Prickly City by Scott Stantis for February 21, 2025

I actually believe musk is running the country. And trump is the chump in the room

But Stantis….

Don’t BOTH SIDES do it????

You know, equally????

.

That was absolutely true during the campaign, wasn’t it?

Oh well, at least we’ll soon be rid of that horrible wasteful and abusive National Weather Service.

What frauds they are.

Them hurricanes will now go where Dear Leader SAYS they’re going, by golly.

Since Trump took office just a month ago, cuts to government spending have also hit Republican voters hard, and those hits look to be continuing. In June 2024, Ella Nilsen and Renée Rigdon of CNN reported that nearly 78% of the announced investments from the Inflation Reduction Act in initiatives that address climate change went to Republican congressional districts. Today the Financial Times noted that House Republicans are in the position of cutting the law that brought more than $130 billion to their districts.

Now Republicans are talking about cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and supplemental food programs, although Republican-dominated counties rely on those programs more than Democratic-dominated counties do. Yesterday, on the Fox News Channel, Trump’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, praised the Department of Government Efficiency because it was “going to cut a trillion dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse.” Lutnick told personality Jesse Watters, “You know Social Security is wrong, you know Medicare and Medicaid is wrong, so he’s going to cut one trillion.”

The administration and the Department of Government Efficiency insist they are getting rid of “massive waste, fraud, and abuse” that they claim has lurked in the government for decades; House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said that Congress has not been able to make those cuts in the past because “the deep state has hidden it from us.”

In fact, neither the administration nor DOGE has produced evidence for their claims of cutting waste. Instead, fact-checkers have pointed out so many errors and exaggerations in their claims that observers are questioning what they’re really doing. Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, who ran the Social Security Administration under Biden, told Jane C. Timm of NBC News: “There’s unelected people that are being given powers to go through and rummage through our personal data for reasons that nobody can quite figure out yet. It’s not for efficiency.”(CONT)

(CONT)

Indeed, federal government spending since Trump took office is actually higher than it’s been in recent years.

Finally, it appears that the strength and stability of American democracy have also meant that lawmakers somehow cannot really believe that the U.S. is falling into authoritarianism. Today, in a 51–49 vote, all but two Republican senators voted to confirm Kash Patel as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) voted with all the Democrats and Independents to oppose Patel’s confirmation. In a 2023 book, Patel published a list of more than 50 current or former U.S. officials that he claims are members of the “deep state” and are a “dangerous threat to democracy.” Opponents worry he will use the FBI to target those and other people he thinks are insufficiently loyal to Trump.

The reason Americans created the government that the Trump administration is now dismantling was that in the 1930s, they knew very well the dangers of authoritarianism. On February 20, 1939, in honor of President George Washington’s birthday, Nazis held a rally at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. More than 20,000 people showed up for the “true Americanism” event, which was held on a stage that featured a huge portrait of Washington in his Continental Army uniform flanked by swastikas.

Just two years later, Americans went to war against fascism.

Over the next century they worked to build a liberal order, one that had strong scientific and political guardrails.

Heather Cox Richardson (edited)

Why the toga?

Dodge City

On his Facebook page today Aaron Whiteboard posted an excellent essay aobut the different consistence snowfall and difficulties in shoveling them.

Like I said, he was a hero here, not long ago.

Ok. So the flooding the zone thing is very real, and it works. Trump does 10 to 100 things a day to provoke outrage. Some of them escape notice while journalists address the highest profile of them. Each individual will have to watch his back for the next 4 years, at least, as there are no guardrails anymore. Assume your bank is trying to charge you unfairly for letting them use your money. Don’t go into debt over investing opportunities beyond a few percent of your account’s value. It’s the golden age for grifters. The time Trump thinks was great is when common people were mostly poor, a few people were inconceivably rich, and every few years saw the collapse of the banking system.

It’s funny how the people who created the fraud and waste in government are the same ones who scream the loudest when it is eliminated.

Hey, right-wing populists, do you believe trumpster fire’s assertion that, “He who saves his country does not violate any law.”?

Since his inauguration Trump has traveled to Florida and golfed on one day out of every three. “It’s OK, I left Musk in charge.” said Trump!

Concerning the last 2 Kallaughers, I mean spot on about trumpster fire being a bully and the right-wing populists gittin’ it from trumpster fire’s actions as bad as anybody, right?:

You can find a great editorial piece from Mike Smith on trumpster fire and his idiocy-view on the Ukraine War at: lasvegassun dot com / news / opinion / smiths-world

Great piece at: arcacrap dot com / politics / editorialcartoon / john darkow ………………Which brings up the question, M.L., do you have to file taxes, when you lack a decent job?:

Where’s his chainsaw? Hoping he’d start the one he was swinging wildly around at the news conference and cut someone, especially himself.

Sorta like “Dr.”Fauchi.

Reading both Scott and Eric’s cartoons, it is pretty clear that the two do not agree on Trump. For years (decades?) now, Eric has been ghosting this strip, which I think is part of how this strip lost so much of its former luster.

That said, it appears that, regardless of what Eric feels, Scott is having some serious buyer’s remorse, and is now reining in on Eric and the strip that still bears his name.

Last, and certainly least: Since conservative media have become „state media“, is Elon offering Scott a buyout?

Sad Little People.. Programmed by the Left.. Looks like it worked…

Americans don’t want elites running the country; only God-fearing, everyday men!

Musk spent $277,000,000 buying the presidency. According to capitalist doctrine, he owns it. He will not give it up. Even if the first felon dies the next is Junior Duma$$ Vance, a tech bro that owes his place in life to the likes of musk, therefore will be a compliant figure head. The next in line at the moment is Mike’s Little Johnson. He also owes his station to money. Our real leader for the foreseeable future is musk.

An “Emperor Nero” outfit. Excellent choice.

If he keeps waving that chainsaw around, maybe he’ll accidentally cut off a limb and bleed out

If judges her the word “deep state” in their courtroom,the speaker should be fined one million dollars. Per Letter.

Remember back to 2017 when it was Bannon who had tRump’s ear, did the dirty work and was portrayed as the evil Darth Vader. When he got too big for his britches tRump threw him under the bus. Now it’s Musk. When Musk reaches that line with tRump, he’ll go under the bus as well. tRump is far from being stupid. He doesn’t care to do the work, so he lets others do it. Musk has money. tRump has the power.

So much for" American Exceptionalism".

When Trump got elected, I (along with many, many others) suspected this fecesshow was going to happen. I not only mean the gross incompetence and lies of the administration one month in, but the inane argumentation practice by his disciples here and on other platforms.

Proof, actual data and expertise are irrelevant “feelings”, ad hominem attacks, and “someone told me” are the tests of truth for the MAGA crowd. Many GOP types have started to recognize this; I suspect more will join over time. The question is will it be enough to make a difference?

I have an idea! Simple to implement, too! Have the muskrats identify in the government software those people who voted for Trump. Those who voted for Trump get the opportunity to forfeit their social security, medicare, Medicaid, health insurance subsidies, vaccinations, and any other benefit that they get via the government, therefore saving the rest of us nearly half the cost of those programs! What do y’all think?

Bad enough Scott Stantis leaves a steaming pile of politics on my comics page every day, he also spreads misinformation and constitutional ignorance, too. He’s like the toddler having a meltdown in church, his emotions utterly in control, his intellect disengaged.

Is gas under $2/gal yet like Trump promised he would do before the election? This question has nothing to do with Biden and only with the actual words that Trump said when Trump made the promise.

It’s a yes or no question. I have to explain the type of question it is because some people don’t understand the word YET. And the only answer that is required to a yes or not question is “Yes” or “No.”

Let’s see if you can read.