Our country is teetering towards fascism and some expect us to ignore the the possible end of democracy to avoid, what, a bit of indigestion?”
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You probably remember this story about cartoonist Michael de Adder from the summer: Canadian artist dumped after his ‘Pulitzer Prize–worthy’ cartoon of Trump golfing next to dead migrants goes viral.
“In June 2019, de Adder had his freelance contract with the Brunswick News terminated following his drawing of a cartoon criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump's border policies. The cartoon showed President Trump playing golf and ignoring the dead, face down, drowned bodies of a Mexican man and his small daughter. The Brunswick News issued a statement saying that they had not been offered the cartoon and that the decision to replace de Adder with another cartoonist had been made some weeks previously.” (Wikipedia)
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Wes Tyrell, President of the Association of Canadian Cartoonists, issued a statement after the firing:
Cartoonist Michael de Adder was let go from his job drawing editorial cartoons for all the major New Brunswick newspapers 24 hours after his Donald Trump cartoon went viral on social media, a job he held for 17 years.
Although he has stated there was no reason given for his firing, the timing was no coincidence.
Michael told me once that not only were the J.D. Irving owned New Brunswick newspapers challenging to work for, but there were a series of taboo subjects he could not touch. One of these taboo subjects was Donald Trump.
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The Irvings have considerable corporate interests in the United States, but why would they care about cartoons potentially offending the American president?
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It’s simple really, J.D. Irving, Limited is not only a privately owned conglomerate headquartered in New Brunswick, its also an international behemoth with global reach. Trade has been an issue since Trump took office, trade that affects the Irvings directly, not to mention a host of other issues. And the President himself is an unknown quantity who punishes those who appear to oppose him.
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The trope of political figures golfing and showing disdain for issues has been seen before, but deAdder’s take hit a nerve. It went viral and social media stars like George Takei even shared it. For a brief period de Adder was the poster boy for the Anti-Trump movement. A good place to be if you’re a cartoonist, but a bad place to be if you work for a foreign oil company with business ties to the United States.
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A solid reason why an oil company has no business owning newspapers.
I was prompted to write about this at this late date because I followed a link to this story which was posted on AlterNet today. Then I saw that de Adder reposted the cartoon on Nov. 25th. and then I discovered that on Sunday “60 Minutes” aired a story about the woman, Tania Avalos, whose husband and child died trying to cross the Rio Grande.
Michael de Adder is still posting his cartoons on Twitter, CounterPoint, and his own website.
On Sunday “60 Minutes” aired a segment about the story which came to represent the cruelty of Trump’s border policy, led to the hard to view photograph, which prompted the controversial cartoon. The story and video show the photograph which made the front page of newspapers which is harder by far to look at than the cartoon depiction.
I think it is fitting on Thanksgiving to remind ourselves of the people not only in this country, but around the world, who rather than celebrating are suffering thanks to the likes of Donald Trump and his brethren of despots.
My opinion is that feeling people can't wholeheartedly celebrate Thanksgiving this year. There are so many articles and discussion about how people need to keep their Thanksgiving dinners devoid of political discussion and should be kept civil by not discussing Trump unless everyone agrees with you.
I understand that people want to keep their Thanksgiving light and avoid arguments, especially if there are children present.
Depending on your group I think that when family and friends gather to celebrate Thanksgiving even if politics isn’t discussed there should be a moment of reflection, or of prayer for those so inclined, giving thanks for your good fortune and thoughts for those who are truly suffering. It is as if for some Thanksgiving must be a sacrosanct holiday marked by a feast, football, and the big New York City parade and nothing else.
Trump himself wants to define the word “thanks” out of Thanksgiving by saying that Democrats (“I heard the some people”) want to change the name. The very notion of the holiday is that it should be a day of giving thanks. Trump endeavors to make the holiday all about him. “Thanks for Trump Day” is his constant message.
Our country is teetering towards fascism (read David Cay Johnston interview) and some expect us to ignore the the possible end of democracy to avoid, what, a bit of indigestion?”
As a therapist I recognize the need to take breaks from Trump, and perhaps I am being too harsh, but I can’t shake the notion that it is too easy to fiddle as Rome burns. So take a break from Trump, enjoy your meals and the warmth of friends and family, the floats and football if you feel a need to do so.
At the least I think there should be a recognition that there are many people for whom today is about survival and not thanks.
What about me? I am having dinner at noon with six friends who are alarmed by Trump too. We’ve already talked about this endlessly so I am content to go with the conversational flow.