Ghost Of Invasions Past

Why do the people in charge sucks so bad at history

I'm seeing a lot of excitement from MAGAts about the apprehension of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. One of them commented on yesterday's cartoon on Facebook, saying, “Cry harder, liberals,” which goes to show that MAGAts don't understand context.

Liberals are not fans of Maduro. I am happy that he has been deposed, but I would rather it had been done by his own people. Just because I would rather have seen international law respected, and our own constitution as well, doesn't mean that I'm crying for Maduro.

Some Republicans believe Maduro is a brethren to American socialists, but he's more of a soulmate to an autocrat like Donald Trump than he is to any liberals who believe in democracy and the rule of law.

I don't like that international law has been disrespected. I don't like that congressional approval has been bypassed. I don't like that there's no plan for what happens if Venezuela suffers from a power vacuum. I don't like Donald Trump's plans for colonialism or for stealing Venezuela's natural resources. I am especially not going to like it if US forces have to police Venezuela.

MAGats believe this is winning, but it's only been a day. They need to slow their roll. I am already seeing memes showing Trump eyeballing Cuba, the Panama Canal, and Greenland. This isn't winning, it's losing. If we become an international bully, then we are not going to have any friends. No one is going to trust us, and they shouldn't.

Before they plan out their next three wars, they may want the dust to settle after the capture of Maduro. If you remember correctly, Iraq looked like a huge victory, too, after the initial invasion. George Bush even swaggered on top of an aircraft carrier in front of a banner that said “mission accomplished.” The Bush administration claimed the mission was accomplished in 2003, but the US didn't pull troops out of Iraq until 2011, 4,418 US military deaths, 3,650 US contractor deaths, and between 186,901–210,296 violent Iraqi civilian deaths later.

Remember in 2003 when supporters of the war were taunting those opposed to it, saying, “If you ain't with this, you are against us.”? Do you remember, within a couple of years, how difficult it was to find anyone who would claim that they supported the war before the invasion? Donald Trump is one of those people. There is record of him on the Howard Stern show reluctantly supporting the war, but no record at all of him being against it, even though years later he claimed he was. You would have better luck finding any evidence that he was ever voted the Michigan man of the year.

Right now, we need to record everyone who was celebrating the capture of Maduro, because we won’t be able to find them later.

Today, Venezuelans are celebrating in the streets over Maduro's capture, although his regime is still in place. We will see how happy Venezuelans remain if Trump attempts to do everything he promised in that ridiculous press conference. We'll see how happy Venezuelans are when Donald Trump does not allow them to select their leadership. We'll see how happy they are when Donald Trump steals their oil.

Before the invasion, Dick Cheney said we would be “greeted as liberators.” George W. Bush said, “Bring them on.” Secretary of State: Powell invoked the Pottery Barn rule and said, “If you break it, you bought it.”

Donald Trump just bought it. But if there's one thing we know about Donald Trump is that he's not going to want to keep the receipt.

Creative note: I received an email tonight from one of my clients saying how happy he is that I have fully recovered from my stroke. That is a huge compliment because he's making that judgment from the quality of my work. The truth is, it took five hours to draw this cartoon, and it was exhausting. Caricatures are really hard in this condition.

Last night: Last night was my first time out in a social setting. No, I did not go to a bar. My friend Chris (who I used to play in a band with), picked me up, and we went to a Korean restaurant with a few other friends. This is a place where you grill your own food on the table. It was good. We had a while to wait for our table, so we sat at the bar where I enjoyed a non-alcoholic Heineken. This is the closest thing that I've had to a beer since October 9. Everyone else had sugary-looking mixed drinks.

Later, the five of us went to Chris' house and played Trivial Pursuit. I could go either way as a competitor in that game. I could slay everyone in a total Trivial Pursuit bloodfest, or I could be a complete space cadet because of the remnants from the stroke.

Drawn and 30 seconds

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