Recently, it’s occurred to me that there’s an aphoristic quality to cartoons in that an artist might compress a great deal of background material into a very small sample. I’ve also considered that explaining things in "Toiling In Obscurity" may have helped any possibly interested parties to see some of the thinking behind "Thus Spake Steve Bannon." So, I thought I'd publish some essays I began about a decade ago that now serve as backing information and inspiration for what I’m doing with the "Scum (Back) On Top" series. But first, I’ll elaborate on some of the themes and references in my most recent cartoon.
Panel 1: The current president is represented only as 1) a mostly featureless orange head with a black oval for the mouth, a vertical black line in the middle top, a right ear with a 2" x 2" white bandage (as worn in public appearances after the assassination attempt), wearing the black Bearskin hat with MAGA in red letters given to him by Russian ruler Vladimir Putin in the first Trumprussian regime; and 2) an unattached right arm raised with fist clenched in the gesture he made after said attempt. (Along with his exclamation, "Fight! Fight!" this made some see him as a “champion.”)
He is lying in bed as his (now iconic) raised right arm unintentionally suggests that he is stretching while yawning. A recurring dream begins with him giving a great (of course) speech at a packed (of course) rally, with good people on both sides. (Alluding to his statement trying to condemn violence in the aftermath of the torch-lit rally of Brownshirts in Charlottesville, Virginia on 11-12 August 2017. He seems to have understood he was supposed to condemn violence as such but constantly gave away the impression that he mostly wanted to lay the blame on “the other side” -- i.e., the counter-protestors who were NOT Nazis and Klansmen.)
Panel 2: POTUS has bothered me for a long time; it's too reminiscent of Caesar (which was a standard, informal "title" for any Roman Emperor -- viz., "Render unto Caesar....") and is also an example of the "telescoping" of words (as identified by George Orwell) in twentieth century political language, of police states in particular -- viz., Gestapo, USSR, USA, etc.
The specific satire on "home schooling" involves it (along with "private schools") as symptomatic of conservative reaction against public schools in the United States, and mainly the racial integration thereof (under the guise of better school standards and "moral [religious] instruction"). So, such teaching might ensure proper spelling for specialized "Biblical" terms but not be so strong on civics. And of course, there’s an allusion to what the current president said during an "Access Hollywood" interview.
Panels 2-3: In September of 2009, President Barack Obama addressed a joint session of the US Congress to propose a national healthcare plan (which became the Affordable Care Act). Feeling provoked by the darkness he observed in the vicinity of the president, and further emboldened by Koch funding, a Republican Representative from South Carolina named Joe Wilson upset the decorum and respect traditionally given to the US chief of state by standing up and shouting, "You lie!" I've been highly amused at the idea of something similar (but perhaps ambiguous) occurring to the current president.
