Music Note: I listened to Billy Joel while drawing this cartoon. Don’t ask me why.
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.
As Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky virtually addressed Congress today, I wondered, “What did they do with Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Louie Gohmert, and Madison Cawthorn? For that matter, how dare any member of the Republican Party attend who had refused to impeach Donald Trump for his attempt to extort the Ukrainian president.
During President Biden’s State of the Union address to Congress, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene heckled and cackled like mean girls throughout his speech. In order not to risk further embarrassment to his party, or even worse, the nation, did Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy lock them in the congressional basement? There’s no real reason for the most ridiculous members of Congress to attend anyway since none of them have ever expressed any interest in doing their jobs. Did Marco Rubio tweet a selfie with Zelensky on the monitor behind him to show he’s not a ridiculous individual?
Did pro-Russian flunkies Jim Jordan and Devin Nunes attend? Maybe Vladimir Putin could have given the Republican response.
The Republican Party refused to punish Donald Trump for the crime of trying to extort a foreign president, which he did by withholding military aid funded by Congress until Zelensky gave him the political dirt he wanted. This was aid intended to protect Ukraine from a Russian invasion. This was a crime yet the entire Republican Party refused to take it seriously and instead, made excuses for their corrupt leader. It’s illegal for a political campaign to receive donations from a foreigner, especially a foreign government.
Republicans are still claiming it’s a hoax that Russia helped Donald Trump, yet there’s a recording they ignore of him explicitly asking a foreign government to dig up dirt on a political opponent.
Now, the same goons who were OK with Trump’s extortion attempt are all wearing stern and serious-looking faces while they talk about creating a no-fly zone over Ukraine and other means to support that nation. They should have taken it seriously when Trump used military aid to grift Volodymyr Zelensky instead of wasting the past two years repeating Rudy Giuliani’s ridiculous crap about Hunter Biden and his laptop. Hey, why doesn’t Rudy go to Ukraine now to continue his investigation into Hunter Biden? No? Why not?
President Zelensky thanked the U.S. for its assistance but pleaded for more. He compared Russia’s assault on the Ukrainian people to the attack on Pearl Harbor and said it was like a daily 9/11. He played a graphic video of Russia’s assault on the Ukrainian civilian population, including the attacks on children.
Yesterday, President Biden signed into law a bill that includes $13.6 billion for assistance to Ukraine. After Zelensky’s speech, he announced an additional $800 million to support Ukraine’s defense against Russia.
As much as we would like to help Ukraine, we still can’t get involved in the fighting. A military conflict between the United States and Russia, as inept of a military as they are, will widen the war into a much larger conflict that would involve even more nations. A war between the U.S. and Russia could eventually lead to nuclear warfare as Vladimir Putin may be unstable. Do you want to play a game? A no-fly zone over Ukraine enforced by NATO takes us from hyperboles about World War III to a very real possibility of U.S. and NATO jets shooting down Russian jets.
The Republican Party didn’t just allow Donald Trump to extort the president of Ukraine. They sat back and watched him try to destroy NATO. If the Republicans had their way, there wouldn’t be a NATO today preventing Putin from extending his war beyond Ukraine.
The GOP is best at being the Party of No, giving empty criticism, creating lies, heckling, taking selfies while giving out classified information, and spreading conspiracy theories. Let’s let the adults figure out how best to help Ukraine.
Music Note: I listened to an alt-rock station on my music streamer while drawing this.
Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.
Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 19 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.
Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky went from being an actor, the voice of the Ukraine version of Paddington Bear, and the winner of the first season of Ukraine’s Dancing with the Stars (that’s a thing?) to being the man inspiring his nation to fight.
A video clip of Zelensky standing in the middle of the streets of Kyiv with other government officials has helped make the Ukraine president an international war hero. In the clip, he says, “We are all here, defending our independence, our country. And it will stay that way. Glory to the men and women defending us. Glory to Ukraine. Glory to the heroes.”
While that video was made of Zelensky standing in the streets of a city being bombed, Vladimir Putin was sitting somewhere safe and posh with his greatest concern being for his own political safety. Putin doesn’t have to worry about his citizens dying, or himself, from an invasion by a much more powerful nation. Footage of dead Ukrainian children probably doesn’t both Vladimir as much as his oligarchs’ anger over sanctions of their superyachts.
When Texas was hit by a rare winter freeze, Senator Ted Cruz fled to the warmth and daiquiris of Cancun. When Black Lives Matter protested outside the Cheeto White House, Donald Trump hid in a bunker. When the United States offered to evacuate Volodymyr Zelensky, he said, “I need ammunition, not a ride.” Our nation needs more Volodymyr Zelenskys and fewer Trumps and Cruzs.
Russia underestimated the people of Ukraine. Putin believed Ukraine would capitulate overnight from his invasion. He believed that by this point, Zelensky would either be in his custody or dead. Instead, he has suffered a rude awakening in that the people of Ukraine will not go silently into the night…and that they are killing Russian soldiers. He’s discovered he didn’t play this war very well and is now rushing in reinforcements and provisions to sustain the invasion. He’s discovered the people of Ukraine are inspired by Volodymyr Zelensky, a man who used to be a comedian. Putin’s not laughing.
Putin’s response to Ukraine’s stubbornness has been to move his targets away from military installations to government buildings, businesses, and civilian population centers. Putin should study why Zelensky is being compared to Winston Churchill. He might learn something.
In World War II, Churchill refused to negotiate a peace treaty with Hitler, even after the Nazis started bombing Britain’s cities. If Putin studies history, he would learn that bombing civilians doesn’t soften the nation for an invasion or to surrender. It does the exact opposite. It builds morale among the population. It makes civilians defiant. It makes civilians willing to fight to the death to protect their homes and families. When you bomb civilians, they don’t blame their leaders and beg them to surrender. They blame the nation bombing them.
Putin doesn’t even have to study the blitz of the United Kingdom. He can study his own nation’s invasion of Afghanistan. Though in the past, he’s twisted that history.
This will not last. The Ukrainian government will eventually succumb to Putin’s invasion. Ukraine’s military can’t last against the more powerful Russian army. Ukraine can’t keep civilians in subway stations indefinitely. Who knows what will happen to Volodymyr Zelensky. Ukraine’s cities will fall…eventually. But Ukraine itself will never stop fighting. Even by taking control of the entire nation of Ukraine, Putin can’t win. He can ask George W. Bush and Dick Cheney about this. Ukrainians will never stop fighting. Ukraine left the Soviet Union in 1991 and the 44 million citizens of that nation don’t want to go back.
This is a fight Putin never should have started. Sanctions will cripple his nation while Russian soldiers continue to die. Russians will see a lot of body bags coming from a war they never wanted. This war could even remove Putin from power after over two decades. But at this point, Putin’s greatest concern is for Putin. He’s a lot like Trump that way, who also underestimated our nation and even his own party’s support for Ukraine over Russia. After calling Putin a “genius” for his invasion, Trump released a statement commending himself for providing Ukraine with weapons and giving himself credit for NATO’s existence. Never mind the fact that after Congress allocated those weapons for Ukraine, Trump withheld them in an extortion attempt in a “perfect phone call” to get Zelensky to help him attack Joe Biden. Never mind that Donald Trump withheld those weapons while demanding a quid-pro-quo. Never mind the fact that Donald Trump’s first impeachment was over his extortion attempt. Never mind the fact that Donald Trump tried to destroy NATO. Never mind the fact that while Ukraine is being invaded, Donald Trump is more concerned about his media coverage. Never mind the fact that while Zelensky is protecting his capital from a foreign invasion, Donald Trump ordered his fascist-loving white nationalist terrorist followers to attack his capital.
And never mind the fact that Donald Trump has never criticized Vladimir Putin and has only praised the war criminal. While bombing civilians in Ukraine, Putin’s back in Moscow arresting those protesting those bombings.
Volodymyr Zelensky is a freedom fighter and freedom will win. Putin will lose.
Music Note: I rocked out to Ace Frehley’s first solo album while drawing today’s cartoon, though Ace, being a racist who used to knock on his Jewish bandmate’s hotel room doors dressed as the Gestapo, might be on Putin’s side.
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.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, is about to learn the hard way that everything Donald Trump touches…dies.
Zelensky ran on a campaign of fighting corruption. So imagine his horror when the transcript of his phone call with Donald Trump was released exposing him patronizing Trump’s conspiracy theories as well as expressing a willingness to assist Trump in bringing down his political opponents.
In case you’re a Republican, accepting help from a foreign government in your election is illegal. Hell, Mike Pence knows it. During his vice-presidential debate with Tim Kaine, he made a passionate argument that foreign governments can’t be involved in our political campaigns. But then again, Mike Pence has abandoned a lot of his previous positions to serve Trump.
Zelensky stated yesterday that he wasn’t pressured by Donald Trump to investigate the Bidens, who have not been implicated in anything corrupt in Ukraine. But the transcript shows there was intense pressure from Trump. Trump stated the U.S. has been very good to Ukraine but it hasn’t been reciprocal. As Zelensky talked about purchasing anti-tank missiles, Trump pivoted to asking for a “favor.” Yes, he used that word. Then, he dived into the Biden conspiracy, asking for it to be investigated. Zelensky made it clear that he had talked to Trump’s private lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Trump asked him to speak with him again and that he’d also connect him with the U.S. attorney general, William Barr.
OK, two things. Why is Trump’s personal lawyer acting as a government lawyer and why is the attorney general acting like Trump’s personal lawyer? Despite being mentioned in this conversation, William Barr is not recusing himself from any of the investigations. This is not fighting corruption. This is corruption.
What really came to a shock to many in Ukraine was Zelensky’s statement, “The next prosecutor will be 100 percent my person.” Prosecutors in Ukraine, much like the attorney general in the U.S., are supposed to be independent, not anybody’s “person.” Zelensky’s got some ‘zlaining to do.
Zelensky’s best defense will be to argue that he was patronizing Trump because that’s every nation’s strategy that wants something from the United States. Kiss Trump’s ass and flatter his ego. Zelensky did that earlier in the call by saying he used some of Trump’s campaign techniques for his own campaign. His best bet will be to say he was agreeing with Trump without any intention of following through because there’s nothing really to follow through with, unless they make some crap up. There isn’t any dirt on Biden. There’s no there there, as Republicans like to say.
Joe Biden called for a Ukrainian prosecutor to be removed. It’s argued that he wanted him removed because the prosecutor was investigating his son, Hunter Biden. That’s not true. The prosecutor had actually dropped an investigation into the company where Hunter was on the board. Hunter Biden himself was never being investigated. The position to remove the prosecutor wasn’t just Biden’s. It was the position of the United States and the European Union. In fact, those fighting corruption in Ukraine wanted the prosecutor removed.
The question to ask Trump and every other Republican is, what are you investigating? Are you investigating that there needs to be an investigation? I mean, what did Hunter Biden do? What criminal act is there? Can you at least make something up other than screaming he’s corrupt? Seriously, pay attention to what they’re saying on the news. What you’re not hearing are actual allegations.
Trump’s defense here is that he engaged in corruption to root out corruption. Now, most Republicans are saying there’s no “quid pro quo,” despite the fact there doesn’t have to be (even though in the phone call, there is).
Several Republicans are arguing that by releasing the transcript of the phone call, other foreign leaders will be hesitant to talk to Trump out of fear the conversations won’t be private. So the argument is, they’re afraid to talk to Trump because he’s stupid and corrupt and he’ll drag them down with him? The truth is, that stupid ship sailed and sank around the time Trump gave away classified information to Russians in the Oval Office. Classified information he acquired from an ally…and then gave to an enemy. Yeah, methinks the trust in Trump went bye-bye a long time ago.
If world leaders don’t know they can’t trust Trump, then they shouldn’t be leading their nations. Quite frankly, nobody should be as dumb as the United States to place an idiot like Donald Trump at the head of their government…except the United Kingdom, oh, and Israel.
I hope Zelensky has call waiting.
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