Powerful Men
Sitting here thinking there about several things in the news I want to draw about. The Trump “Tapes,” Putin’s damaged image and possibly diminished power, Canadian wildfires, E. Jean Carroll getting reverse sued by Trump for defamation.
Isn’t it interesting that Trump may be brought down by “tapes,” like Richard Nixon was. Although there are not physical tapes, of course, but a recording.
This is a reproduction of a famous cartoon by the Washington Post Editorial cartoonist Herblock from May, 1974. According to The Library of Congress, “A taping system that had recorded most of President Nixon's conversations in the Oval Office provided the "smoking gun" that spoke of crime and corruption. Nixon refused to release the tapes until the Supreme Court ordered him to do so.”
Similarities?
Powerful men like Trump and Nixon loose sight of reality and that’s how they get caught (one way, at least). They get so used to saying what they want, and then….
The American presidency—indeed, American public life—is pitiless in its exposure of a person's character flaws, particular in this postmodern media age. I'm struck by the irony that just at the time when the spotlight has grown so bright as to banish all shadows and expose every blemish, our political class consists mostly of small, tiny, second- and third-raters, with a leavening of grotesque figures like Trump and RFK, Jr. It's not a pretty sight. And we expect people like that to usher in the Radiant Future? Really?
But on the plus side, I'd say it's a great time to be a cartoonist—there's so much material!
Once again you captured the essence of the person! Keep reminding us.