magician

Friday September 24, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 24, 2022

“It’s not magic. It’s delusion”

April 11, 2017

Perhaps the starkest example of how dramatically Donald Trump’s fortunes have changed in just a matter of days is contained in the opening paragraph of New York Attorney General Leticia James’ financial-fraud civil lawsuit against Trump and his family. Gone is any semblance of deference that Trump typically expects as a billionaire ex-president. There is no hint of acknowledgment of his claim to special privileges. Rather, Trump gets the same treatment that prosecutors afford common criminals, commanded by James to appear in court or face default judgment on more than 200 allegations of financial fraud and a $250 million fine.

Trump’s no-good, terrible, very bad day was a great day for Americans who want to put an end to his lawlessness and lies, once and for all. His bad day also included a federal appeals court ruling bluntly trashing Trump’s claim that the Justice Department should be denied criminal investigatory access to about 100 classified files that were among a trove of government documents Trump unlawfully possessed at his Florida estate. Trump has presented a convoluted argument that he somehow possessed special privileges as an ex-president to keep such files. The documents are the U.S. government’s sole property.

January 6, 2022

Trump also made the bizarre claim Wednesday on Fox News that he had authority to declassify those documents merely by pronouncing it verbally or “even by thinking about it.” Thus, he asserted, that no paper trail was needed to establish his legal authority to possess highly sensitive materials, unsecured, at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

By merely thinking they were declassified, Trump would have done his job. It would then be incumbent upon clairvoyant government officials to discern that he was abiding by the law instead of endangering national security by leaving the documents exposed to foreign espionage. Presumably, Trump would have used these magical thinking powers while he was still president, since ex-presidents have never had the power to declare verbally, in writing or using telepathy that highly classified materials are now declassified.

July 23, 2022

But this is the absurd degree to which Trump — who millions of Republicans still want back in the White House — deludes himself about his own powers. Add to that the hundreds of examples of Trumpian self-delusion contained within the New York attorney general’s lawsuit alleging financial fraud, and it should be clear to all Americans by now that Trump is a dangerous, unabashed con man whose only goal is his political or financial advancement.

Trump can try to deflect with accusations of a Democratic “witch hunt” and by labeling James as “racist” because she’s a Black woman pursuing justice against a white man. But the 222-page lawsuit speaks for itself. It is detailed, well-documented and damning.

Trump’s courtroom comeuppance ultimately would serve Americans of all political stripes because it would affirm a concept that badly needs affirmation: That no person is above the law. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) 

From sketch to finish, see the current way Graeme completes an editorial cartoon using an iPencil, the Procreate app, and a couple of cheats on an iPad Pro …

 

Tuesday April 11, 2017


Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday April 11, 2017

Spicer: Trump’s foreign policy is still ‘America first’

President Donald Trump’s foreign policy doctrine is still “America first,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer declared Monday.

Trump ordered airstrikes on Syria on Thursday in response to Syrian leader Bashar Assad’s regime using chemical weapons on civilians early last week. Trump’s move was a decisive but perplexing action for a president who campaigned on putting America first and as a private citizen advised President Barack Obama to seek congressional approval before potentially bombing Syria, which he suggested in 2013 would result in “more debt and a possible long term conflict.”

“I think the Trump doctrine is something that he articulated throughout the campaign, which is that America’s first,” Spicer told reporters, cautioning that the U.S. won’t “become the world policeman” but will make sure the nation’s economic and security interests are protected.

Asked how to square Trump’s America-first policy with his military action targeting the airbase where U.S. intelligence believes the Syrian regime’s chemical attack originated, Spicer cast the potential proliferation of chemical weapons as a national security threat.

“I think if you recognize the threat that our country and our people face if there is a growth of use or spread of chemical weapons of mass destruction, those, the proliferation of those, the spread to other groups, is a clear danger to our country and to our people,” he said. (Source: Politico) 

 

Thursday March 3, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Thursday March 3, 2016 US election 2016: US Republicans express Donald Trump fears Mr Trump has declared himself a "unifier", but he's strongly opposed by most of the Republican establishment. Senator Lindsey Graham warned on Wednesday that Mr Trump would lose in November's election. And former nominee Mitt Romney is to make a speech on Thursday in which he is expected to challenge Mr Trump. He has been fiercely critical of the businessman, whose hardline stance on issues like immigration put him at odds with Republican orthodoxy. His victories on so-called Super Tuesday consolidated his position as the most likely Republican candidate to vie for the White House against the Democratic nomination. Texas Senator Ted Cruz walked away with three states, bringing his total to four, while Florida Senator Marco Rubio won his first state (Minnesota) in the primary race to date. Mr Trump will be joined by Mr Cruz, Mr Rubio and Ohio governor John Kasich at a Fox News Republican debate on Thursday, but retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who has failed to win any states, said he would not be attending. In a statement on Wednesday, he said he saw "no path forward" for his presidential campaign, though he has stopped short of ending his race completely. Several party leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, have spoken out against Donald Trump's controversial policies and positions in recent days. His latest controversy centres on his failure to disavow David Duke, a leader of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan, who endorsed him. He later said he had on several occasions in the past disavowed Mr Duke. Mr Ryan forcefully denounced the real estate mogul on Tuesday, saying: "They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. This party does not prey on people's prejudices." "Let me make it perfectly clear, Senate Republicans condemn David Duke and the KKK,

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 3, 2016

US election 2016: US Republicans express Donald Trump fears

Mr Trump has declared himself a “unifier”, but he’s strongly opposed by most of the Republican establishment.

Senator Lindsey Graham warned on Wednesday that Mr Trump would lose in November’s election.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Wednesday February 10, 2016 Poll: Trump, Sanders lead ahead of New Hampshire's vote Donald Trump continues to lead the Republican race in New Hampshire on the eve of the vote, the final CNN/WMUR tracking poll finds. On the Democratic side of the race, it remains Bernie Sanders' primary to lose, with the Vermont senator holding a 26-point lead over Hillary Clinton. The field of candidates vying for a second place finish behind him is finally beginning to separate, according to the survey. Trump holds 31%, down two points from the February 3-6 release, but within the poll's margin of sampling error. READ: The full CNN/WMUR tracking poll results Behind him, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio earned 17% support -- within the margin of sampling error of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 14%, but significantly ahead of the fourth and fifth place candidates in the poll, Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 10% and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 7%. Behind Bush, Carly Fiorina stands at 5%, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 4% and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 3%. Aside from Trump, none of the Republican candidates moved more than 1 point in either direction compared with the previous CNN/WMUR tracking poll. About three-quarters of the interviews conducted for this poll were completed before the Republican candidates debated Saturday night, their final such match-up before Tuesday's election. Although the post-debate sample size is too small to produce a separate estimate of the vote, interviews conducted Sunday and Monday found no drop in support for Rubio, and actually showed a slimmer margin between Trump and Rubio. There has been little movement in the last two days in the other metrics tested in the survey, with about two-thirds still saying they expect to see Trump win on Tuesday (64%), and about a third saying they would never vote for Trump (32%). (Source: CNN) http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/08/politics/donald-trump-bernie-sa

And former nominee Mitt Romney is to make a speech on Thursday in which he is expected to challenge Mr Trump.

He has been fiercely critical of the businessman, whose hardline stance on issues like immigration put him at odds with Republican orthodoxy.

His victories on so-called Super Tuesday consolidated his position as the most likely Republican candidate to vie for the White House against the Democratic nomination.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz walked away with three states, bringing his total to four, while Florida Senator Marco Rubio won his first state (Minnesota) in the primary race to date.

Mr Trump will be joined by Mr Cruz, Mr Rubio and Ohio governor John Kasich at a Fox News Republican debate on Thursday, but retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who has failed to win any states, said he would not be attending.

In a statement on Wednesday, he said he saw “no path forward” for his presidential campaign, though he has stopped short of ending his race completely.

Several party leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, have spoken out against Donald Trump’s controversial policies and positions in recent days.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Friday February 19, 2016 Pope Francis says Trump's views on immigration 'not Christian' Pope Francis said Thursday that Donald Trump is "not Christian" if he intends to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. Trump immediately fired back, saying it is disgraceful for a religious leader to question a person's faith. Trump, a leading U.S. Republican presidential candidate, has promised to build a wall along the Mexican border from Texas to California and expel 11 million people who are in the country illegally if elected president. The Pope's comments en route home from Mexico came hours after he prayed at the Mexico-U.S. border for people who died trying to reach the United States. "A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian," Francis said. "This is not in the Gospel." Not having heard Trump's border plans independently, Francis said he'd "give him the benefit of the doubt." But he added: "I'd just say that this man is not Christian if he said it this way." Texas Senator Ted Cruz, another Republican presidential contender, has also supported building a border wall, and joked that he will make Trump pay for it. Trump, a Presbyterian, last week criticized Francis' plans to pray at the border. He said the move was ill-informed and showed Francis to be a political figure being exploited by the Mexican government. "I don't think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico," Trump said in an interview with Fox News. "I think Mexico got him to do it because they want to keep the border just the way it is. They're making a fortune, and we're losing." On Thursday, he responded to the Pope's comments during a campaign stop in Kiawah Island, S.C. "No leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man's religion or faith," he said. "They are using the Pope as a pawn and they sh

His latest controversy centres on his failure to disavow David Duke, a leader of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan, who endorsed him. He later said he had on several occasions in the past disavowed Mr Duke.

Mr Ryan forcefully denounced the real estate mogul on Tuesday, saying: “They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. This party does not prey on people’s prejudices.”

“Let me make it perfectly clear, Senate Republicans condemn David Duke and the KKK, and his racism,” Senator and majority leader Mitch McConnell commented.

Influential congressman Peter King joked he would leave politics if Mr Trump became the nominee.

Wednesday December 9, 2015And Marco Rubio indicated in his speech on Tuesday that the Republican establishment was unlikely to back the former reality TV star.

“If this was anybody else as a front-runner, there’d be people right now saying ‘Let’s all rally around the front-runner,'” he said, adding, “that will never happen with Donald Trump”.

According to the New York Times, some party donors are already trying to raise funds for an anti-Trump effort.

Meanwhile, The Center for Public Integrity reports that Republican super PACs ran as many as 8,500 adverts in the run up to Super Tuesday to try to discredit Donald Trump’s election campaign.

Mr Graham warned that Republicans would “lose to Hillary Clinton” with Mr Trump as their party nomination.

Mrs Clinton also won seven states on Tuesday, consolidating her lead in the Democratic race over rival Bernie Sanders. (Source: BBC News)