilliant. Until now, the only way Trump could relate to the suffering of government employees not receiving paychecks to pay their bills, feed their families, pay daycare, put gas in their cars, etc., was that he hasn’t been able to go to his swanky, private golf resort in Florida, play golf, let wedding guests pose with the nuclear football, and bilk the government for his stay. He reminds us of this almost daily since the shutdown began. Oh, the suffering. Pelosi just took away the one thing he could look forward to, other than all those hamberders.

Now, Trump has struck back. He grounded military flights for Pelosi and other members of Congress, minutes before they were to leave on a secret trip to visit troops in Afghanistan. On the same day, he allowed a military plane to fly First Lady Melania to that snobby golf resort.

Trump’s move, coming just a day after Pelosi suggested he not give the State of the Union, is petty. Pelosi’s move can actually make Trump more eager to end the shutdown since low approval numbers and starving federal workers aren’t making an impression. It was also negligent since the trip was secret and has put service members in danger that will be transporting and protecting the delegation. It also cost thousands of dollars to cancel it on such an abrupt notice.

Trump, being the petty child that he is, wrote in his letter that Pelosi was free to make her trip on a commercial flight. How nice of him to suggest the second person in line to the presidency take a commercial flight while air traffic controllers aren’t being paid and after he declassified the mission. But then again, Trump doesn’t care about endangering American lives as his “ISIS is dead” comment only triggered the terrorist organization to kill four Americans this week.

I have a suggestion to Trump. Since Pelosi can’t make the trip (and he did visit Iraq during this shutdown without flying commercial), and he hasn’t been to Afghanistan in the two years he’s been president (Obama went four times), he should take her place. He should just be sure to announce publicly when and where he’s going.

Be Complicit

What kind of person would want to be part of something that disparages, slanders, and disrespects Dear Leader and his sycophantic followers? Hopefully, you. 
Making a contribution supports my work and keeps the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. My income is from newspapers that subscribe to my work and small contributors. George Soros hasn’t sent me a million dollar check in weeks. Making a contribution of any amount, or buying a print for $40.00, makes you part of this specific resistance, and a member of Team Claytoonz (we’re still working on the name). You are complicit, an accomplice, and in cahoots (and whatever gangster terms we can think of) with this political satire pointing out that the stupid emperor has no clothes. Contributions can be made through PayPal, checks, and wads of cash exchanged in back alleys.
Whether you can help support, can’t, or just choose not to, please continue to enjoy and keep reading my work. Thank you!!! 

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

Watch me draw.