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Before I dive into writing the SOTU, at the bottom of my newsletter today is info about an interview I will do live with a fellow New Yorker cartoonist, Jason Chatfield!
I have watched and live-drawn the State of the Union address for a decade now. For me it’s always been a fascinating thermometer of sorts on what’s going on in US politics. This upcoming address tomorrow will be difficult to watch because of all the lies Trump will tell. It will be performative, for sure. Trump is nothing but a reality TV show host and a narcissist, a deadly combination.
I will live draw it tomorrow night, and may create a live chat feature for the evening, stay tuned for details.
He invited the US Men’s Hockey Olympic team to attend, who just beat Canada the other day. It was a major upset since Canada owns ice hockey, basically. That’s how petty he is.
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The Democrats may be performative as well, but not in the same way. Many are planning to not attend the State of The Union tomorrow, and instead go to a rally outside the Capitol building. I was wondering this morning: if I were in the Congress, would I boycott the speech? Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York said a few days ago that he will not boycott the speech, he will not leave “our house.” But as Minority Leader, he made it clear that he believes that not attending is an option for Democrats.
A new NPR poll shows strong disapproval of Trump, responses say he is “changing the country for the worse.” State of The Union addresses are often used as an attempt to change the narrative in the country. Trump has a major uphill battle in doing that; his narrative will be riddled with lies and bravado based on fantasy. If you’re watching tomorrow night, you might want to pay attention to how he interacts with the Supreme Court after their major rebuke last week from them on his tariffs. During last year’s address, Trump was glad-handing members the Court and whispering in particular justices ears; he thought he had them in his pocket.
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Really good article in Politico about how Dems are strategizing against Trump’s plans to steal the midterm elections.“The party’s top prosecutors have been strategizing for months about how to counter a series of increasingly extreme scenarios they fear could play out this fall.”
On a lighter note, I want to talk about New Yorker cartoonists for a moment. Having been a part of this community for almost 50 years, I can say that it’s a really nice bunch of people. You may not know this, but I married another New Yorker cartoonist, Michael Maslin. He also has a Substack called Ink Spill, all about New Yorker cartoons and cartoonists.
When I first started selling to the magazine, getting to know many of the people who contributed cartoons, I felt embraced and valued. It was a small community back then, maybe a regular group of about 50 people; I personally knew at least half of them. Sadly many of them are gone now and the community is huge, well over 200.
Many of the new cartoonists who have arrived in the last 20 years have become friends. We all share a passion for this unusual art form, the passion that is almost obsessive, slightly crazy.
One of the newer cartoonists, Jason Chatfield, is also on Substack and he invited me to do a live interview tomorrow. He wanted to spend some time talking about the new documentary I directed with Kathleen Hughes called Women Laughing.
We have a screenings with panels coming up in NYC: on March 9th at the Athena Film Festival, tickets here<