AC in DC

Cartoon: From the Ground Down • 1987: In the Rose Garden with Ronnie • My Meme

AC, as in Artley Cartoons… DC, as in the District of Columbia. Yep… back to the old stumbling grounds, the swamp, the heart of the beast, home of the ol’ loony legislature. You know what I’m takin’ about… Trump’s Dump, the Deficit Nest, Capital Chaos, Sombrous Congress, Filibusterville Shutdown Town, Gridlock Central.. home of the Beltway Bandits, the Port of Payoff, Red Tape Town, Bureaucraticsberg, and Paperwork Hamlet. Yeah… that place.

Plenty of Barking, but NO Howling, Here

The controversial monument that Donald J. has proposed is an exercise in excess and vanity, shrouded in the guise of overt nationalism. Nothing short of a bronze Trump dwarfing the Collossus of Rhodes could be more representative of the Trump legacy of pomp than this gaudy monstrosity. It’s twice the height of the Lincoln Memorial, adorned with gilded statuary and its proposed placement at the west end of Memorial bridge would impact the view of the Lincoln Memorial from Arlington. Because of that, veterans groups and others are opposed to Trump’s (ahem) erection of this shrine that rivals the Napoleonic Arc de Triomphe in Paris… and of course, that is Donald J.’s goal.

Imagine the outrage had Obama proposed a structure of this enormity and expense. Obama was ridiculed for the neoclassical set design at his inaugural, saying he was projecting himself as a Greek god. The stupidity and unapologetic hypocrisy of the ultra-right mindset never ceases to amaze. The whole of DC is a neoclassic set design, for the love of Zeus.

A single succinct phrase is etched into the arch’s frieze, “One Nation Under God.” What is the meaning of “one nation?” The pledge, from which it comes is followed by “…under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” It seems evident that this president has done everything to cause disunity, limit liberty (except for his own libertine thugs), and malign justice. His notion of “one nation” is an abomination of the very priciples of our nation, with bellicose rhetoric of insults, removal of diversity programs that forbid acknowledgement of contributions by non-whites in a variety of venues, all the while praising the Capitol attack insurrectionists, deeming them patriots. Meanwhile, the lickspittle flock continue to appease and capitulate. Others, remain silent, which is the same as complicity. As Germans in the nineteen-thirties said of dealing with the Nazis —for survival, one must be silent, or “howl with the wolves.”

If this project escapes the good taste filters and goes through, I think it should come with the caveat that the east wing White House be restored to its original form and the ballroom that Donald J. claims is so vital to our national pride be placed atop this Arch. Plus, the entire structure is to be located someplace out of view and earshot of we mongrel dog Americans. But where? Hey, I know. How about Epstein Island?

woof woof woof.

Cartoon: “From the Ground Down”

Cartoonists in the Rose Garden with Reagan

Reagan with Cartoonists

Thirty-nine years ago, I was among the group of cartoonists who were invited to the White House, by President Ronald Reagan. He was a huge fan of editorial cartoons. There hasn’t been a U.S. president since who harbored this level admiration for the political cartoonist. However, he was also known to rant and in some cases personally telephone to chew out a cartoonist. In his speech here, he mentions the “Friday Follies,” a White House publication assembled by staff with articles and (mostly) editorial cartoons from the country’s many newspapers. It was later that day, I found out my cartoons were regularly included in the batch. “So, the President sees my work,” I asked the staffer who’d recognized the name on my badge and made a point of telling me. “Oh yeah,” he answered, saying it with an expression much the same way one gives to a guy who’s on his way to the guillotine, “the President knows who you are.”

In his remarks, Reagan also mentions the original members of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (our group in the Rose Garden that day). My father, Bob Artley, was one of those original charter members. He joined when he was staff cartoonist at the Des Moines Register and Tribune. My dad and I attended this event together. Guillotine aside, that part was one of the “best of times.”

My Meme

This offering is more of an experiment in mixed media. I am taking one part mock photographic artificial inteligence generated illustration (that looks like an epic movie lobby poster), namely, Trump’s posted (later redacted) image of himself as a Christ-like character in first century Galilean garb, healing the wounded (or, could be sick) guy, heavily infused with heavenly auras… heavily cropped and photo mechanically adjusted… combined with one part illustration. Toss in a dash of graphic elements and you get a tongue-in-cheek political commentary. Entitled, “the Troves and the Fishes.”