- by Kevin Necessary
I’ve written at length about 1) what happens when America countenances and rewards political violence, 2) the dangers of rewriting history, 3) the deep-seated damage from unending lies, and 4) what happens when business leaders and others appease autocrats.
Yesterday, those things (and more) happened all at once, with the entire nation watching.
More broadly, so much made yesterday a truly dark day:
Trump’s words throughout the day.
The January 6 pardons. 1500 of them, including leaders of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, along with those who committed intensely violent crimes:
Attempts to rewrite history, including Trump renaming Jan. 6 insurrectionist “hostages” as he pardoned them. Trump also doubled down on other attempts to alter history, such as (as Daniel Dale of CNN pointed out):
That the 2020 election was rigged;
That Democrats tried to rig the 2024 election, and that he would’ve won California otherwise;
That the Jan 6 House Committee deleted evidence;
That the DOJ was weaponized against him;
That Speaker Pelosi rejected his offer of National Guard troops on Jan. 6;
That jails of other countries are being emptied to send criminals to the US.
The executive orders. Attacking the XIV Amendment (and birthright citizenship). A crowd cheering as the US exits the Paris Climate Accords. Opening up security clearances to anyone Trump desires. Even rescinding the reduction of prescription prices.
The billionaires getting better seating than those meant to represent the people:
Elon’s salute. Twice.
And so much else.
Outside of Vivek Ramswamy topping Scaramucci—being fired from his DOGE co-leadership post on the same day he was supposed to start (more on him later in the week)—a truly dark day.
And a reminder of so many of the worst moments in American history.
BUT…
It fired me up.
To gear up.
To fight back.
To overcome it.
Because it felt so off. It was so off.
A true overreach.
So undignified.
Worse, so un-American.
Beneath our great country.
All day long, even my kids sensed it.
They are 10 and 8.
“What did he just say?”
“The Gulf of America?”
“What’s going to happen with Panama?”
“Didn’t those people beat up the police?”
When Trump interrupted one of his Executive Order signatures, and asked the crowd, “I don’t think Joe Biden would’ve done that, do you?”, one son said out loud: “No. Because it’s so childish.”
And, as we stayed up late to watch the Buckeyes win: “why is he interrupting halftime?” (good question!)
And once again, remember, so much of what was done yesterday is and will prove to be deeply unpopular. The pardons of violent insurrectionists (which JD Vance said wouldn’t happen only days ago). Prescription drug price increases. The price increases that will follow tariffs. And so on.
It won’t all become clear this week, but this overreach and arrogance are the seeds of our opportunity.
Especially when we keep in mind that this is what Trump inherited:
Channel your anger and fear and frustration to seize that opportunity, wherever you are.
And I’ll be sharing practical ways you can make a difference here and elsewhere.
Kevin’s Commentary…
Welcome back, friends, to another look behind the scenes at my cartooning process.
The world is on fire, literally and figuratively, so grab your extinguisher and let’s check out last week’s rough sketches…
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