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For Mike Luckovich, August is often a difficult time to find rich satirical fodder. But not this year.
“At least for the cartoonists,” says Atlanta Journal-Constitution political artist, Donald Trump’s scrutinized actions and the “continued cult” of his MAGA supporters have been a “nice breather.”
Since last week’s FBI search of the former president’s Florida home, many visual commentators have found the typical dog days of summer to be a lively time to create comedy.
However, any humor is weighed down by the weight of the Palm Beach news, Luckovich says. On Aug. 8, agents transported “dozens of boxes containing what authorities have described as highly classified national secrets” from the Mar-a-Lago estate, according to The Washington Post.
Buffalo News political cartoonist Adam Zyglis echoes Luckovich’s assessment.
“Based on the FBI search and the fallout it’s been rich in targets,” he says. “However, like covering other historic Trump news such as the impeachment or the insurrection, it has been a challenge to adequately capture the gravity.”
In response, Zyglis and Luckovich, on the left, have drawn cartoons chronicling how some Republican leaders have criticized law enforcement.
“The news of the FBI search was like an arrow piercing the MAGA alternate reality bubble. You could see the cognitive dissonance in real time as members of the GOP were hypocritically attacking the FBI,” he says Zyglis.
“The political backlash reaffirmed that the Republican majority believes that loyalty trumps patriotism and the rule of law.”
Steve Breen, the cartoonist for the San Diego Union-Tribune, quickly sized up the news from Florida and Washington, with Attorney General Merrick Garland saying he himself authorized seeking judicial permission for a search warrant.
“I was pretty sure of two things after reading about the search: that the Department of Justice and the FBI probably had good reason to visit Mar-a-Lago, and that Trump supporters were going to lose their minds over the incident “, he says.
To represent this political backlash, the right-leaning Breen painted a shocked GOP elephant: “I started playing around with the words involved in the story and ‘search and seizure’ came up quickly.”
In his new art, Tim Campbell, who draws for Counterpoint Media, decided to submit how the GOP could capitalize on the actions of the FBI.
“The search for Mar-a-Lago has provided more questions than answers at this point, but a disturbing twist is that Trump and other Republicans are using it to raise funds. Say what you will about Trump,” says the centrist cartoonist, but the former president knows how to “age” his followers.
Meanwhile, Luckovich is also having a field day with Trump’s biggest legal entanglements.
“The news has also focused on Georgia, where I live, as the investigation into Trump’s attempt to overturn the state’s election results continues,” he says. “One of Trump’s top election-stealing clowns, Rudy Giuliani, made an appearance this week before the special grand jury in Georgia, with Sen. Lindsey Graham. [R-S.C.] I’m hoping it goes on soon, so I’ve got a lot to focus on.”