The Art Of Politics: February – Oh, The State Of It All
by Richard Bruton
More Art of Politics for you – where the world’s best political cartoonists show you what’s going on in the world…
The state of the USA…
It was time for the state of the Union address for Joe Biden early in the month, where the President gives the country his take on where the country’s at.
Meanwhile, Ann Telnaes on Majorie Taylor Greene yelling ‘liar’ during the SOTU…
And after the SOTU speech, the next big thing everyone’s looking at is the election in 2024. It seems a long way away but the runners and riders are getting in place. And of course, we have Uncle Joe Biden out there, looking and sounding very much his age, as a fair number of cartoonists are picking up on…
And the actual state of the country…
Kal on the media following the news that Fox news hosts and owners have been shown to have been aware that Donald Trump’s lies were just that, yet they continued to perpetuate the lies nonetheless.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy gave access to the surveillance tapes for the January 6th insurrection to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, who then went on to spread all manner of conspiracy theories about Jan 6 – Ann Telnaes on that…
The little balloon that could…
Well, the saga of the Chinese weather/spy/whatever balloon that entered US airspace began the month with all the mudslinging you’d expect…
Ann Telnaes – making a valid point on the whole thing with an American slant…
Although you had to notice that everyone resolutely avoided referring to them as UFOs… here’s Martin Rowson on that…
And here’s Pat Chappatte taking the counterpoint…
The Republicans doing their thing…
In a world where pretty much everyone is agreed that we should be supporting Ukraine, there’s resistance from the usual loony brigade of the far right (Majorie Taylor Greene et. al.) saying it’s wrong to send resources and money over there. Although actually it’s a bit of a thread running though a fair number of right-wing cartoonists.
(She was also one of only two nay votes in a resolution mourning the loss of life in Turkey and Syria after the devastating earthquakes. For shame)
Here’s Tom Stiglich‘s Ukraine bit…
And again for Bill Bramhall –
Greene was also busy calling for what she describes as the national divorce, saying “We need a national divorce… We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government. Everyone I talk to says this.” And she followed that up with an idea that she’d basically like to see separate Republican and Democratic states letting Americans choose where to live.
All of which is pretty much summed up by Ed Wexler…
And of course… the gun thing…
Month in, month out, it never ends, does it? Gun crime, mass shootings, massacres. And nothing ever changes.
This month there were even some Republican members of Congress wearing AR-15 lapel pins given out by Congressman Andrew Clyde in National Gun Violence Survivors Week. In a complete coincidence, Clyde has a $25 million stake in a company that makes assault rifles.
But they didn’t stop there, oh no, Alabama congressman Representative Barry Moore brought forth legislation to make the AR-15 the “National Gun of America.” Three guesses who was one of the bill’s co-sponsors? Oh yes, that would be Andrew Clyde. The other two were Republican loon and gun crazy Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Rep. George Santos of New York, a man who just lies and lies and lies. (MSNBC)
You have to just despair.
Dave Whamond perfectly captures it in the month of Groundhog Day…
Matt Davies with the news that Santos is co-sponsoring the bill…
And Christopher Weyant comes in with some horrifying numbers…
More Weyant on the issues…
And Pedro Molina on America’s problem with even seeing the problem…
And finally, Scott Adams got roundly condemned for basically being a racist asshat. After a vile bit of YouTube livestreaming on Feb. 22, where Adams accused Black Americans of being “a hate group”, the cartoon was dropped from paper after paper until his publisher and distributor, Adams McNeel, severed ties. No doubt Adams will be screaming from the rooftops about cancel culture, as will his right-wing fans. The rest of us… it’s about time. Have a read of this cartoonist’s reaction piece at NPR to see what his contemporaries thought of him.
Speaking of what cartoonists thought of him, here’s Tim Campbell…
And Matt Davies –
Now, how’s BRITAIN doing? (Answer… not well)
Dave Brown on Rishi Sunak’s groundhog day moments…
The month didn’t exactly start too well for the UK government. There was more scandal, and the announcement of the inevitable investigation (just once, wouldn’t you like the politicians to accept what they’ve done is wrong and resign sooner rather than later?) after Dominic Raab was accused of bullying by 24 people.
Add in the announcement by the International Monetary Fund that the UK economy will shrink by 0.3%… so much for all those growth forecasts we’re being told about by them in charge eh?
Dave Brown – after Gillray…
Nicola Jennings on Rishi Rich…
Peter Brookes– on the PM’s Raab bullying problem…
Sarah Akinterinwa on the PM’s continuing response to the nurses’ strike action… basically the country has far more important things to do first…
The return of the Truss…
In a bold move, given she managed to do more damage in her ridiculously short time as Prime Minister than anyone could have imagined, Liz Truss made a comeback move in which she essentially blamed ‘the left-wing economic establishment’ for her downfall. Yes, that notorious den of communists and socialists, the economic establishment. Oh, it would be funny if we weren’t all suffering in the wake of what she wrought.
There was a wonderful moment this month where the 2000 AD Twitter got involved in the Truss backlash…
"I wasss brought down by the left-wing economic esstablishment." pic.twitter.com/gf3p47ivDU
— 2000 AD Comics (@2000AD) February 5, 2023
Although, as usual, there were those poor souls reading the Galaxy’s Greatest who’ve really missed the point of a comic that’s ALWAYS been political, right from the start, 46 years ago now. This from Ian Culbard….
The Northern Ireland Protocol and Brexit – Again.
One of the big problems with Brexit, said those against leaving the European Union, was going to be Northern Ireland and the peace process there. A hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland was a no good for longstanding reasons, but that meant that effectively there would need to be a border in the Irish Sea, making Northern Ireland less British and more part of the EU.
And what do you know, all that the was warned about has come to pass. Until now, where Rishi Sunak has managed to broker a deal that sort of changes things a bit – unless the deal gets thrown out by the Democratic Unionist Party after they consider it.
Hilariously though, Rishi Rich, who was all behind Brexit and leaving the EU, did come out and say this – ‘Northern Ireland is in the unbelievably special position, the unique position in the entire world in having privileged access not just to the UK home market, which is the fifth biggest in the world, but also the European Union single market.’ Yes Rishi, we know. Because up until Brexit, everyone in the entire bloody country of Britain, not just Northern Ireland, had exactly that.
[I’m simplifying hideously for time – try this for a nice summation from the BBC.]
Yes, we have no tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers…
In a move absolutely not linked to Brexit (yeah, right), Britain has been running short of fruit and veg, with big retailers actually rationing the numbers you can buy. But the government would like you to know that the lack of fruit and veg has nothing to do with the increased paperwork and expense for importers getting fruit and veg into Britain and everything to do with bad growing seasons in places like Spain. Strangely, people in Spain and other areas of Europe have been busy posting photos of plentiful fruit and veg in their shops.
The government’s solution? Well, the environment and food minister suggests we try turnips (The Guardian) – here’s Ben Jennings on Liz the Lettuce and Therese Coffey’s turnips…
Big Corporations making £££££ & $$$$$ off the misery of the energy crisis? Who’d have thunk it?
In one of those, yeah, fuck you, moments this month, it was revealed that British Gas are using debt collection agencies who break into vulnerable people’s homes to install pre-payment meters for the energy these vulnerable people can’t afford any more.
Profiting off war and misery?
Well, the Ukraine war and the energy crisis certainly hasn’t seemed to have done Shell much damage – they announced record profits of $40 million early in the month. There was the resounding sound of condemnation around the world. To which Shell just shrugged and said ‘yeah, what the hell are you going to do about it?’
And again from Ben Jennings…
And speaking of Ukraine…
It’s been a year since Russia invaded Ukraine. Or, as Chris Ridell reminds us, perhaps it’s been a lot longer…
There’s also the continued fight for Ukraine to get tanks, planes, munitions, anything, out of the rest of the world…
Then we had Putin giving a speech that had us all open-mouthed at the insanity… here’s Martin Rowson on that…
And Morten Morland again…
And Peter Brookes again…
