Former President Donald Trump’s legal troubles mounted last week, as he was informed by Special Counsel Jack Smith that he is the target of an investigation into efforts to overturn results of the 2020 presidential election. Editorial cartoonists Michael Ramirez leads the gallery with his view of Trump as “the man who lived in the other shoe” yet to drop.
Bill Bramhall, Mike Luckovich and Dana Summers note that the development didn’t seem to dent Trump’s popularity or campaign fundraising.
Editorial cartoonists also commented on the strikes by Hollywood screenwriters and actors over compensation for their work on streaming services. Drew Sheneman sees the CEOs of Hollywood studios as Scrooge McDuck swimming in riches while complaining about the strikers’ “unrealistic” demands. Bramhall slyly notes one reason the actors are striking — their fear that artificial intelligence will put them out of work — by drawing throngs of picketers and a studio head fretting, “Please tell me that’s a digitized crowd.”
Other events making news last week include a persistent, record-breaking heat wave; Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s antisemitic comments; President Joe Biden’s slip about an ammunition shortage caused by supplying the war in Ukraine; a security lapse at the White House; the “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” movies; and a Shakespearean meditation on artificial intelligence by Scott Stantis.
Cartoons were drawn by Jack Ohman, Nick Anderson, Bill Bramhall, Dana Summers, Drew Sheneman, Scott Stantis, Walt Handelsman, David Horsey, Phil Hands and Joey Weatherford of Tribune Content Agency; and Mike Luckovich, Steve Breen and Michael Ramirez of Creators Syndicate.
