Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce got married yesterday, and it's probably killing Donald Trump because it had nothing to do with him. He wasn't even invited to Madison Square Garden, where the event was held, so he could disrupt traffic just to fall asleep during the ceremony.

This was a private event with over 1,000 guests invited, but I'm sure it was filmed and will soon be a special on Disney+ because it was held at Madison Square Garden, which seats around 20,000 people. Those invited reportedly had to sign non-disclosure agreements. Famous people spotted entering MSG were Ed Sheeran, Bradley Cooper, Zoë Kravitz, Jack Antonoff, Gigi Hadid, Dakota Johnson, Ethan Hawke, MGK, Jason Sudeikis, Hugh Grant, and Camila Cabello. Other stars who made more subtle entrances include Anya Taylor-Joy, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Paul McCartney, Sacha Baron Cohen, Selena Gomez, AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron, and former Disney CEO Bob Iger. Other stars confirmed to be in attendance include Lena Dunham, Gigi Hadid, Barbara Corcoran, Justin Thomas, Ellie Goulding, Tommy Hilfiger, Jenny Han, Emma Stone, Stephen Colbert, Conan O’Brien, Millie Bobby Brown, Ice Spice, Brad Pitt, Gracie Abrams, Ronan Farrow, St. Vincent, Adam Scott, Jennifer Lopez, Paul Rudd and Seth Meyers. I don't know who those people are.

Of course, Travis's mother was in attendance, as well as his brother, Jason, who served as Travis's best man, and his quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, and his wife, Brittany, even though she is a known Trumper. Let's hope New York City did not scare her too much.

Over a dozen sources told Variety that guests were ”flying blind’ with scarce details about the wedding’s theme or dress code. Many were told simply to be in New York City the morning of July 3 and await further details.

In a since-deleted X post from AMC CEO Aron, he wrote about the wedding, “It did not look like Madison Square Garden. Immediately upon entry, everything… floors, walls, ceiling… was draped in peach and white. Large blown up pitctures of Taylor and Travis at each age, year by year, from one year-old to late teenager-hood, were on display.
A small portion of MSG was cordoned off, devoid of any notion that a basketball or hockey game ever shared that space. Somehow magically, someone created an outdoor garden at a lush countryside retreat. Everything draped off this time in green and white. Real flowers and I think artificial three welcomed fifteen rows of maybe 75 or so chairs. They say there were around one thousand attendees, but surprisingly, it all felt intimate and small. Everything was close.”

According to TMZ, Adam Sandler served as the officiant and sang an original song for the couple. Yes, I too think it’s weird they were married by Happy Gilmore. Stevie Nicks performed at the wedding, which makes more sense.

The very moment Swift and Kelce said, “I do,” it was broadcast to the world via digital billboards outside of MSG that read, “JUST&T MARRIED!”

In the days leading up to the wedding, Swift and Kelce donated $26 million to at least 20 charities, which is more than Donald Trump has donated in his entire life, despite being a billionaire. Some of the organizations they donated to include Food Bank for NYC, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Feeding America, Grammy In The Schools, Answer The Call, Musical Mentors, After-School All-Stars and Children’s Mercy Hospital.

I'm happy for them, and they are really good people, but celebrity weddings still make me throw up in my mouth a little bit. I mean, who needs Madison Square Garden to host a wedding? This totally upstaged Don Jr's second wedding, which was held somewhere in the Caribbean, which his father was too busy to attend.

This wedding probably had more people in attendance than Donald Trump's Great American State Fair.

Remember when this wedding shows up on Disney+ two weeks from now, that I called it.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

This was my backup for yesterday's cartoon, but it tickled me so much that I didn't really wanna let it go to waste. So I decided to give it to you guys as a little bonus. My proofers liked it too.

I'm still debating whether I should send it to my newspaper clients.

Happy Fourth of July.

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

America has been preparing for its 250th birthday celebration for over a decade. In 2016, Congress created America250, a bipartisan commission to plan for the nation’s birthday celebration, and then Donald Trump took it over and turned it into another one of his grifts.

America250.org is the 501(c)3 nonprofit that supports the America250 commission. Nonpartisan leaders sit on its board, and a group of about 30 bipartisan lawmakers makes up the commission. Shortly after Trump came back into office in 2025, he signed an executive order that created Task Force 250 as an additional 250th anniversary planning group. Trump named himself as the chair and JD Vance as the vice chair. This task force was part of the Department of Defense.

As part of the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” passed in July 2025, Congress appropriated $150 million in funding for the 250th anniversary celebration. While the law said this money was to be distributed by the Interior Department, it did not specify that it would go to America250. Freedom 250 did not exist yet.

Freedom 250 was created last December. It is officially housed inside the National Park Foundation, a congressionally chartered nonprofit that fundraises for the National Park Service. Like most things associated with Trump, it is very secretive, and it does not have to disclose its donors, so it doesn't. Freedom 250 is behind tacky crap like the UFC fights at the White House, the upcoming Indy car race in Washington DC, and the Great American Fair squatting on the National Mall that nobody is attending and where the Ferris wheel only operates half the time. You would be safer riding the bulls at the rodeo at the Great American Fair than riding that death trap of a Ferris wheel.

If you do attend the Great American State Fair and smell bullshit, it's not coming from the rodeo. The Great American State Fair is presented as something unifying for all Americans when, in reality, it's a Trump rally.

America250 is subject to congressional oversight. Freedom 250 is not. So what is the point of having Freedom 250 when we already had America250 over the past decade? The point is that Donald Trump can take funds that were designated for America 250 through the Interior Department and funnel them to Freedom 250. The Interior Department has reportedly given at least $68 million of taxpayer money to the National Park Foundation, where Freedom 250 is housed, and earmarked it for “significant events to commemorate the nation’s semiquincentennial” and “A250 events.”

At least $10 million from congressional funding was given to Freedom 250 for “Freedom Trucks” and mobile museums that tell a whitewashed version of American history. This material was created in partnership with Hillsdale College, a private, right-wing, Christian fundamentalist liberal arts college in Michigan, and PragerU, a fucknut propaganda outlet posing as a fake university.

Event Strategies, Inc., a company that was a vendor for Donald Trump's campaign and his rallies, and with close ties to Trump, has been paid to organize the Great American State Fair, the fireworks show, and other events. They have been paid by Freedom 250 with public money, but we don't know the amount yet. This is similar to what happened with the Reflection Pool, where a friend of Trump's is paid to fuck everything up.

Meanwhile, America250 has a $100 million funding shortfall and has only received one quarter of the funding that it had anticipated from the Trump administration. America250 has received less money than it expected from donors and corporations because Freedom 250 has also been raising money from the private sector. It's like both organizations are competing against each other for the same cause. Most Americans don't know the difference between the two, with many giving money to Freedom 250, not realizing that they're giving money to Trump-associated goons, if not to Trump himself.

The New York Times reported that the Interior Department had instructed staff to use Freedom 250 as the “primary branding” on federal communications about 250th-anniversary events. An agency memo stated that Freedom 250 should appear as the “lead identity” and encouraged staff to use the Freedom 250 logo in their email signatures.

And the grift continues. The Times obtained a Freedom 250 donor packet that suggested individuals who donated $1 million or more would receive an invite to a private reception with Trump. For $1 million, you can smell the cheese and fully loaded diaper up close for yourself.

Freedom 250 CEO Keith Krach encouraged world leaders to donate at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year. American embassies and consulates have been meeting with global executives to solicit donations to Freedom 250. Trump is using our embassies to grift from foreign governments and corporations. These campaigns have raised concerns that Trump could be promising favorable treatment to companies that give money, like those that have donated money to Trump's ballroom and his golden arch that will loom over Arlington National Cemetery. The message is loud and clear that it is pay-to-play with the United States government under Donald Trump.

Remember, Donald Trump made $2.2 billion by grifting off the Oval Office last year.

On Thursday, Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee published a 55-page report accusing Freedom 250 of aiding Trump in turning America’s 250th birthday into a “hotbed of corruption and self-enrichment” through tactics that potentially amount to criminal fraud. It’s titled “From Vanity to Insanity: How the White House Cheated the American People out of their 250th Birthday.”

Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the ranking Democrat on the committee, told NPR, “We put it all together to really tell the story … of how Donald Trump hijacked what should have been a unifying national celebration and repurposed it for his own interests. This was a team of operatives using the Freedom 250 shell company, but it was also Donald Trump himself telling them what to do.”

The report describes Freedom 250 as "a shadow organization capable of infiltrating the celebrations and injecting America's 250th with Trump's extreme, partisan agenda."

Huffman said, “Once you siphon off the funds and supplant the real bipartisan commission with this new entity and you declare it the main platform for our nation’s celebration, and you award all these shady contracts to your friends, you can do anything you want. And what these folks chose to do was to push a very divisive, very extreme and explicitly sectarian religious agenda into all these materials in our name, using our taxpayer dollars.”

There will be a Trump rally at the Great American Fair and a national prayer vigil for yeehaw fuckers and fucknuts. Donald Trump has co-opted America's birthday and Jesus Christ.

What Freedom 250 is doing could be illegal, and someone might end up in prison. The report alleges that the deception of donors who thought they were supporting America250, but were actually given banking information for Freedom 250, could constitute wire fraud.

Freedom 250 has refused to show any transparency or provide any documentation to Congress. If Democrats retake Congress in November, you can expect full investigations in 2027. Unfortunately, for those organizing Freedom 250, Trump's term expires before the statute of limitations does.

Hoffman said, "We may not be able to undo the damage they've done to us and the national celebration. But we can do something very patriotic by reminding everyone that our government belongs to all of us, not to Donald Trump."

Republicans believe that they have co-opted patriotism, but there's nothing patriotic about pardoning J6 Terrorists, stealing elections, and fleecing patriotic donors for America's birthday. You can be patriotic and celebrate America's birthday without being a racist, fascist douchebag. You can be a proud American while resisting MAGA and Donald Trump.

If you are in the Washington, DC, area, do yourself, your family, and your friends a favor by not going to the Great American Fair and avoiding MAGA fascism and a heat stroke.

Enjoy your barbecue and fireworks tomorrow, and happy birthday, America. Vive la Résistance!

Full disclosure: I lifted a lot of this from American Oversight, which does a great job of documenting Trump's grifting of America's birthday.

Most Popular: Thank you to everyone who helped make my work the most popular in political cartoons on GoComics.

Creative note: I imported the 250 logo for this cartoon.

But something was off with it, and it didn't seem to mesh with my art at all. It seemed stale. So I decided to hand-draw the logo instead.

I actually like it a lot better than the official logo.

The cartoon needed 20 layers in Procreate.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

Donald Trump brags about donating his $400,000 annual salary and lies that he's the only president who's ever done so. For the record, Hoover and JFK both donated their salaries, and Donald Trump hasn't donated his entire salary. But even if he did donate his entire salary, it pales in comparison to what he's making from profiting off the Oval Office. Donald Trump is donating less than 2% of his income.

A 927-page disclosure, covering 2025 and filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, shows Trump made $2.2 billion. Just in case it needs to be noted for you, $2.2 billion is more than $400,000. If you do not believe he is profiting from the Oval Office, in 2024, the year before he returned to it, Trump’s income was $622 million.

When asked by reporters about profiting while in the Oval Office as he was about to board the brand-new Air Force One on its inaugural flight to the Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota, Trump said, “You know why I’m profiting? Because the stock market’s going up, everybody’s profiting.” Referring to himself in third person, he added, “Thank you, President Trump. So, we’re all profiting.”

Except he is not just profiting from the stock market; he reported more than $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency-related income in his latest annual financial disclosure released Tuesday, with digital assets emerging as the largest source of his personal earnings during his second term.

Trump said he doesn’t “get involved” in his personal finances, but just as he was making that comment, Eric and Don Jr, who oversee most of his finances, were standing just a few feet away waiting to board the plane with him.

While Trump claims his presidency and policies are making money for other people, most of the investors who followed his lead on crypto have reported huge losses.

Everyone with a checkbook understands how to get what they want from Donald Trump, and that is to pay him. When he owned a hotel in Washington, the place was constantly booked during his presidency. As soon as he left office in 2021, the vacancy sign turned on. Memberships in his tacky golf resorts increase, as well as the fees, while he's president. After he leaves office, they drop off. Since re-entering office in January 2025, Trump has made huge business deals with foreign governments, most notably the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.

Trump is also taking bribes from media powerhouses, such as Disney, CBS, Meta, and Elon Musk's X, and has even sold presidential pardons. Speaking of Qatar, that nation bribed Trump with what is now the brand-new Air Force One, which Trump took for its first flight as Air Force One on Wednesday.

According to reports, Qatar was trying to sell the plane, but there were no takers, so giving it to Donald Trump was an investment, as Qatar secured a $1.2 trillion investment and trade agreement with the US after making this “donation.” And they didn't offer to give it to Trump until Donald Trump asked for it. He didn't just accept a bribe; he solicited it.

This jet’s service as Air Force One is temporary, as the Air Force is waiting on two brand-new jumbo jets that will serve as Air Force One. When Trump's term is over, he is taking this jet, which is worth $3.2 billion, with him. To retrofit and add security features to this Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar, the Air Force spent around $400 million. So we spent $400 million on this plane that Donald Trump is going to keep. By the way, all this is illegal. All gifts given to a president are supposed to remain with the country, not be taken with him when he leaves office.

Trump says the plane will be on display at his presidential library, much like the jet at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library that once served as Air Force One, but there is a discrepancy here.

The jet on display at Reagan's library didn’t only serve Reagan. This jet came into service as Air Force One in 1972 and served every president from Nixon to George W. Bush. After its retirement, it was deconstructed and reconstructed inside the library, as it was too large to wheel into. Reagan's plane served the country for 30 years, while Trump's “donation” from Qatar will have served for only two.

And who knows how long it will be before Trump's Qatari-gifted jet is on display at his library, as those things can take years to build. Although Trump's library will probably bring in donations in the billions of dollars from greasy billionaire douchebags while being built on the cheap, as most things for Trump are, the doors will be open sooner rather than later. You can bet that they will not have to remove a lot of books to make space for a Boeing jumbo jet that will probably smell like fried chicken by then.

I expect Donald Trump will be tooling around in this jet for years to come. I just hope that taxpayers don't continue to fund its fuel and maintenance.

Donald Trump is the most corrupt president in American history, and Grift Force One is a flying testament to that.

Creative note: This is one where I felt that the idea might be lazy, but I really enjoyed drawing it. If you watch the video, you can see that I did not have much control of my drawing hand at the beginning of it.

I was thinking about creating a cartoon about the Empire State Building climbers, and sketched out some samples last night before giving up on it. At the very end of drawing this, I decided to throw it into this cartoon. I think it worked out.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled once again against transgender Americans and upheld state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams. The court’s six conservatives ruled that state bans in Idaho and West Virginia don’t violate the Constitution. The court unanimously agreed that barring transgender girls and women also doesn’t violate the federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the court in a 29-page opinion that “states may maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females” to address safety and competitive fairness concerns. “The Constitution and Title IX do not require an overhaul of women’s and girls’ sports throughout America.”

More than two dozen other Yee-Haw states have adopted bans on female transgender athletes as well.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented along with Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, writing that the majority opinion was wrong to reject an equal protection claim by 16-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson of West Virginia, who is the only transgender person who has sought to compete in girls’ sports in that state.

With the science still evolving, transgender students shouldn’t automatically be shut out of team sports, she said. “We just simply do not know scientifically that transgender students pose dangers.”

She also wrote, “West Virginia may well have satisfied its burden and seen its ban upheld. The point, rather, is that this court’s equal protection precedents require a very different approach to (Jackson’s) claim than the one the majority follows today.”

“A restrained approach, based on all relevant facts, is particularly necessary when the court is faced with a consequential decision of constitutional dimension.”

Pepper-Jackson, who has been taking puberty-blocking medication, has publicly identified as a girl since age 8, and has been issued a West Virginia birth certificate recognizing her as female.

In the Idaho case, Lindsay Hecox sued over the state’s first-in-the-nation ban for the chance to try out for the women’s track and cross-country teams at Boise State University in Idaho. Her lawyer told the court during oral arguments that she didn’t make either squad because “she was too slow,” but she competed in club-level soccer and running.

Kavanaugh wrote that “No student-athlete on either side of the issue, whether a biological female or transgender, deserves to be ostracized or vilified,” though his ruling will give strength to those doing the vilifying.

Donald Trump, who signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from women's sports, called the decision a “BIG WIN” in a Truth Social post. Following his lead, the NCAA banned transgender athletes.

NCAA president Charlie Baker told Congress in 2024 that he was aware of only 10 transgender athletes out of more than half a million students on college teams, thus testifying that this is a problem that does not exist. Less than one percent of the US population identifies as transgender. And even though six out of 10 Americans support banning transgender athletes from women's sports, that does not mean that the less than one percent should be bullied or discriminated against.

Last year, a 6-3 majority of the Supreme Court let stand a Tennessee law banning transgender care for minors, which bolstered laws in more than 20 states that banned puberty blockers, hormone therapy and other treatments for minors seeking to transition to match their gender identity.

Last spring, SCOTUS allowed the Trump regime to ban transgender people from serving in the military. Last November, it allowed Trump to require US passports to include a traveler’s sex at birth, rather than a person’s gender identity, which just seems bigoted and transphobic.

What a US passport says is that the traveler is from a very bigoted country.

Earlier this year, Republican Rep. John McGuire of Virginia introduced the “Riley Gaines Act,” named after the MAGA activist and former swimmer who has emerged at the forefront of the anti-trans movement, which would impose a national ban on trans women in girls’ sports.

Creative note: I needed to go to the post office today because it's the start of the month, when I have to invoice my clients, but this cartoon prevented me from doing that.
It’s always fun to draw Brett and Clarence.

Phoning is in: Yesterday on Gocomics, someone commented that it looked like I was “phoning it in” with my cartoon about Trump and caddies. I didn't reply to it directly because I don't want to respond every time someone criticizes my work.

If you ask a cartoonist what the toughest objects to draw are, they will tell you it's either crowds or grass. A reader does not have to like my cartoons. They can believe the drawing or writing sucks. But I guarantee you that someone drawing grass with a hand partially paralyzed from a stroke is not “phoning it in.”

Drawn in 30 seconds:

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

Republicans don’t just believe that they own patriotism. They believe that they own being an American to the point that they can decide who is and isn’t an American. Over the past few years, they have gone so far as to tell people born in this country that they are not Americans.

Donald Trump is so full of himself that he believed he could issue an executive order to take away citizenship from natural-born Americans. Let’s not even get into the time when he floated the idea of revoking Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship. You can’t decide that someone’s not a citizen because they insulted you or you don’t find them attractive enough. The same rule applies to deciding that someone is a lesbian because she rejected you.

There’s just one little problem for Republicans with deciding who is an American and whether or not they could revoke citizenship — the United States Constitution. The president of the United States can’t issue an executive order and revoke a constitutional amendment. As ridiculous as it sounds, this had to go to the Supreme Court to be upheld.

The legal battle over birthright citizenship began on the first day of Trump’s second term, when he announced an executive order titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.” Never mind that again, birthright citizenship is constitutionally guaranteed, which means a president can't change it through an executive order or any other means.

In the order, he declared that citizenship would no longer be automatically granted to babies born on US soil, specifically, children born to immigrants who entered the country illegally would no longer be citizens, nor would those born to parents here on a lawful but temporary basis, such as those on student, work, or tourist visas. Thankfully, it never went into effect because it faced so many legal challenges, which eventually brought it before the Supreme Court.

Most legal experts believed that Trump's executive order would be struck down, as birthright citizenship is explained very clearly in the Constitution. Some legal experts projected that the decision would be 9-0, but of course, there are always at least three assholes on the Supreme Court, so the decision was 6-3 with Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas voting to support Trump's racist executive order.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion and explained that Trump’s executive order violated the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

Robert wrote, “Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community. The framers of the 14th Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’”

He added: “We keep that promise today.”

Speaker Mike Johnson called the ruling a “textualist, originalist view” and said that it would result in “serious challenges going forward.” Since this was a Supreme Court decision, I'm interested in how Johnson is going to challenge it going forward.

But just so there is no confusion, if you are born in the United States of America, you are an American citizen. It doesn't matter if both of your parents were born here or are citizens or not. It doesn't matter if your parents were visiting from Hungary on vacation when your mother gave birth to you in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It doesn't matter if you are a model from Slovenia who hooked up with an American billionaire to have a baby in New York City. It doesn't matter if your mother was a refugee from El Salvador who illegally snuck into the country by crawling under a fence to give birth to you in El Paso. It doesn't matter if your mom was a refugee from Haiti in the country on a Temporary Protected Status visa in Springfield, Ohio, when she gave birth to you. And it doesn't matter what your religion is, your race, or your skin color.

One thing that the proponents of birthism ignore (the belief that President Obama was not qualified for the presidency because he was born in Kenya) is that Obama's mom was born in Kansas, so it wouldn't have mattered where Obama was born or where his father was from. But since birthright citizenship is constitutionally guaranteed, it wouldn't matter if Obama's mom and dad were both from Kenya. Barack Obama is an American citizen who, by the way, was born in Honolulu. Suck on that, racists.

And if you were born here while both of your parents were in the country illegally, you are just as much of an American as an asshole billionaire president who was born in Queens.

If you are born in America, you are an American citizen. This decision is a wonderful gift for America's 250th birthday.

Fighting birthright citizenship is extremely un-American.

Paul Fell: The cartooning community is mourning the death of Paul Fell, a political cartoonist from Nebraska who worked for the Lincoln Journal.

Paul was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. I don't believe I have ever heard of anyone having an issue with him. He was never too important to spend time with anyone and was always eager to meet new cartoonists, which is how I met him, which was at my first convention in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1991. Paul had a quick wit and always had something funny to add to any conversation. As you can see from the drawing he made for me, he had a subtle style to his humor, which I appreciate very much. I didn't do anything bad in Memphis, I swear.

I think Paul spent his entire career in Nebraska, which means no one in that state understood its politics, culture, and characters better than Paul Fell.

Paul and I were not close, and I didn't spend much time with him. Most of our interactions were in passing, but I did always enjoy talking to him. I believe most of the time we talked, it was in a group setting. I saw him last year at our convention in Bethesda, and we exchanged greetings, but I honestly can't remember what we talked about. That's probably on me.

I do remember talking to him years ago about when he was cut from the Lincoln Journal, and his editor had smuggled out his original cartoons to him because the paper wanted to keep them. That blew my mind. This was a few years before I was laid off in 2012, so I was worried about my newspaper doing the same thing. But when that time came, management didn't give me any problems when I was hauling out 15 years of my cartoons. I think our managing editor saw me and offered to help. The editors at the Lincoln Journal must've been huge dicks to Paul.

I offer my condolences to Paul’s friends and family. I know his readers are going to miss him. This probably means that there's nobody drawing cartoons about Nebraska's politics. Paul was 80 years old at the time of his death.

We are a dying breed, and every time a political cartoonist passes away, it's a loss for our nation.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan have a new book titled “Regime Change, Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump,” which provides a blunt, behind-the-scenes portrait of the first 14 months of Trump’s second term, in which he has wielded his power without constraint, usually in a haphazard, improvisational manner, to persecute his perceived enemies, rattle global markets, defy the constitution and court orders, and wage war without considering the consequences.

Haberman and Swan interviewed Trump for the book. The book chronicles one instance during their interview with Trump when he showed them a document arguing he was more powerful than some of the most feared and treacherous leaders in history, including Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Stalin, Mao, and Hitler.

Trump said he had received the document from “a historian” during an event honoring the Hall of Fame golfer Gary Player. He ordered an aide to fetch the two-page document to show it to the journalists, which means he's proud enough of this thing to constantly have it nearby.

Trump explained to Haberman and Swan that these leaders “maintained power through fear,” and asked rhetorically, “Who would ever do a thing like that? Right?” Yeah, who would do such a thing?

Later, when Swan and Haberman did some digging and discovered who the author of the document was, he turned out not to be a “presidential historian,” as Trump described him, but actually Player’s longtime caddie. The caddie told Haberman and Swan that he “had first shared his assessment of Trump’s power with Player and later explained it directly to Trump over golf in Florida.”

To get ahead of the book and this embarrassing detail, Trump posted the document on Truth Social shortly before midnight last Thursday, where he referred to the caddie as a “presidential historian.”

I don't mean to knock anyone who carries golf clubs and washes balls for a living, but I would wager that a political cartoonist such as myself is more of a historian than a golf caddie.

You would think that an American president would compare himself to America's greatest presidents, such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Ike, JFK, and Obama. Instead, Trump is comparing himself to Hitler, Stalin, Attila the Hun, and Napoleon.

This, in addition to Trump having everything named after him and building monuments to himself, tells us who he aspires to be like.

Creative note:

This was the first angle.

GoComics: there have been issues over the past few days with my cartoons appearing on GoComics. The cartoons would upload into the system, but they would not land on the website. So Sunday's cartoon did not arrive until today, Monday morning. Monday's cartoon was late as well. We haven't figured it out entirely, but we may have solved the problem of the cartoons being on the website. So if you like to read my cartoons at GoComics, because you like to engage in the comments there, I'm sorry.

This is stupid: speaking of comics, there is one particular goon at GoComics who thinks he's clever when he's not, and often accuses me, out of context, of being a fan of the TV show The View. Since he is a sexist, he thinks it's funny to accuse me of watching a show hosted by women. What he reveals, other than his sexism and stupidity, is that he habitually watches the show. Honestly, I've never seen it, but not because I have anything against it. And maybe that's why I'm amused that Steve Kelley has drawn a cartoon about The View.

I had to look this up to see what he's talking about, and as usual, he's lying. Joy Behar never said she was embarrassed to be an American. She said she was embarrassed for America because of Donald Trump's UFC spectacle on the White House lawn. That's a huge difference, but that narrative probably didn't work for Steve. But even if the narrative was true, how is what Joy Behar says newsworthy? This sounds like something that was probably covered a lot on Fox News, which means it's not news. What Steve does isn't so much to find the most important subject of the day, but to draw on the biggest outrage of the day. It is the conservative media's stock in trade to sell anger. If you are not angry at something, they will give you something to be angry about.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

Donald Trump and his chief goon, Stephen “Baby Goebbels” Miller, have basically cut off refugee assistance in this country. And with help from the corrupt majority on the Supreme Court, Trump is about to deport hundreds of thousands of Haitians and several more thousand Syrians.

SCOTUS has approved of Donald Trump ending the Temporary Protected Status (TPC) of Haitian and Syrian refugees, even if he has broadcast that his motives are racist.

You may have heard the Fox News talking point, “Some people don't understand the meaning of the word temporary.” That is extremely callous and ignorant. The situation is still temporary. Anyone who uses the Fox News talking point needs to be asked, “How long in this situation is temporary for you? They should also be asked, “Who are you to decide how long is temporary?”

But the argument for ending TPS status for refugees is that it is safe for them to return home now. The only problem with this argument is that the State Department still advises American citizens not to travel to these countries. Sending refugees back to Haiti or Syria is a death sentence for many of them.

Of course, Donald Trump doesn't care about life or death for other people, and he especially doesn’t care about non-white refugees or immigrants. While he's blocking refugee status for Afghans, even those who helped us in our 20-year war against the Taliban, and ending TPS for Haitian and Syrians, Trump is giving gift bags to white “refugees” from South Africa.

The Trump regime argues that there is an ongoing genocide of white South Africans, Afrikaners, in their country, where they control 78% of the agricultural land while only being 7% of the population.

Trump isn't just inviting and welcoming in these so-called “refugees,” but he's giving them welcome packs. So, what's in these welcome packages? The packages include the American flag, copies of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, an Android tablet, and materials that give a simplistic and revisionist view of American and South African history, particularly when it comes to civil rights and racial inequality.

The packages will include a report commissioned by the first Trump regime that downplayed slavery in the early years of the US. It will also include a children's book from the right-wing propaganda outlet PragerU that accuses the South African government of favoring Black people.

The book, titled “Around the World,” describes former South African president and civil rights leader Nelson Mandela as a lawyer and activist who sought to end apartheid “with acts of sabotage,” and alleges that South Africa's Black majority government is implementing “reverse discrimination” against white people.

PragerU CEO Marissa Streit told Newsweek that immigrants “deserve to understand the founding values that make America the freest and most prosperous nation on Earth.” It would be interesting to see what propaganda she is talking about because PragerU has a history of spreading bullshit.

Streit also said that the company was proud to offer content honoring the new arrivals’ intelligence, after other materials were “beneath them.” Oh, please.

The package also includes a letter from Alex J. Adams, who leads the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Administration for Children and Families, in which he says that the American immigration system “must put the U.S. citizen first” and welcomes only those who will “assimilate into the American way of life.” You know, white people. Wink, wink, nudge nudge.

Kate Brick, executive director of the group's Refugee Advocacy Lab, told Newsweek, “This administration has transformed a decades-long, bipartisan refugee resettlement program into one that privileges white South Africans while abandoning more than 100,000 refugees who were already vetted and approved to come to the United States. The 'welcome packet' is just the latest manifestation of a policy that treats refugees differently based on race.”

Anna Kelly, a White House spokesgoon, told Newsweek that Trump was offering “a lifeline” for Afrikaners who had been “raped, maimed, killed and driven off their property” across South Africa. Meanwhile, Trump is sending Haitians back to where they may be raped and killed.

Kelly also said, “While the South African government and many in the media have brushed off the horrific lived experiences of this community, the Trump administration continues to process applications for refugee status because the president has a humanitarian heart.”

A humanitarian heart? I don't think even PragerU can spread the bullshit that thick.

These Afrikaners are met at the airport and placed in furnished housing with essential supplies, food, and clothing, along with these gift bags. Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war started by Russia were not met with gift bags. The yearly cap for refugees in the US. is 7,500, and Trump is giving most of those spots to white South Africans.

Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, which supports those who assisted US troops in Afghanistan, told Newsweek, "Afghan allies didn't ask for gift bags. They asked America to keep its word."

Creative note: I had another idea that works along the same lines as this one, and I had a hard time choosing between the two. I may still draw it in a day or so. This cartoon needed 10 layers and Procreate.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

JD Vance visited the Nixon library this week, and he had a few thoughts to share on the man who used to be America's most corrupt president.

JD said, “I’m actually fascinated by Nixon as a character in history. I think that his historical legacy is enjoying a bit of a renaissance, but I think deservedly so. As I joked with Robert backstage, if Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story. Like, the idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy.”

Vance continued: “And by the way, if you look at the story of how the deep state took down Richard Nixon, it’s not all that different from what the same groups of people, the same institutions tried to do to Donald Trump and the first Trump administration. There is a parallel.”

Being fascinated with Richard Nixon is one thing, but rewriting history, gaslighting, and defending his corruption is another. About 30 years ago, I was very fascinated with Elvis Presley, but I avoided the deep-fried peanut butter banana sandwiches and the jumpsuits.

And Republicans love to rewrite history, claiming that the Civil War was over state rights, that the Democratic Party created the KKK, that the Republican Party today is the same GOP that supported the Civil Rights Act, that Hitler was a socialist, that Afghanistan invaded Russia, that Ukraine started the war with Russia, that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, that Iran started a war with the United States, and now they are claiming that Richard Nixon was the victim in Watergate.

Instead of blaming Richard Nixon for his downfall, JD is blaming the deep state. The Trump regime is so corrupt that it can't see that Richard Nixon was corrupt.

JD now joins other corrupt conservatives, like Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon, and lays the blame on Watergate on a fictional deep state instead of Nixon. Except that the crimes of Watergate were very real. Richard Nixon was not framed. Richard Nixon was a very corrupt president.

When I was a little boy in Elgin, Illinois, the news caught my attention one night in 1974, and for the first time. I did not know who Richard Nixon was or that he was the president of the United States, but on the TV before me, he was boarding a helicopter to leave the White House for the very last time as president. My mother tried to explain to me, an 8-year-old, what was going on. I did not understand it entirely, but even at that time, as a small child, I knew that Richard Nixon was corrupt. JD Vance is an adult who has served as a senator, is now the vice president of the United States, has been to college and written books and shit, and he still does not understand that Richard Nixon was corrupt.

Watergate was about more than just a break-in at Democratic Party headquarters in the Washington office/apartment complex that gave the scandal its name. It’s often said that the cover-up was worse than the crime of the break-in at the Watergate complex. When the Washington Post published its story on the break-in the morning after with the headline, "5 Held in Plot to Bug Democrats' Office Here," nobody knew that it would lead to the resignation of a president. This little break-in that was initially believed to only be a local story in Washington led a trail of a mountain of criminal acts, from money laundering to obstruction of justice to multiple additional break-ins to a shocking abuse of power.

It was inconceivable that an American president would be involved with bugging the opposition party’s headquarters, so the New York Times passed on the first few tips offered to it, and the reporters from the Post who did break the story, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, were from the metro section.

The White House tapes (the so-called “smoking gun” recording) recorded Nixon personally committing criminal acts, including making a plan to order the CIA to kill the FBI’s investigation of the break-in at Watergate. This is what got W. Mark Felt to start leaking to Woodward and Bernstein to prevent the story from disappearing and the CIA from killing the FBI’s investigation. For decades, we did not know it, but Felt was the notorious Deep Throat.

In the end, over 40 government officials and aides in the Nixon administration were indicted or jailed in connection with Watergate, with around 25 members of his inner circle, administration, and re-election campaign ultimately serving prison time. Those sent to prison included the attorney general, the White House chief of staff, and the president’s chief domestic policy adviser.

The civil servants who cooperated with investigators were not a deep state, and they did not frame Richard Nixon; they exposed him. Many of these civil servants were pressured, intimidated, and ordered to commit acts they knew were illegal. Their crimes, according to people like JD Vance, were that they were more loyal to the nation than to Nixon. Trump had several civil servants like this in his first administration, like Eugene Vindman, who testified about Donald Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, when he pressured him to investigate his political opponent, Joe Biden, or he would continue to withhold American military aid. But Trump is making sure not to make that same mistake for his second regime, as he's staffed it entirely with lickspittles and sycophants, like JD Vance.

It was Republicans who told Richard Nixon that he had to resign. Today, Republicans circle their wagons around their corrupt president. Yesterday, the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, told his fellow Republicans, “I run the protect protection program.” Republicans in the 1970s put the nation first. Republicans today only serve their cult.

Unfortunately, JD Vance may be right, and if Watergate happened today, it may only be a 12-hour story. One reason for that is that as soon as one scandal hits, it’s replaced with another. Another reason is that the Trump regime doesn't hide its corruption anymore. Donald Trump is taking bribes out in the open. Can you imagine how much worse Nixon could have been if he had focused more on his pet projects, wealth, greed, and personal power, instead of worrying about a cover-up? Nixon was 10 times smarter than Donald Trump, and he would have survived if his Republicans were as lousy as Donald Trump's Republicans. The attorney general is literally Donald Trump's personal lawyer.

It should also be noted that Nixon was brought down by the Washington Post, which has an owner today who despises the publication and journalists. At the time of Watergate, the Post had an ownership that believed in the integrity of journalism and the importance of truth. Jeff Bezos, today's owner of the Washington Post, has changed the direction of the newspaper to protect Trump, has appealed to Trump's ego to advance his other businesses, and has even contributed financially to Donald Trump's corrupt ballroom. Jeff Bezos should be encouraging the Post reporters to uncover and expose the corruption behind the ballroom instead of contributing to it.

What's different today than the time of Watergate is that we have weaker Republicans and a weaker press.

I have written about this before: I attended my first political cartoonists convention in 1991, where one of the old guys still had not recovered from Watergate. Being the newbie that I was, I asked for several signatures, and he wrote a message saying that I would never have the experience of covering Richard Nixon. He passed away many years ago, but if he could see me covering Donald Trump now. What's horrible is that I might end up just like him, and perhaps the rest of us, too, who care about this country, and decades from now, we will all be struggling to get over Donald Trump and his corruption.

Richard Nixon had the distinction of being our nation's most corrupt president, but he has now been replaced by Donald Trump. New laws were created after Nixon resigned in disgrace in order to prevent a future Nixon. If this nation is not destroyed by Donald Trump, we will have to create new reforms again after he is gone. The only problem is that Republicans are trying to destroy the presidency and turn the office into a dictatorship.

When JD Vance and Republicans liken Watergate to Russiagate and other Donald Trump-related gates, they are all admitting that Donald Trump is guilty of corruption, and they're not covering it up.

Every sofa in Washington is in danger.

Drawn in 30 seconds: TikTok removed this video, claiming it violated their community standards without explaining further.

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

Now Donald Trump is fucking with the mail.

Neither Donald Trump nor the US Post Office has the authority to refuse to deliver mail and ballots, yet that is what Donald Trump ordered the postal service to do, and the goon installed as Postmaster General agreed.

Trump demanded that every state send him a list of all its eligible voters. States that are not led by goosestepping sycophants refused. Then Trump ordered the Postal Service not to deliver ballots from those states.

Elections are administered and controlled by the states, not the federal government. Donald Trump has zero authority to demand voter rolls. Trump doesn't have a good reason to possess the names and addresses of every voter in the country. His motives are clearly sinister.

Trump and Republicans have been pushing a big lie for several years that there's massive voter fraud in this country, but the only voting fraud that's been ongoing in the United States has been committed by Donald Trump and Republicans.

Thankfully, a federal judge blocked this move by the Trump regime. U. District Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, stated in her decision that the Postal Service neither possesses the constitutional authority to administer elections (a responsibility delegated to the states) nor has it been granted power by Congress to create binding regulations on voting by mail.

Postmaster General David Steiner dismissed Senate Democrats’ concerns that the regulations are an attempt to seize control of elections, instead characterizing the plan as a means to ensure that the right ballots are being sent to the right people during a Wednesday committee hearing.

Asked whether the Postal Service has the authority to implement those rules, Steiner said he’d “have to defer back to the courts.” It's time to defer, motherfucker.

This is a victory for the 23 states and Washington, DC, which sued the Trump regime over Trump’s executive order that demanded the Post Office restrict ballots from being delivered. This would be like every voter in America giving their ballots to Cliff Clavin to be delivered. They would all be lost in a Boston bar or chewed up on Rottweiler Hill. We could give them to Newman, but they would probably be stored in Jerry's forgotten storage closet.

The judge also ruled that the executive order’s timing made it impossible for the Postal Service to propose the rule through the proper bureaucratic channels, providing “no allowance for Congress’ mandated procedure regarding USPS rulemaking.”

The decision also blocks another part of the executive order directing the federal government to compile a list of American citizens residing in states. I thought Republicans were supposed to be against this big government shit? I thought Republicans wanted states to control most things? Donald Trump is trying to implement fascism.

This is another case that should be rejected by the Supreme Court when the appeal lands on its desk, but if history is any indication, the corrupt majority on the nation's highest court will hear this case and rule in favor of Trump, and allow him to steal ballots and block them from being counted.

Donald Trump has tried to steal elections, and now he is trying to steal the mail. Donald Trump deserves to go to prison.

Creative note: the Post Office does not have an official motto, and if it did, it wouldn't be this. It would probably be the creed that it has been associated with for decades, which is, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” The reason I did not use it for this cartoon is that it doesn't rhyme, and it's just way too dry. So I used a little artistic license.

GoComics: If you are a GoComics member and can’t see your comments after the latest update, clear your cache. I've had more than one person ask me why they can't see the comments, even though I don't actually work for GoComics, and I'm not a tech-savvy person. But I found the fix by emailing a tech-savvy person at GoComics. I had the same problem too.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

The Supreme Court gave Donald Trump two big wins today that pave the way for him to remove more than one million people from the US and keep many others from entering in the first place.

The majority opinion for both decisions was written by the corrupt Samuel Alito and will have an impact on asylum claims at the US border and on a program known as Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a form of humanitarian relief that allows beneficiaries to live and work in the country legally. Both decisions were 6-3 rulings.

TPS allows people who are already residing in the US to remain in the country at times of upheaval in their home countries. Heavily vetted beneficiaries are allowed to temporarily live and work in the US legally.
The law setting up TPS says that an administration’s “determination” to apply the designation cannot be reviewed by courts, but a group of Haitian and Syrian nationals said that language didn’t bar the court from looking at the process the Trump regime used to decide.

Alito wrote, “This text is clear, and its plain meaning is very broad,” later adding, “The secretary’s TPS designation decisions are not subject to judicial review.” So, if the regime’s process was racist, for example, and JD Vance and Donald Trump created racist lies that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, were eating cats and dogs, Alito is arguing that the process can't be questioned.

This means that around 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians are about to be deported. Thousands of others will be deported to as the regime has attempted to end TPS for 13 out of 17 countries that had been designated for the program, but those cases have been tied up in court, and SCOTUS may have just ended that.

You have to throw out disbelief to accept the majority’s argument that there was no racial animosity toward Haitians from the Trump regime.

Alito wrote, “a person without racial bias can provide a harshly unfavorable description of living conditions in some of the countries with TPS designations,” and “The criteria for TPS designations guarantee that many, if not most, designated countries have such characteristics. Haiti is no exception. It is a very poor country, and living conditions there are unquestionably difficult.”

Yet Alito did not include Trump's racist statements. Justice Elena Kagan took exception to that and described Trump’s comments as “so repellent and racially inflected that the majority declines to put them in print.”

Kagan then reproduced the statements herself, including Trump’s remarks that Haitians in Ohio were “eating the dogs … . They’re eating the cats. They’re eating – they’re eating the pets of the people.”

Those statements, Kagan wrote, “fairly shout, in their racial undertones and overtones alike, that race entered into the president’s resolve to remove Haitians from this country.”

Racists defend racists, and that's what the majority of the Supreme Court did today.

The court also sided with the Trump regime in enabling federal agents at the border to turn away asylum seekers. Donald Trump isn't just against illegal immigration; he is opposed to legal immigration when it involves non-white immigrants. We don't just need his comments about “Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs” to make this determination, but we can also take his comments about “shithole countries” and his desire to bring in more immigrants from white nations like Norway.

SCOTUS argued that the Trump regime did not make a policy with racist motives, and then gave another ruling on a case that will now allow Donald Trump to create policies with racist motives.

Creative note: I finished drawing this cartoon while on a conference call with the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, where I serve on the board. I think at least two other cartoonists were also drawing during the conference call.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

Stephen “Baby Goebbels” Miller had himself a little conniption last night on Sean Hannity's show on Fox News after several Democratic Socialist candidates won in New York's primary elections on Tuesday.

Miller said there used to be “a center-left Democrat Party,” or what he characterized as “Reagan Democrats,” before launching into his tirade. Note that he referred to the party as democrat and not democratic, which is what the Fox News talking points instruct.

Miller ranted, “Over time, the Democrat party has abandoned all of that, and they have instead adopted this radical, revolutionary, and in many cases, violent ideology that wants to tear America down and destroy everything that we know and love, from top to bottom.”

His rant didn’t stop there, as he continued, “Right? Living in a state of total anarchy, without police, without law enforcement, where criminals can rape and maim and murder with impunity, where your kids are taught from the age of two to hate America, to hate their God, to hate their parents, to hate their family, to even hate their own gender, that’s their agenda,” he continued.

Raising his voice, Miller said he couldn’t “have a middle ground with that,” before pivoting back to talking up Trump‘s agenda.

"Ultimately, what President Trump is doing and what he is leading is an America-first movement that says we need Democrats to come vote for us, to leave that insanity, because ultimately, that's just a death knell for America," Miller said.

What Miller was doing is what is known as fear-mongering. None of what he says is true, but he's trying to scare voters into being as afraid as he is. You do not want to be like Stephen Miller, full of fear, hate, and mayonnaise.

Miller is also lying. Democratic Socialists aren't for living in a state of anarchy without police or law enforcement. They are not in favor of rapes and murders. Miller works for a guy that a jury found liable for rape. Democratic socialist are not teaching their children from the age of two or any age to hate America, their God, parents, family, or their own gender. Why would parents teach children to hate their parents? I don't think Baby Goebbels thought this through, or that hair-in-a-can is doing more damage to his brain than the blue paint is doing to the reflection pool.

Donald Trump and right-wing media have lavished a lot of praise on him for his successful record of endorsing candidates in Republican primaries this year. Just wait until we get to the general election. But a lot should be said for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, as all three Democratic Socialist congressional candidates he endorsed in New York City handily won their primaries last night.

Brad Lander defeated incumbent Dan Goldman, Darializa Avila Chevalier unseated five-term incumbent Adriano Espaillat, and Claire Valdez won her primary to succeed Nydia Velázquez.

These are Democrats defeating Democrats in New York City, which is moving further to the left after electing Mamdani last year. This does not mean the party as a whole is moving further to the left, as a lot of voters throughout the rest of the nation want the party to move more to the center.

But if Democratic Socialists have their way and move the nation further to the left, I wouldn't panic or buy into the bullshit that Baby Goebbels is selling. Socialist nations are ranked as the happiest on the planet, despite being the coldest and darkest.

Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland dominate the World Happiness Report, with Costa Rica squeezing in between them. These countries are recognized for offering a high quality of life, robust social safety nets, and strong community trust, and not for being places where criminals are murdering and raping willy-nilly, while children are being taught to hate their country, God, and their family.

Think about it. For large chunks of the year, it's totally dark in these nations, and everyone has to shovel their cars out of snowbanks, and they're still happy. As for Costa Rica, that place is full of snakes, spiders, and crocodiles, and they're still happy.

Meanwhile, under MAGA fascism, everyone's so angry and bitter, especially those demanding more MAGA fascism. When is the last time you saw Donald Trump or Stephen Miller smile?

Creative note: I had a lot of fun with the Easter eggs and curse words symbols in this cartoon. It required eight layers in Procreate.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

The circumstances surrounding the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool keep getting dumber.

Unable to be a grown-up and take responsibility for his failure at restoring the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after spending nearly $15 million on it, which went from an original $1.8 million, Donald Trump is now blaming “Radical Left Lunatics” for “Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool.”

Donald Trump awarded a no-bid contract to a campaign donor to restore the reflecting pool. Part of the project included installing a blue lining on the bottom of the 2030-foot pool that holds over 6 million gallons of water. Trump described the lining as “American flag blue” and praised himself for the restoration of the pool, which has dogged administrations for decades. He claimed that he had fixed something. The other presidents could not. Trump said the lining would last for decades.

Less than a week after Donald Trump declared the work completed, the lining started to tear from the bottom of the pool, and algae reappeared, turning the water from blue to green. Ironically enough, the name of the company owned by the Trump campaign donor who restored the pool is Greenwater Solutions. Blue water…we wanted blue water.

Instead of admitting that this is another Trump project turned to shit, like everything else he touches, Trump decided to blame others, and no, not the companies he hired to restore the pool, and not JD Vance. JD will be blamed for the Iran nuclear deal, so he has enough on his plate for the moment.

On Friday night, Trump posted on social media, "We've had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool. Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside of the Pool, they've also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed."

Trump offered no evidence that any of this was true.

Trump followed up on Saturday by posting that Park Police "have arrested multiple individuals for vandalizing our Nations magnificent Reflecting Poll," correcting his spelling to "Pool" later, but failed to make “nations” possessive with a lowercase N.

Trump is lying again. There have not been multiple arrests for people vandalizing the reflecting pool.

A MAGAt who comments on my cartoons, multiple times a day at GoComics, claimed that someone had been arrested after being caught dumping live algae into the pool. I don't know what's wrong with people to create lies that can be fact-checked within seconds. But you know, there's more than one MAGAt creating these lies on the internet. They're almost as sick as Donald Trump.

There has been one arrest, but the suspect wasn't damaging the pool.

David Hearn, a former Olympian, was biking by the pool when he stopped to reach into the water to touch the blue lining that was tearing away from the bottom. Park Police immediately descended on him and placed him in handcuffs.

He was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of destruction of government property and is scheduled to appear in D.C. Superior Court on July 9. He was released after being held for five hours.

Asked to describe his actions, Hearn said, “I reached in there, and I was able to grab the end of that flapping piece, the already peeling piece. It was still attached to the bottom. I didn’t remove anything.”

“I didn’t vandalize anything,” Hearn said. “I didn’t destroy, break, or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”

This will probably be thrown out of court faster than the charges against the DC sandwich thrower.

Hearn is a three-time Olympian who competed in the canoe slalom. He won two world championships in whitewater racing before retiring from active competition in 2002.

Trump also accused Jonathan Karl of ABC News, who has reported on the pool’s mounting problems, of “trying to rip the rubber off the surface” of the pool.

Next, they'll arrest the ducks for pooping in the pool. Do they make tiny handcuffs for duck wings? The only duck Donald Trump likes is Scrooge McDuck.

Creative note:

This is how the cartoon started, but the text was getting in the way of the TV screen. This cartoon was a great opportunity to draw Kash Patel, who is a lot of fun to draw.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

The Barack Obama Presidential Center opened last week in Chicago to much acclaim.

The presidential library includes a museum, an athletic center, a garden, a playground, and a branch of the Chicago Public Library, while also housing the nonprofit Obama Foundation. The center is located on a 19.3-acre campus in Jackson Park on the South Side of Chicago, adjacent to the University of Chicago campus.^[ The center's main entry point is located at John Lewis Plaza. It is expected to receive over 700,000 visitors a year.

Republican reaction, of course, is critical. And not just because it includes a garden and a library. Republicans are screaming about unpaid contractors who built the library, with one of them being a minority owned company. But contractors going unpaid are not the fault of the Obamas, as they are subcontractors. This is the fault of the contractors the Obama organization hired, not the fault of Barack or Michelle Obama.

It’s rich that Republicans and defenders of Donald Trump would scream about anyone not paying a bill to contractors. This is like when a republican pretends to care about the deficit, or about a woman being sexually assaulted, or a victim of pedophilia. Spare me the faux outrage.

Donald Trump has never built anything without refusing to pay the people he contracted to do the job. It's well-known that he will let them take him to court, and he will drag the proceedings out to the point that many of them give up their cases because they can't afford to litigate them. Others get pennies on the dollar for what Trump originally agreed to pay them. And talk about gall, Trump is also known for refusing to pay the lawyers who litigated these cases for him. This is why today, a lot of lawyers will not take Donald Trump on as a client. It's why a lot of the lawyers he hires are considered jokes in the legal profession. They are about as qualified as the people he has staffed his regime with. Todd Blanche should not be our Attorney General and should be off somewhere chasing an ambulance.

Trump still owes Rudy Giuliani $2 million for unpaid legal fees. We discovered this through bankruptcy proceedings, and it explains why Rudy can't buy quality hair dye and has to wear generic dentures.

Back to the library, many don't like the main tower of the center, which is 220 feet high and made of New Hampshire granite. A lot of people believe it is majestic and monumental, and are impressed that on the tower's south and west sides, in concrete letters 5 feet high, are excerpts from Obama's 2015 speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the civil rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

But Republicans are calling it ugly, with many saying it looks like an outhouse, which I'm sure is something they heard on Fox News, where the goons lack imagination with their insults.

But I don't think Donald Trump supporters have grounds to criticize the looks of anything. Have they not seen what Donald Trump has done to the Oval Office? Have they not seen how ugly and tacky it appears as it is covered in gold? Have they not seen photos from inside Trump's penthouse apartment on Fifth Avenue? Not only is it covered in gold, including the toilet, but there is also a stuffed lion.

The plans for Trump's ballroom and the arch that is a monument to him in Arlington National Cemetery are horrific. The ballroom looks like a disaster from MAGA-Lardo, and the arch has gold eagles on top of it. If all goes to plan, the nation is stuck with this ugly shit for the next century.

At Donald Trump's Doral National Golf Course in Miami, there is a 22-foot golden statue of him dubbed "Don Colossus."

The man has a 22-foot golden statue of himself on his property. No group or organization made this decision. This is coming straight from Donald Trump himself. Who does that? Wanna be dictators do that, that's who. There is a cryptocurrency group as a part of this, but this is like the Kennedy Center board appointed by Donald Trump, choosing to add Trump's name to it.

Trump says the ugly statue was installed by patriots, has described the artwork as “the real deal,” and says that in time it will become a landmark. Trump said, “Those playing the Blue Monster at Doral are absolutely in love with it.” Sure, they are.

As for Donald Trump's planned presidential library, which will be in Miami, there won’t be just one golden statue of Trump, but two. There will be a giant gold statue of Trump overlooking an auditorium and another gold statue of Trump overlooking a conference room. No word yet on whether Donald Trump's presidential library will actually contain a library.

My friend Danny Gali said the Trump Library will probably have coloring books, but no crayons, because the visitors would probably eat them.

The lucky ones are the pigeons in Miami, as they will have at least three options for shitting on Donald Trump.

More visitors:

I took a break from today's cartoon to hang out with some visitors. Editorial cartoonist Jonathan Brown and his wife, Kelly, were in the area, so they asked if they could have lunch with me. Jonathan used to work for the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, where he and Kelly live. It's not every day that I get to talk shop so close to home. I had a great time hanging out with them. We ate at Sammy T's, which is a Fredericksburg downtown institution. I had a chicken curry salad sandwich, sweet potato fries, and a nonalcoholic Guinness.

When you work at home and rarely get out, it's nice to take a break and hang out with good people. As you remember, my friends, Christian and Pattie, took me to lunch yesterday. It's funny because I usually go weeks without seeing anybody, but when it rains, it pours.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

More than 6.5 million people are expected to attend the 2026 World Cup while the tournament is played in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. There's concern that human rights will be violated in American cities where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to supposedly enforce laws and provide security and protection. The Trump regime claims that ICE is only present to provide those services and not to conduct raids to deport people, but over the past year and a half, all ICE has done is inflict a reign of terror across the country.

The Trump regime has used ICE more as Donald Trump's personal goon squad than one of law enforcement, as it has violated human rights in many cities that are hosting World Cup games. Later this year, Donald Trump plans to use them to intimidate and harass American citizens at polling places in hopes of stealing the midterm elections.

International visitors are following safety guidelines and precautions similar to those taken during the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany. America is now being viewed as a gun-fetish, racist society with a wannabe dictator as its head of state where everything has been super-sized. Since Trump's return to the Oval Office, people, including American citizens, have had their rights violated, been detained, and even deported for acts as innocent as having the wrong skin color. Habeas Corpus has been suspended in several situations.

In Donald Trump's America, you can be arrested just for throwing a sandwich, spelling a message out in seashells, or touching paint peeling off the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Two American citizens were murdered by the Trump regime in Minneapolis just for protesting against the president’s (sic) human rights violations.

The Trump regime denied entry into the United States to a Somali World Cup referee, claiming that he had connections to terrorist organizations. Andrew Giuliani (yes, Rudy Giuliani's son), head of the White House World Cup task force, said, "Anyone who is communicating with bad actors that plan harm against the United States of America are not gonna be admitted entrance."

We've seen who this regime considers “bad actors.”

Somalians in the United States have been subjected to racism and discrimination by the Trump regime and MAGAts, and last year, Somalia was one of 12 countries subjected to a racist US travel ban.

The Iranian World Cup squad has also been subjected to the Trump regime’s discrimination, profiling, and racism, and it's not allowed to stay or train in the United States, and is only allowed into the country for its games. The team must return to its base in Tijuana, Mexico, immediately after the completion of each match. Iran's coach suggested that his team was “the most oppressed team in the whole World Cup.”

Today, Iran played Belgium to a draw in Los Angeles. Its next game will be against Egypt in Seattle on Friday.

The ACLU has published a travel advisory for visitors and American citizens to know their rights. The organization has asked FIFA to call on the Trump regime to end its authoritarianism and abuse, but instead, they would rather give Trump a large trophy and a fake peace prize.

FIFA, much like the Trump regime, is a corrupt organization.

Creative note: Christian and Pattie are two very good friends of mine who visited me today, which is my excuse for why I am writing this blog so many hours after the cartoon was published on social media. They live in the Norfolk area and had not seen me since they visited me in the rehab center after my stroke, where they brought me books, magazines, nuts, and Diet Pepsi. Christian was one of the first friends I made when I moved to Virginia in 1998.

Lost subscriber: Sometimes, when I lose a paid subscriber, I wonder if it's something I did. I lost one last night, and in my paranoia, I worry that yesterday's cartoon may have offended them.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

The UFC event at the White House last Sunday was not supposed to be political, even though it was held on Donald Trump's birthday. But after winning his fight, UFC fighter Josh Hokit was being interviewed by podcaster and ring announcer, Joe Rogan, when he grinned and looked into the camera, and said, “And lastly, Michelle Obama is a man! Am I right, America?”

Of course, he is not right, and his racist and sexist conspiracy theory shouldn't be given the dignity of a defense because it is just too ridiculous and stupid. But what Hokit did wasn't just disrespectful to Michelle Obama and President Obama, but also to the White House, where he made the comment (hasn't that place suffered enough during Trump 2.0?), and the country, as this was supposed to be for America's 250th birthday.

The event itself was disrespectful enough to the White House and the Oval Office without Hokit’s hateful comment.

Former NFL quarterback and sports broadcaster Robert Griffin III said in a social media post, “Josh Hokit won the biggest fight of his career at the White House and decides to finish his interview by calling Michelle Obama a Man. What a disgrace.”

Griffin also said, “It takes a really small man to use his biggest moment to attack a woman by calling her a man. Especially with the history behind calling black women men.”

Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith said, “That was an incredibly disparaging remark about one of the greatest first ladies, if not the greatest first lady we have seen. It was a disgusting thing to say. It was inexcusable.”

Smith also criticized Donald Trump for not condemning the remark, saying it “should’ve immediately been denounced by the president. But he doesn’t do that enough, and that’s the problem.” Smith pointed out that Donald Trump smiled when the comment was made.

Barstool’s Dave Portnoy criticized Hokit for being among the “idiots” and “lunatics” who give UFC a bad name, and called on Trump to denounce the comment.

Donald Trump does not defend women, and I suspect that at any moment, he will call the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, “nasty.”

When asked about Hokit’s remark by CNN's Jake Tapper, who called it a "pretty ugly moment," White House Communications Director Steven Cheung only dodged the question. Tapper later said, "It costs nothing just to say, like, ‘'We condemn those remarks."

Fox News host Greg Gutfeld, who is a MAGAt’s idea of a funny guy, defended Hokit’s comments by downplaying it as the fighter just being a “troll,” and added that the right enjoyed it when the left was “upset.” Republicans believe humor is made by punching down and being a piece of shit.

Hokit has not issued an apology and even used it to troll even more on social media.

At least UFC President Dana White criticized the comment. He emphasized he supported free speech, and said “but I hate that kind of nonsense,” and was “completely against saying nasty and false things about people’s families.” I don't think you have to emphasize that you support free speech when you criticize a racist comment made on the South Lawn of the White House.

Republican CNN contributor Shermichael Singleton said that conservatives defending the comments are missing the “racist” historical context of such insults.

Singleton said, “There is a historical context here that I think a lot of people just may not be familiar with, whether it’s Michelle Obama being ‘a man’ or it’s tennis star Serena Williams being ‘too masculine.’ That was a thing when she was at her prime.”

Singleton continued, “When you attach that historic trope contextually to Black women, what it says is that, one, it dehumanizes them, and it does assert that you don’t have to have the same empathy. And so what has been the cultural result of that? You look at medicine, for example, when Black women say that they’re in pain, they’re typically not believed. This isn’t my opinion — all of the stats say this — maternity rates for Black women, mortality, rather, Black women, White women, significantly worse.”

Singleton said, “All of the other fighters, they thanked God, they thanked the military soldiers, EMS, they said it’s a great day for the country, etc,” but then “you have one person — I don’t know the guy — pretty classless behavior, in my personal opinion.”

Singleton continued, “Hokit, maybe he thought this was funny, but funny to whom?” Singleton concluded. “I don’t think you have to insult people or buy into tropes to dehumanize people, to make a point. It just wasn’t necessary, and I’m glad that some people have called it out, and rightfully so. But again, contextually, I want people to understand historically why this is so hurtful to so many people out there.”

Even though white Republican men are not good at listening, especially to Black people, Singleton should try to explain this to Greg Gatfield. Good luck with that.

And to Josh Hokit, of course, Michelle Obama is not a man, you ignorant and stupid piece of trash, but I have to point out, neither are you.

Cartoon ideas: if you have been a long-time reader of my blogs, then you know that I do not take cartoon ideas from anyone. But the other day I received one that flattered me nonetheless.

A nice fellow named Leon sent me a cartoon idea that included details of what Peezy could be doing, a suggestion for Trump's ear diaper, and a suggestion for who could be the broomstick-riding witch of the day. The reader said he was a huge fan of my work, and obviously, he is. I appreciate that. I'm still not using his idea, though. Ha ha.

Creative note: If this cartoon offends you for being sexist, I apologize. I do recognize that it can be construed that way. Proofer Laura found it problematic, and said, “What bothers me is not the idea that Michelle Obama somehow has Trump’s testicles and is therefore a man, but that testicles are somehow necessary to negotiate a proper deal with Iran or anyone.”

Sometimes with a cartoon, I don't just dispense with political correctness, but with reality. Of course, I don't believe you have to have testicles to be able to negotiate a peace deal or a treaty with Iran or anyone else. And you definitely don't have to be a man to negotiate a better deal than Donald Trump, who has been beaten at the negotiation table by Nancy Pelosi in the past.

Although in the cartoon, the idea is that Trump doesn't have testicles, not that Michelle Obama stole them. I just now caught that part of Laura's criticism.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

Trump's failure with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is a perfect example of how this regime operates.

He said he wants to beautify Washington DC, though the city is already beautiful. This is like when he came into office in 2017, and before the afternoon was over, he took credit for rebuilding the military. We were spending over $800 billion a year on our military before Donald Trump came into office, so trust me…. We already had a military. If anything, our military is weaker today because Donald Trump just wasted a lot of its armaments on his stupid chosen illegal war. It’s also being led by a chauvinistic, racist, white Christian nationalist with the brain of a moldy sponge.

Back to the pool. Trump wanted to beautify it before July 4, when our nation celebrates its 250th birthday, not to be confused with June 14, which is Donald Trump's birthday, which will now be commemorated every year by having shirtless men pummel each other in your backyard.

The Reflection Pool has dogged administrations for decades. It has always been kind of nasty. The pool is huge, shallow, and when it gets very hot, which it does in DC, it becomes a cesspool of algae. It can also become a garbage can for litter bugs, and you can often find cigarette butts, fast food wrappers, beer cans, syringes, and used condoms in the pool. That's why it's hard to keep RFK Jr from swimming in it.

Donald Trump promised to clean all of that for less than $2 million. So what does he do? He hires a campaign contributor who has never had a government contract to fix the pool, before there is a set price. He also gave his friend a no-bid contract, so the guy was able to set his price without worrying about what his competitors were charging, which made his profit margin increase to over 20%, which is not normal for a government contract. This would be like not getting a second opinion after your dentist tells you that he wants to rip out all your teeth and replace them with Chicklets. So what if his office is in a back alley?

So Trump hires his friend to restore the reflection pool, and before you know it, the cost leaps from $2 million to over $14 million. We are supposed to ignore that. While he is restoring the pool, Trump decides that it needs to be American flag blue, so the inept contractor paints the bottom of the pool dark blue.

You probably know that you should not wear dark colors when it's hot outside because dark colors absorb sunlight. It will make you hotter. Apparently, nobody ever told Donald Trump this. The only time he goes outside is to play golf, and he never walks his course. So, guess what painting the bottom of a swimming pool does for you in the summertime? It absorbs nearly all visible wavelengths of sunlight and makes the pool much warmer. Guess what warm water attracts. It attracts bacteria, and it will soon grow a lot of algae. And when your pool holds over 6 million gallons of water, it grows a lot of algae.

So, after Trump spent nearly $15 million to restore the reflection pool, and then bragged about how beautiful it is and how he did such a better job with it than any other administration before him, it turned green again after just a few days. Additionally, that beautiful American flag blue paint job on the bottom of the pool is now starting to peel away, probably because of the thousands of gallons of hydrogen peroxide being dumped into the pool to kill the algae, and on Friday, tourists were spotted taking pieces of the paint home as souvenirs. If Trump could, he would put a giant tarp over the reflecting pool so the public couldn't see his huge embarrassment and failure, as he did with his name being removed from the Kennedy Center, where there is still a tarp covering where his name is or was. We still can't be too sure about it.

And that's exactly what we have with Donald Trump's so-called “Memorandum of Understanding’’ with Iran. It is a ceasefire when we already had a ceasefire. It reopened the Strait of Hormuz, which was open before Donald Trump started his war. It recognizes that Iran, along with Oman, controls the Strait. It does not bring relief to the people of Iran. It does not change the regime of Iran. It does nothing about Iran's nuclear program, except promising that we will talk about it in the future. It unfreezes billions of dollars in Iranian assets being held by the United States. And after years of complaining and lying about Obama's nuclear treaty with Iran, giving that nation billions of dollars, Trump's “Memorandum of Understanding” will provide Iran with at least $300 billion in reconstruction funds.

There was supposed to be a huge signing ceremony this weekend in Switzerland, which has now been called off. This deal is so bad that even sycophantic Republicans like Ted Cruz are criticizing it. Before the deal was created, and after Trump had claimed at least 38 times that we were close to a deal, he said that he would take all the credit if it's a good deal and give all the blame to JD Vance if it's a bad deal. I predict that within a week, Donald Trump will blame JD Vance. I mean, how much longer can he keep blaming Joe Biden?

I also predict that during the Republican primaries to select their nominee for the 2028 presidential election, Marco Rubio will use this deal against JD Vance. Despite being the Secretary of State, Marco had nothing to do with this treaty, and I don't blame him. Get the popcorn because it's going to be amusing as hell to watch JD Vance running against the administration he is a part of.

Donald Trump, the so-called author of the “Art of the Deal,” has claimed for years that he's the world's best negotiator and deal maker. We have known for a long time that that's a lie, but if anything hammers home the truth that he sucks at deal making, it's this so-called “Memorandum of Understanding.” This thing sucks. I half expected it to turn green algae.

But turning green with algae is a better result than we usually get for most Trump projects, as they usually turn brown from shit.

Creative note: I wrote the first version of this cartoon on Thursday. I liked it and so did proofer Laura. When I woke up this morning, I felt kind of relaxed because I already had my idea and I knew it wouldn't involve that much art or lettering, so it should be an easy day. But after breakfast, I thought more about this and knew there might be a better way to present it. So I changed it to what you see today. I bounced it off Laura to see what she thought, and even though she liked Thursday's version, she liked this one better. She said it was “pithier,” which was exactly what I was going for.

Get algae:

This isn't really a cartoon. It's more of a meme. But I really don't like memes. Too many of them are unsigned, they are not held accountable, nobody seems to want to take credit for them, and a lot of them spread misinformation, even on the liberal side. But I just thought this was amusing, so I created it in a few minutes and signed it. I did not send it to any newspapers. This is just me goofing off for a couple of minutes.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

Part of Donald Trump's unconditional surrender to Iran is a promise of providing $300 billion in reconstruction funds. Trump has spent years attacking President Barack Obama, and the JCPOA, the nuclear treaty that President Obama and several other countries negotiated with Iran that gave it billions in unfrozen assets, but the deal he signed yesterday, or Sunday, depending on which version of his own stories you want to believe, provides even more funds to Iran.

Yesterday, Trump said, “And you know what the Iranians did? They laughed at Obama, and they said, ‘He’s a stupid son of a bitch.’” Of course, that's not true, but they are probably saying it about an American president now. Trust me on this, Donald Trump is a stupid son of a bitch.

Today, Senator Chuck Schumer called Trump a “terrible negotiator,” telling reporters that the agreement with Iran was “one of the worst deals that we’ve ever seen in the United States’ foreign and diplomatic policy.” And the criticism of the deal is bipartisan, as several Republicans, including former Vice President Mike Pence, have criticized it.

So, how bad is the Iran deal? Dick Wright, Gary Varvel, and Chip Bok, and Chip Bok are criticizing it. You know it sucks when the Kool-Aid drinking MAGAts hate it and can actually summon up enough independence to say something about it.

Now, Donald Trump promises that American taxpayers will not be putting any money into the $300 billion relief fund. But didn't he say the same thing about his ballroom that he destroyed the East Wing for without any consultations with Congress?

When Donald Trump started his ballroom project, he promised that he and private donors would pay for it. Since then, he's kept the list of donors and the amounts that they have contributed a secret. Reportedly, Trump has donated his paycheck toward the ballroom, but none of the billions he's making off the Oval Office, of course.

Watchdogs have warned that donations from major corporations such as Meta, Coinbase, and Lockheed Martin, all of whom have significant interests before the federal government, create a substantial risk of corruption.

It wasn't long until congressional Republicans proposed giving $1 billion in taxpayer money to the wall. And now, we have discovered that the White House has diverted $352 million meant for the Secret Service to the ballroom.

The funds were drawn from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump’s signature tax legislation passed last summer on Republican-only votes. The law stipulates the money may only be spent on Secret Service personnel, training facilities, technology, and related costs, not construction.

About $340.8 million of the funding was placed into an account labeled “Procurement, Construction, and Improvements” on 12 June, according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) database. Another account labeled “Operations and Support” was also approved the same day, adding another $10.75 million to the budget.

Internal records obtained by the Washington Post from Clark Construction, the firm leading the project, show plans calling for $155 million from Secret Service funds, $149 million from the White House military office, and $3 million from the executive residence, all of which is public money, alongside private contributions. The Washington Post has reported that total costs could reach $600 million.

Remember that the original projected price for Trump's ballroom was $200 million.

So what else has Donald Trump promised that we won't have to pay for?

Trump promised that we wouldn't have to pay for the tacky UFC fights that he hosted last Sunday on the south lawn of the White House. This was some ugly shit, but at least we didn't have to fork over any of the $60 million that TKO, the parent company of UFC, paid to stage this giant birthday party for Donald Trump on the taxpayers’ property.

However, taxpayers are funding an estimated $10 million to $12 million in supplemental security and logistical expenses incurred by local and federal agencies. But I don't trust the Trump regime, so when they say that taxpayers won't be footing the bill, I expect it to exceed way more than $12 million.

And make no mistake about it, this was not in celebration of America's birthday. America's birthday is on July 4, not June 14. June 14 is Donald Trump's birthday. Last year, for his birthday, the military had a parade in Washington DC. I was there, and I can attest that I saw more people celebrating Donald Trump than I saw celebrating our nation’s military.

Last year, taxpayers spent about $45 million on Donald Trump's birthday. How much will we spend on his 81st birthday in 2027?

After I published this cartoon, at least three people commented on Facebook that I did not include Trump's racist border wall, which he promised Mexico would pay for. So far, since Trump was installed in the Oval Office with the help of Vladimir Putin in 2017, his racist wall has cost American taxpayers about $15 billion.

Donald Trump claims that he donates his salary and takes no payment for being president. Last February at one of his hate rallies, Trump said, “We’ve had wealthy presidents before. In the history of our country, there’s never been a president that waived his salary. I’m the only schmuck. I get no credit for it. You know what, I get no credit for it. Nobody writes about it.”

As usual, Donald Trump is lying. John F. Kennedy and Herbert Hoover both donated their salaries, and in case you are a MAGAt, they were both presidents before Donald Trump.

That's not the only thing Trump is lying about. In 2020, the last year of his first term, Trump stopped donating his salary and collected it for himself, according to tax returns obtained by Democrats. The returns show that he donated $1.9 million in 2017 and just over $500,000 in both 2018 and 2019. His salary did not change in those years, but his charitable donations did, so he did not donate his entire salary. Once again, we get to call bullshit on Donald Trump.

It should also be noted that Donald Trump has monetized the Oval Office. During his first term, there were questions as to whether he was actually a billionaire, but there's no question about it now.

Trump probably lost money during his first term, but with no restrictions in place for his second term, it's a madhouse in profiteering. From his cryptocurrency schemes to his corporation's profiting off of foreign government contracts, not to mention the bribes he has taken from outlets like CBS, X, and Facebook, along with being given a plane from the nation of Qatar, Donald Trump is estimated to have increased his wealth by over $10 billion over the last year and a half.

We were also told that only private donors would be funding Trump's golden arch at Arlington National Cemetery. But you best believe that we'll hear more about that in the future.

Trump is costing US taxpayers billions, but he doesn't have to worry about it, because he's not a taxpayer.

Creative note: This cartoon was written while I was drawing yesterday's cartoon.

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Today, this cartoon was challenged on Facebook by a couple of MAGAts.

One wrote, “One would think with the superior ‘intelligence’ of liberals, they could do a little better job at convincing the masses they're right than grade school cartoons and hyperventilated delusions.......”
The other argued, “More dumbass dumbocrap shit.” Thank God, Donald Trump told him there's a B in dumb.

The Trump regime and Iran have a peace deal to have a peace deal in 60 days. Donald Trump said that he digitally signed the deal on Sunday in Washington, and today, an administration official said Trump signed it in Versailles on Wednesday. We are not sure if Donald Trump signed it twice, or if he lied about signing it on Sunday, or what. Later, Trump said that he had signed it in Versailles. This regime that can't even clean a swimming pool has not been straight about anything. Wasn't this supposed to be the most transparent administration in American history?

Did they or did they not take Trump's name off the Kennedy Center last Saturday? The Kennedy Center says they have, but we can't be sure because the tarp is still in front of it.

It wasn't until today that anonymous US officials read the language of the memorandum on ending the war to journalists after days of secrecy. The Trump regime blamed Iran for the secrecy, saying that's how they wanted it. Who's calling the shots here?

The terms of the agreement would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, outline a $300 billon plan for Iran’s reconstruction, and lift restrictions on the country’s oil exports. It kicks the can down the road on Iran giving up its nuclear material. It calls for Israel to end its attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon, despite the fact that Israel is not a party to the MOU, the Memorandum of Understanding.

The MOU is a 60-day extension of the ceasefire. It outlines that Iran and Oman will manage the Strait of Hormuz and that there will not be a toll for ships to pass through during the 60-day ceasefire. There's no mention of there not being any tolls in the future.

This agreement is different from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiated by President Obama, which Trump ended, which eventually led to this war. The JCPOA was broad in detail and was working in preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, while Trump's Iran deal is about as vague as that peace treaty he signed with North Korea several years ago.

As you may recall, the so-called peace treaty with North Korea didn't obligate North Korea to do anything. And this so-called peace deal with Iran achieves none of the goals that Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth laid out at the start of the war. But remember, Donald Trump is the greatest negotiator in the world.

This deal does not accomplish regime change in Iran. It doesn't end their missile program. It does not end the persecution of its people. And Iran does not surrender unconditionally. What it really does for Donald Trump is that it gives him an out from this war, so maybe he can focus on his next conquest, Cuba.

Iran walks away from this conflict with more power and more money. The United States walks away with nothing it set out to do, and after spending billions of dollars.

Senator Bill Cassidy said, “Reagan is rolling over in his grave. Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions, and 13 service members were still alive,” Cassidy said, “Now, 13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped.”

Cassidy found his spine after losing his primary reelection bid after Trump endorsed his challenger, and is now free to openly criticize Donald Trump. “This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades,” he said.

Senator Ted Cruz, who doesn't even have a spine, said, “Giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea. I think the president, unfortunately, is receiving bad advice.”

He also said, “Setting up Iran to be in charge of the Strait of Hormuz in perpetuity and to charge tolls is not in America’s interest. In my view, the Ayatollah should not reap a single penny from the free transit of the seas.”

What does it tell you when even Republicans are not happy with this deal?

Creative note: Right after I finish the lettering in this cartoon, news broke that some anonymous administration officials had read details of the agreement to reporters. So I almost shelved this. But after talking to Laura and another friend, they convinced me that I should still go with this, so I did. But while building up to that decision, I wrote two more ideas that I like, and I plan to do them over the next couple of days.

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Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.

I wanna do a cartoon about Donald Trump's so-called Iran deal that doesn't look like any sort of deal at all. I also want to draw a cartoon about the Trump regime investigating California Governor Gavin Newsom and his wife. I haven't even dived into that one yet. Finally, I would like to do something about the UFC idiot who said Michelle Obama “is a man” after his fight at the White House. There's a lot to say about that stupid shit. But after writing about the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool yesterday and how the algae have returned, I really could not resist drawing a cartoon about it.

Donald Trump is trying to beautify Washington, DC, even though it was already beautiful before he hit town. If he really wants to make it look better, he should take down the ugly banners hanging from federal agencies featuring his gruesome face. Removing his name from the Kennedy Center is a good start, that is, if they really did remove his name. The tarp is still up.

Washington DC is a very clean and beautiful city. I have always told friends planning to visit the city for the first time that they would be surprised at how clean it was. And when MAGAts talk about how Donald Trump has finally made it safe, the crime rate in the city was on a downward trend long before Trump hit town. I have been walking through Washington, DC, late at night by myself over the past six years without any incidents.

One of Trump's projects was to restore the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The Department of the Interior argued that it had to be a rush job in time for America's 250th birthday, so a no-bid contract was awarded to friends of Donald Trump to clean the pool and paint the bottom of it dark blue. The original price for the job was $1.5 million, but it ballooned to a price that was over $14 million. The firm received a 20% profit margin on this project, which is well above the typical rate for federal construction projects. Upon the project's completion, Trump celebrated its “beautiful, clean water.”

Just days after the project was completed, the pool turned green with algae. It’s almost as disgusting as a MAGAt’s or UFC fighter’s mouth.

Today, the National Park Service was seen pouring gallon bottles of hydrogen peroxide into the 2,028-foot pool.

The park service is using hydrogen peroxide in addition to an advanced filtration system that deploys ozone-injected nanobubbles to break down toxins and contaminants in the pool, according to a Department of the Interior spokesperson.

Hydrogen peroxide is used in spas and natural swimming pools as a less-harsh alternative to chlorine treatments. Some people gargle with it. The DOI spokesperson said the chemical has “no harmful side effects to marine life or to the environment.” However, A close-up of their equipment revealed that they were using a 12 percent concentrate, a level that can cause problems if inhaled and burns if the chemical touches the skin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Photojournalists also snapped shots of buckets of Induclor around the memorial, a chlorine compound used to control bacteria, algae, slime, and fungi in water. Do you really believe that Donald Trump gives two poots about the wildlife?

The Trump regime assures us that they are not using bleach, as it would be extremely harmful to local wildlife that likes to take dips in the pool. Bleach, as you know, should never be used where it could hurt wildlife or the environment. It should only be used to clean household surfaces and injected into the body to cure COVID-19.

The pool contains over 6 1/2 million gallons of water, so some poor lackeys from the park service had to make a Costco run and buy a shit ton of hydrogen peroxide. I'm starting to think my plecostomos suggestion should be taken seriously, that is, if the fish could survive such a massive amount of hydrogen peroxide.

Hopefully, with all of these chemicals being dumped into the reflecting pool, it's not as contaminated as Rock Creek in DC, RFK Jr’s favorite swimming hole in the capital.

The truth is that this was a wasteful expense. Donald Trump spent $14 million of our money to make this pool blue when it can't stay that way. Anyone who owns a swimming pool will tell you that you cannot keep algae out of it without dumping massive amounts of chemicals into it, and those people are talking about smaller and more manageable pools. The best that the Trump administration can hope for is that it can make it blue for one day on July 4, but it won't last.

But Donald Trump owns pools. He owns a lot of them, as I'm sure every single one of his resorts has a very large swimming pool. I know he's not out there doing the maintenance himself, but hasn't he learned over his many, many, many decades what it takes to keep them clean? Not only does he have to fight algae from growing constantly in his resort pools, but you know he has to pour thousands of gallons of chemicals into them because MAGAts are peeing in those things. Is he really that stupid, or is he being dishonest with the American public? Visitors to the Reflecting Pool today said that it did not smell bad at all, but this deal that Donald Trump made to clean it sure does.

I believe the no-bid contract to a first-time government contractor and the profit margin warrant an investigation. I don't smell algae, but I smell kickback.

Donald Trump promised to drain the swamp, not create a new one.

Creative note: I think I used eight layers in Procreate for this cartoon.

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Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.