How outrageous is a $1.77 billion “settlement” for the Jan 6th insurrectionists?
The answer is that is it so outrageous that even some Republicans are choking on this “Stupid on Stilts” …
Clay Jones – Stupid on Stilts #Trump #ThomTillis #TrumpSlushFund #StupidOwnStilts #Weaponization #MAGA
For comparison, the 1984 settlement for the veterans exposed to Agent Orange was $180 million ($580 million in today’s dollars)
Back in January this went out. Most of the replies to it were ridiculing him saying nothing like that will ever happen because it’s so absurd … and yet here we are now.
- Side Note: They weren’t POLITICAL prisoners. They are people who chose to violently attack a sitting session of Congress, destroying public property, threatening lives and causing trauma and death. They are pariahs to society as a whole.
NYT Board on Trump’s Slush Fund: “There has never been an example of Presidential corruption like this… destroying pillars of US democracy to empower himself… encourages future lawlessness on his behalf… taking your money & showering it on criminals.” www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/o…
Nick Anderson – slush fund
Chris Britt – #trump #slushfund #IRS #gop #j6 #proudboys #terrorists #news
Clay Jones – Taxpayers are funding Trump’s new crappy slush fund. #Trump #TrumpSlushFund #TruthAndJusticeCommission #Shit #TrumpIsShit #MAGA
Daniel Boris – Don the Con’s DOJ agreed to create a $1.7 billion slush fund” that Trump could use to reward allies, including the nearly 1,600 defendants convicted or charged in connection with the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
Matt Wuerker – an inside job
Matt Davies – Dozer-In-Chief.
Political Corruption
Daniel Medina – Israel-aligned lobbying groups continue to buy our politicians. #freepalesti̇ne #israel #Israellobby #politicalart #politicalartwork
Corruption on a truly epic scale
One of the clearest examples of pay-to-play politics you will ever see …
DOJ Corruption
- The Above deal was hammered out with Satan, who was wary of allowing that much competition in Hell.
Daniel Medina – Trump is the most corrupt in US history. Trump makes Boss Tweed blush! Trump created a slush fund 4 himself, his family, allies, & Jan 6 terrorist. The settlement includes a blanket pardon for any past/present tax crimes #fucktrump #fuckmaga #editorialcartoon #politicalcartoon #politicalart #news
Clay Jones – Trump is grifting with puppets #Trump #ToddBlanche #GrifterInChief #MAGA
Multiple layers of Lunacy, utter incompetence, and Corruption
GOP repeatedly condemned Biden for depleting Strategic Oil Reserve, accusing him of using it as a personal ATM to keep gas prices artificially low. Trump creates a worldwide oil crisis, refuses to take accountability for an illegal and ill-prepared war, and now depletes oil reserves with GOP support…
Homeland Corruption
WarGames Corruption
There is what Trump has been claiming, and then there is what Iran has been claiming. Obviously the media amplifies his message.
We now live in a world where Iran is far more believable.
IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency says “the strait will continue to be under Iran’s management” and “the nuclear file has not been discussed at all”
It is not just Trump, Mike Johnson is also Gaslighting
Honestly, Johnson is an embarrassment …
A deal is close?
Yea right, this is what you do when a “Deal is close”: Iran’s official military spokesperson Ibrahim Al-Fiqar shared this AI-generated image of Donald Trump bowing before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with the caption “The end..”
Interestingly enough this also is via Iran’s Fars News:
“It should be noted that American officials have acknowledged in multiple messages to Iran that Trump’s tweets are primarily for promotional purposes and media consumption within the United States, and they have recommended that no attention be paid to these statements.”
hence Iran perhaps puts the above out also for their domestic audience.
What is the truth, where are we really?
My 2c worth – a temporary de-escalation deal may be close, but nothing permanent or final.
ICE Gestapo Corruption
SCOTUS Corruption
- Link to long article (Jan/Feb Edition)
- Quote: “The eager embrace and encouragement that you’ve seen from the Roberts court for Trump’s lawlessness is just marinating in the right-wing justices’ belief that rules don’t apply to them either,” Lipton-Lubet says. “Justices who are comfortable taking essentially undisclosed bribes from fellow ideologues end up deciding that the president they support is above the law. They’ve created this culture for themselves of accountability-free corruption, and that extends, I think, to the way that they view the administration.” She adds, “You can only live in a rule-free environment for so long before it cooks your brain.”
Donor Corruption
Clay Jones – Why are MAGAts so protective of pedophiles? #Trump #ThomasMassie #EpsteinFiles
Election Corruption
Clay Bennett – The New South
MAGA Christian Corruption
The nuttier right-wing religious fanatics within the MAGA cult are as always doing their thing, and so here are this week’s samples.
The big event for these cultists was Trump’s much-Hyped ‘Rededication’ of U.S. to God. Trump administration officials and Christian nationalist leaders hyped last Sunday’s June 17 event to “rededicate America as one nation under God” as a historic moment and turning point for the nation, but President Donald Trump skipped it to go golfing.
But wait, there was also the Saturday evening worship gathering organized by musician and MAGA cultist Sean Feucht on the grounds of the Washington Monument; So Trump attended that … hell no, he was also golfing then.
- He owes them because 80% of Evangelicals keep voting for him and supporting him. When they want him for something … crickets … and yet they still don’t grasp that he holds them in utter contempt.
- Not even a video greeting, JD Vance was suck doing that. To keep the illusion and con going organisers found an old video of Trump reading a bible verse and played that.
- Those that did speak simply touted out the usual lies about the US being founded as a Christian Nation.
- This quote from a critic sums it all up rather well: “Neither the smaller-than-expected attendance nor Trump’s apparent disinterest in the “rededication” ceremony mean that the rest of us should ignore that the increasingly aggressive Christian nationalism of the administration and the MAGA movement threatens Americans’ religious freedom and the rights of people seen as undeserving by right-wing Christian nationalists. “
Did the con work?
Of course it did. MAGA cultist Mark Meckler was gushing about how Trump has been “transformed by God”: “I think he is the man chosen by God for this moment.”
- The delusion is strong in this one.
Then there was Eric Metaxas who says it was “beautiful” to see President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson rededicate America to God at a time when “we’re in this war with dark forces, whether it’s with Islamo-fascists or Marxist maniacs, globalists, leftists who don’t love this country.”
- “Dark Forces“: That’s literally you Eric and everybody else within your deeply weird cult.
So what else have these lunatics being saying this past week?
- Reminder: Jesus rather famously said “My Kingdom is not of this world“.
- Jesus was never a politician in the MAGA pastor sense. He was not out there holding rallies, selling merch, or explaining why tax cuts for billionaires were actually biblical. He told people to feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, forgive enemies, and stop worshipping wealth.
Shane Vaughn thinks he has found a way for President Donald Trump to serve a third term by insisting that the 2020 election was stolen and therefore “he wouldn’t be elected 3 times against the Constitution but rather a TERM would have to be given back to him.“
- Is this religious fraudster really this stupid? Probably not. Does he think his listeners are this stupid? Very much yes.
Cult “Prophet” (self-appointed) Lance Wallnau claims that “according to Pew research, Christian nationalism is becoming more and more of an acceptable and normative worldview.“
- Oh come now you should guess this stuff by now, but yes he is lying because that is not what the Pew research said.
- Pew Report Quote: “In the poll, 59 percent of respondents said they had heard of the concept, up from 45 percent in 2024. Of those, 31 percent view it unfavorably and 10 percent favorably.“
Same nut. Lance Wallnau, also continues to insist that the FBI fomented the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
- Apparently he cannot understand the difference between an undercover agent and a paid informer.
- Meanwhile, please would somebody remind him whose FBI it was; hint: who was president at that moment in time?
- Guy who uses freedom-of-speech to say a lot of utterly obnoxious stuff week after week, wants his own freedom to be able to do that eliminated. Please people, make it make sense for me.
Dale Partridge asserts that it is not racist to say that “Third World nations are mostly filled with high crime and low IQ populations made up of Muslims and Hindus who worship demons, marry their cousins, eat bugs, and fill their rivers with trash.”
- Fact check 1: Via world bank data we learn that poorer countries have very low homicide rates, while some middle- or high-income countries like the US have serious violent-crime problems.
- Fact check 2: Many low- and middle-income countries are Christian-majority
- Fact check 3: “Worships demons” – from the man who literally worships Trump.
- Fact Check 4: “Eat bugs” – he himself eats shrimp.
- Fact Check 5: “marry their cousins,” – like some legally do within some southern states.
- The funniest part is the confidence. Imagine looking at billions of people across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East—scientists, doctors, farmers, engineers, poets, parents, entrepreneurs, teachers—and thinking, “Yes, I, a man posting culture-war sludge online, have cracked the code: it’s the cousins and the bugs.”
- The Christian nationalist standard is: indicted, impeached, accused of adultery, but useful to MAGA — therefore redeemed.
- This is not Christianity. It is political money laundering for moral bankruptcy.
- “Christians must vote for him because he’s a fighter” is not a moral argument. It is a gang recruitment pitch with Bible verses stapled to it.
Tim Barton claims that President Donald Trump is “actually more similar to the kind of leaders that God has historically chosen, biblically speaking, than what we’re used to.”
- This is the “logic” now being used to defend the utterly indefensible: Every vice becomes evidence of divine selection. Boastfulness? Biblical. Cruelty? Biblical. Corruption? Biblical. Multiple scandals? Very biblical. By this standard, the worse the résumé, the more heavenly the candidate. It takes “God uses imperfect vessels” and upgrades it into “any vessel with enough indictments must be anointed.”
- One other key observation is that the flawed Biblical leaders get judged: David is confronted. Saul is rejected. Nebuchadnezzar is humbled. If he wishes to be “Biblical”, then where is judgement for the utterly corrupt orange felon?
- These raging hypocrites spent decades telling America that “character counts.” Then Trump arrived, and suddenly character became optional, humility became weakness, repentance became unnecessary, and the Sermon on the Mount has been replaced by the comments section of Truth Social.
- I should perhaps also point out that Gods don’t pick who lives in 1600 Pennsylvania Av, the voters do. That’s literally how democracy works. Exactly zero supernatural entities get a vote.
Meanwhile Tim’s dad, David Barton, was on right-wing media spreading the false claims that the two shooters who attacked a San Diego mosque were transgender.
- As a pseudo-historian Mr Barton’s specialist skill is lying, so this is very much on brand.
- Fact Check: Authorities have described the San Diego mosque attackers as two teenagers radicalized online with white-supremacist, neo-Nazi and anti-Muslim ideology: In other words his kind of people; PolitiFact found no evidence police or the FBI described them as transgender or as a couple.
- Stuff like this is very typical of Barton. He might claim that he is just connecting dots, but what he is really doing is eating the crayons and then declaring himself a cartographer.
Nope!, apparently God successfully trolled her …
Ukraine Insights
What is now clear is that Ukraine appears to be winning …
- Link to article
- Byline: “The biggest change in recent months has come from Ukraine’s newly developed midrange drones, which have allowed Kyiv for the first time to strike behind the front line, hitting Russian ammunition depots, supply convoys, headquarters and large concentrations of troops, sources say.“
Trump may deny it was said, but the observation is quite real …
Even More Political Cartoons from the past week
As always, there are many more excellent cartoons.
Clay Jones – I hope Eric Trump doesn’t sue me for this cartoon #Trump #EricTrump #China #JoeBiden #HunterBiden
Cathy Wilcox – Reflecting Pool
Lalo Alcaraz – Tom the Builder sure was busy back in the day, funding detention centers of Core Civic! I guess he didn’t think far enough ahead to the day he might be running for public office in the most liberal and Latino state in the USA! Go Tom, Go!
Ann Telnaes – Trump is simply a mobster & a thief and Todd Blanche is his accomplice
Matt Wuerker – Monumental Chutzpah
Finally
Yep, Thursday was Colbert’s last show.
We have the buildup to the final show …
“It’s The Best” – Jon Stewart On Losing A Late Night Show, And The Joyful Noise That Is Coming
3,079,823 views May 20, 2026 #Colbert#StephenColbert#JonStewart
Comedy legend Jon Stewart tells Stephen there’s a great life on the other side of a cancelled TV show, and that one day Americans will cheer as Donald Trump’s time in office comes to a close. Watch this EXTENDED INTERVIEW to the end for a special appearance by Andra Day!
Then we get to the final day, May 21.
There’s Nothing Special About Stephen Colbert’s Final Monologue At “The Late Show”
4,098,840 views May 22, 2026 #Colbert#StephenColbert#PaulRudd
Every episode of “The Late Show” is special, so Stephen Colbert thought it would be best to begin his series finale with a regular monologue focused on the national conversation, free from forced celebrity cameos.
After “The Late Show” Series Finale, Will All Of Late Night Television Be Destroyed?
1,480,240 views May 22, 2026 #Colbert#AndyCohen#EdSullivanTheater
Stephen Colbert’s interview with Paul McCartney is interrupted when an interdimensional wormhole opens up at the Ed Sullivan Theater. Does this spell the end of late night television as we know it?
As for the AI generated clip posted by The President of The United State of him tossing Colbert in a dumpster and then dancing … well yes, google it if curious, but I’ll not be promoting it here.
I will say this.
Nothing says ‘strong leader’ like using government Wi-Fi to make an AI cartoon where you beat up a comedian who hurt your feelings, then celebrating with the YMCA dance your knees can barely negotiate.
Trump’s fantasy is throwing Colbert in the trash. Colbert’s reality is living rent-free in Trump’s skull