Auchtoon!

Yes, I’m dwelling on the election. I’m aware. And honestly, it’s not the result itself I’m having trouble reconciling or even what lies ahead. It’s the foundational blow to how I understand people are supposed to behave.

Perhaps it’s an overdeveloped sense of fairness or my expectation of kindness or the concept that justice prevails. It’s how I was raised and what I experienced (or thought I experienced) until now.

It’s also a foundational blow to what I expected from my country. Until we reached this point, it was other countries who let unsavory demagogues take the reins. All those third world countries and even some of our peers. We judged them. We looked down on them. How could Italy elect a character like Silvio Berlusconi? Twice? And now we’ve gone and done it.

I guess I thought that in this country we could and would disagree on law and policy and economics. But there would always be general agreement on the type of person to avoid as a leader.

I guess it’s disconcerting to realize that half the people in this country watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” this holiday season would likely vote to put Mr. Potter in office.

In the early 1980s, the band Fun Boy Three had a hit in their native UK, “The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum).” It was a denouncement of the Margaret Thatcher-led Conservative government that had come to power. The title is pretty clear about their particular thoughts on the matter, but you can check out the full lyrics in the iconically 80s video:

Have I lost you? I wouldn’t blame you. Even among Michigan Public listeners, I expect it’s me, my friend Mert, and maybe one other person who has any idea what I’m writing about.

Be that as it may, it’s the song that popped to mind as I’ve witnessed the ongoing parade of unqualified, unvetted characters the incoming presidential administration has nominated for leadership positions. (As I write this, Matt Gaetz has apparently withdrawn his nomination for Attorney General because he didn’t want to be a distraction. Uh-huh. As if the whole point of his political career has been something other than being a distraction.)

How did we get here? Well, we elected Trump, of course. And he told us he intended to follow a course of patronage and fealty in deciding nominees. So no surprise there.

But it’s also in part due to how easily those who oppose him and his policies allow themselves to lose focus. It’s always laudable to consider the feelings of others when choosing your words. But when the lunatics are in fact taking over the asylum, that becomes the priority for focus.

The Michigan Legislature is just now starting into a lame duck session. So for the next month and a half, Democrats will still hold a majority in the House and Senate, with a Democrat as governor. But in January, the new elected House will have a slight Republican majority.

Republicans are already grexing about the legislation Democrats might pass while they still can. Just as the Democrats grexed back in 2018. (In that case, it was the Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer replacing the Republican Governor Rick Snyder, but it was the same net effect for a lame duck session.)

In a way, it’s kind of nice to get back to a standard sort of political bickering. There’s no apocalyptic government action at stake, nothing exponentially outside of norms (like, say, Matt freakin’ Gaetz as a nominee for Attorney General).

So there will be some posturing and some sniping. And a boatload of hypocrisy. But that will set us up nicely for the new year with a divided government. (I will not add a hopeful note here for a divided government perhaps leading us to honest debate and thoughtful compromise.)

To be honest, I’m still collecting my thoughts on the election. I suspect most of you are. So instead of adding here to the cacophony of articles/posts/pods etc. trying to sort it all out, I’ll just leave it to the cartoon to convey the vibe.

If you have a declared allegiance to a political party, this cartoon isn’t for you.

If you hew closely to a liberal/left or conservative/right ideology, this cartoon isn’t for you.

If you are a single-issue voter (women’s health/abortion, for example), this cartoon isn’t for you.

If you vote transactionally, going for the candidate who you think is most likely to deliver on the political promises that will benefit you, this cartoon isn’t for you.

And if you happen to be a billionaire (you never know who reads these things) trying to puppet-string the world to your personal benefit, this cartoon is not for you.

This is for the undecided voters. And if you are one of these people at this point days before the election (and months into a thoroughly exhausting, all-consuming campaign season), I imagine the only criteria left to make a decision on is character — who is the more relatable, decent, stable human being? I mean, if that’s how you would choose a co-worker, a manager, a neighbor, a friend — shouldn’t that factor into how you would choose a President?

So I don’t want to lead you too much here, but may I suggest voting for the one who is NOT the living embodiment of the seven deadly sins (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride)?

Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate here in Michigan, is in a difficult position. He has a fairly long public history of being opposed to the availability of legal abortions. But now that it is neither a generally popular position nor a helpful wedge issue, he has attempted to distance himself as best he can.

Specifically, he says we should have no concern about his role as a senator and national abortion bans because it’s a moot point in Michigan — it’s “settled law.” Of course, that’s also the approximate assurance previously given by Supreme Court nominees for why there should be no concern about overturning Roe v. Wade. And then it was overturned.

I don’t question Rogers’ convictions on abortion. Or anybody else’s, for that matter. It’s a deeply personal issue. But politicians face dilemmas like this all the time — having to decide between core beliefs and what they think might get them elected. So the spin is understandable; it’s just not admirable.

In January 2017, shorty after Donald Trump took office, his administration released an executive order that restricted entry into the United States from certain countries with majority Muslim populations. It was poorly thought out and even more poorly implemented.

But it did manage to cause an enormous amount of pain as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were tasked with finding individuals from these countries and deporting them. Not just for the Muslims it targeted (the Trump Administration itself referred to the executive order as the “Muslim ban”), but for a significant number of Arab Christians who also got caught up in the machinery. Many faced being shipped to Iraq to face persecution with no family and no support.

I bring this up because in 2016, the Arab Christian community in Michigan strongly supported the male candidate (or threw their vote away to avoid supporting the female candidate), because he said he would protect them. And then he immediately betrayed them.

So here we are in 2024, and as part of Trump’s favorable polling with men in general, he apparently is making some inroads with Black men, Hispanic men, and even Arab Muslim men. What the heck is wrong with us guys? I mean, history is pretty clear on what comes from enabling Trump (and demagogues in general). Most women seem to understand this.

*Sigh* I conclude with this frighteningly applicable meme: “I never thought leopards would eat MY face,” sobs man who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.

It is not only plausible but entirely predictable that Elon Musk would fire somebody for a perceived insult. This self-styled defender of the First Amendment’s free speech protections has proven himself time and again a vengeful snowflake when it comes to contrary opinions.

However, the logical fallacy I could not resolve in the cartoon is that Musk cannot fire a union worker because he would never employ a union worker. It’s a conundrum.

But you know what? A union worker with any sort of admiration for Musk (or Musk’s preferred presidential candidate) defies all logic, too. So by these bizzarro-world standards, I may just be on solid ground.

I think the consensus on the Vice Presidential debate was that it was startlingly civil. But just because some things were said in measured tones doesn’t mean all that was said was necessarily true.

One particular item that caught my ear was Senator Vance’s assertion that, “25 million illegal aliens competing with Americans for scarce homes is one of the most significant drivers of home prices in the country.”

The New York Times fact checked this: “Economists and real estate experts say that while migration, including illegal immigration, has contributed to population growth and thus demand for housing, it is not a main driver behind the country’s housing affordability crisis.”

I mean, there were several other exaggerations and outright falsehoods, but this fits the unfortunately proven technique of using immigrants as scapegoats to win votes.

And the thing is, for Michigan, more immigration (secure, legal, humanely processed immigration) would actually be a cure for many of our challenges.

Sometimes it’s difficult to trace exactly where an idea for a cartoon comes from. But sometimes it’s crystal clear. For example, this week.

I was reading an article in the Washington Post about how developers in Galveston Island, Texas, are building luxury, waterfront condos in areas unprotected by a sea wall. This, despite the fact that sea levels (particularly in the Gulf of Mexico) are rising precipitously, compounded by more violent storms brought on by global climate change.

Then of course there was all the news about Hurricane Helene, which may or may not have devastated Florida by the time you are reading this. Just like past hurricanes have. Just like increasingly powerful hurricanes in the future will. Swampland handles this well. People living in swampland, not so much.

Meanwhile, I’m hoping to finish fixing the roof of my shed this weekend in preparation for winter. Because I live in a sensible, somewhat predictable place, I don’t anticipate receiving any federal disaster relief money for the effort.