No Truth Deniers
And Biden on ordinary Americans
Drew this last week and The New Yorker didn’t want it, so happy to share with you all here. I was going to write about the drawing, but instead, I’d love to hear your responses to it.
The historian Heather Cox Richardson’s newletter today has the 6 minute video of her recent interview with President Biden. It’s so interesting and intimate. They discuss why Biden chose Valley Forge to deliver a recent speech, about about how ordinary Americans have defended democracy. They discussed how many diverse people worked together, and felt it was their responsibilty. Biden believes in the goodness of Americans, Richardson asked why, and he said he just believes that’s who we are, that we “step up.” He said, “Ordinary people feel a sense of obligation in a community, not just democracy and freedom, but in simple acts of kindess.” He believes in “the heart and guts of the American people, they never give up.” Biden said what he likes about Americans is that Americans feel no one is entitled to anything just because of where they come from or who they are. Richardson agreed and said “That’s what America is about.” And Biden said, “I think that’s true, I really do.”
This is what I admire about Joe Biden. He truly believes this—you can feel it in the way he talks, and we’ve heard it from him many times before— that every individual can make a difference, and that most of us are inclined to want to do that. And, want to lift others up and help. I feel the same way.
Happy Saturday, hope you are enjoying your weekend. Thank you, Heather, for this interview!
I love love the cartoon. And wondering did the NYer not take it because they felt it too "political?" Is that possible in a magazine like theirs? What I'm finding these days that really frightens me is people seem to be more and more afraid of voicing their opinions; they seem to think it's better to have those feelings, but keep them to themselves. It's as though a thug from the orange man's camp will pop out, put a hood over their heads, and like in third world countries, whisk them away. It's scary because we stand to elect a president whose mantra is "vengeance" instead of "unity." I just hope sanity will somehow prevail and we will valley forge away. Thanks for a thoughtful, bold, cartoon.
I love the idea for this cartoon, and I also love that it is clearly a multi-racial, multi-cultural party (aside from a couple of restrictions that are not strictly cultural). Naturally, Trump and Trumpists are claiming verismilitude with their TruthSocial social-media site, which I don't think is consciously 1984-ish, though it so IS. People trying to sell something (politics, religion, drugs, lawnmowers) always claim Truth as their ally. It's so sad that MAGA people disavow science and history, because that's where truth is most easily found. Not your Papa, not your Mama, not Trump - but science and history. But even those havens are not entirely safe, which is why schools started teaching Critical Thinking and why most republicans hate that concept so much. They prefer comfortable traditional lies and criticize "wokeness," which is a clumsy term, but stands for truth. I think MAGA will eventually flame out, because people who actually prefer lies to truths are Losers in a Darwinian sense. It's a shame that so many conservatives embrace Trump and they will have to reinvent themselves, as MAGA becomes the political equivalent of "baby boomer" for upcoming generations. I'm sorry to be so serious about this. Only Liza can be humorous about it. Though apparently not The New Yorker itself. To be quite honest, I wish the old writers and artists from MAD magazine were still alive and in business in this MAGA world..