TT: The Abrego Garcia case

 

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I think I’m repeating myself here, but I don’t understand how every week is simultaneously ten thousand years long but seemingly over before it starts. 

Well at least there is “plenty of material,” hahaha. Ha.

Every week there are probably thirty different things I could write about. I had an entirely different cartoon about tariffs in mind, but set that aside for now due to the Abrego Garcia case. It’s a blatant Catch-22 situation, with the Trump administration claiming that it has no power over El Salvador, and Bukele claiming he cannot “smuggle a terrorist” into the United States. It’s a sheer exercise in power dominance, with Trump testing the limits of what he can get away with. He is literally ignoring the 9-0 Supreme Court ruling that the administration must “facilitate” Garcia’s return, while official White House accounts on X The Everything App post trolling tweets about their refusal to comply. To say this is a shitshow is an insult to shitshows. And this is three months in. Can’t wait to see where we are at the six month mark.

Chuck Schumer said a few weeks ago that we wouldn’t be in an official Constitutional crisis until Trump openly defied the Supreme Court. Well, here we are, Chuck.

Even when I zero in on a topic, I have to keep a close eye on the news until the last possible minute, because everything is in constant flux. I was close to being finished with this one when I read that Van Hollen had actually managed to meet with Garcia, and Trump started freaking out about it. I decided it didn’t change anything about the cartoon as I already had it written, but I did have to give it some thought. I'm writing this newsletter on Saturday afternoon, and if there's some big change in the story between now and Sunday night, I might still have to revise the cartoon one more time. This is just my life, these days.

On a slightly lighter note, this cartoon uses a new background — Trump’s blinged-up Oval Office mantlepiece. (I seem to be doing a lot of "conversations in the Oval Office" cartoons, so I'm at least trying to mix things up visually. Though I remain entirely committed to the bit, when it comes to Vance as a bellhop. You all read every cartoon each week, but out in the wild, a reader might run across every third or fourth cartoon, and I am determined to drive this image into public awareness, so ... I'm gonna keep using it for awhile.)

Someone on Bluesky recognized the faux-fancy gold applique designs they stuck on the walls, and sideways on the fireplace, and possibly tracked them down to a Chinese company. (I saved these images for visual reference but didn’t bookmark the post, and now I can’t find it.)  I’m not entirely persuaded — if you look close, it’s not an exact match, but it’s pretty close. It wouldn’t surprise me if some Musketeer did a quick Google for “cheap gold crap to stick on the wall” and paid for express shipping.



  

Note also the shiny gold cups and statuettes on top of the mantlepiece. King Midas loves his faux-Versailles aesthetic. Before the Trump makeover, that mantle had been adorned by a spray of Swedish ivy for more than fifty years. As that linked article notes:

Irish ambassador Thomas J. Kiernan had given it to President John F. Kennedy as a gift in 1961, and ever since it has been a consistent backdrop to some of the most famous White House meetings. 

I wonder if they even bothered to move the plant elsewhere, or just dumped in a trash can. A small thing, but completely in character for the asshole who destroyed the Bonwit Teller art deco friezes he had promised to give to the Met.

Also worth noting: he has crammed in a lot more presidential portraits than are typical for Oval Office decor (in keeping with the theme of palatial excess), and one of them is FDR, which might seem odd at first -- until you remember that FDR served three terms. The symbolism is both ham-fisted and ominous.

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Here's a gift link to an essay in the Atlantic by David A. Graham about dark humor in dark times. The author, for some odd reason, seemed to consider me an expert on the topic, and quotes me at length.

Last minute edit: I went on the 50501 march through midtown today (Saturday). It went within half a block of Trump Tower, which of course was all barricaded off (I was envisioning the march going right by the front of the building, but of course they're not going to allow that). Trump tower is in the middle of the block at 57th and 5th, with the Tiffany's building occupying the corner. I don't know how long they've been doing this, but I noticed today that Tiffany's has draped the required barricades and concrete barriers in front of their part of the block with these branded light-blue coverings, I guess in an attempt to make the police barricades more ... elegant?

Fifth Ave looks empty because it was barricaded off. Don't worry, there were plenty of marchers (shown here going north on Madison).

Finally, wish list thanks this week to Melissa K., Susan R., Eileen S., RuthAnn H., David M., and Glenn E.

Okay, that's it for this week. Hang in there, friends.

Until next time,

Dan

Wish list
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