Every accusation is an admission
The political cartoon in The Sun on April 11 (“Orange man bad“) provided yet another opportunity to step through that Republican-looking glass, where every accusation is an admission and every slander is a confession. The most glaring switcheroo operant here is the two lists under the heading of “Party Platforms.” The pontificating pachyderm makes nine sober points (and counting), while the dang donkey only makes one, darn it, and it’s an ad hominem. Well, gosh, golly and gotcha.
The problem here is that the Republican list is a catalog of aggravating grievances, not party platform points. The Republican Party explicitly and determinedly has no platform. What it does have is a slogan and a figurehead, and while it cultivates the many fears, both real and imaginary, of its faithful, it has no actual policies for remedying their anxieties — unless moralizing outrage, demonizing immigrants, idolizing firearms, suppressing votes and cosseting rich tax cheats can be characterized as “policies.” Pressed to a point, the Elephant will typically revert to the mindless slander of “Biden crime family,” rather like the Donkey is doing in the cartoon, when he says “Orange man bad.” Needless to say, any objective comparison of the business dealings of Jared Kushner and Hunter Biden or a quick review of the leading presidential candidates under state and federal indictment would also further illustrate this accusation/admission, slander/confession dynamic handsomely.
If policy in a party platform is what’s wanted, the Elephant can hand his list over to the Donkey. Readers might honestly disagree with equine policy proposals but at least they are something more concrete than the capricious poses, postures and attitudes of a wannabe autocrat.
Still, I would encourage those prodded by the point of this cartoon to give generously to the Republican party and its billionaire standard bearer, who needs money. With his daughter-in-law now minding the RNC store, he is well positioned to loot the party treasury to pay his ever-growing legal bills and his sky-rocketing civil judgments accumulating with interest as well as his citations for contempt of court. It might well make the difference in the coming election.
— William O. Miles, Towson
Cartoon unfair to Democrats
I am a long, long-time subscriber to The Sunpapers, and I am very very upset with the cartoon showing the Republican platform of border, economy, crime, energy, Russia, China, Education, etc. vs. the Democratic platform of “Orange man bad.” That cartoon couldn’t have been more wrong. What legislation has the Republican Congress passed on any of these issues in the past years? Republicans have only been interested in impeaching Joe Biden or hearing from his son.
Biden has helped to pass the massive infrastructure bill, tried to get funding for Ukraine, passed the largest in American history investment in climate change, helping to relieve student debt, capped drug prices for seniors by passing the Inflation Reduction Act, and more. Yet The Sunpapers runs a cartoon that indicates Democrats are only interested in getting the “orange man.” How unfair, how deceitful.
— Geri J. Schlenoff, Towson
GOP platform: Orange man good
What a misleading political cartoon, portraying the Republicans as somehow the “serious” party and Democrats as simply reacting to Donald Trump (the twice-impeached, four-times-indicted, held-liable sex offender). Apparently the cartoonist hasn’t been paying attention to the clown show that’s been playing out in Congress the past couple of years. And listing “Ukraine” as an issue the Putin wing is taking seriously? Give me a break. And calling it a party “platform”! Remember the 2020 GOP platform? “Orange Man Good.” And that hasn’t changed.
— Charles Rammelkamp, Baltimore
