Another strip drawn by the amazing Mike Lawrence.
From an official press release on whitehouse.gov, July 16 2026:
Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller made clear there must be no retreat: “One of the hallmarks of left-wing violence and terrorism is its completely pre-textual and disingenuous appeal to civil liberties in an effort to shield its own violence… When the leftist — who does not believe in freedom, who does not believe in civil rights, who does not believe in any ordinary notion of justice — protests that we are violating his rights, understand the [sic] he is lying to try to persuade people who are not closely following the political scene that some injustice has perpetrated [sic] against him. We must stay the course and be completely unflinching in the pursuit of justice against these enemies of civilization.”
The rhetoric is unambiguously fascist. A typical fascist move is to describe their own community – however they conceive it – as the authentic national identity, and to then define out-groups or political opponents as existential threats to that nation. From there, it’s a short step to seeing state suppression of those groups as necessary for the nation to survive, and even to call that self-defense.
The extreme fascist rhetoric we’ve seen this month is, I suspect, the administration testing the waters to see if they have enough support to blatantly overturn the results of the midterm elections, which most people expect to go badly for Republicans. Heather Cox Richardson commented:
[Trump ally Stephen] Bannon argued in Tuesday’s War Room podcast that the idea of “communists” threatening to take over the United States through corrupt elections is “a predicate for immediate action.” That immediate action, he said, would be for Trump to declare “a national security emergency executive order…that took all of SAVE America plus plus plus plus.” And then, we can be sure, the Republicans will win the 2026 elections and, as Trump keeps saying, all the elections for the next 100 years.
I still think (or hope) this won’t happen – not because the Trump administration is above it, but because I think they’re shackled by Trump’s unpopularity. As Jim Stewartson points out, one key difference between Hitler and Trump is that Hitler was popular.
Incidentally, this strip was written and drawn well before that Trump Administration press release. Panel three’s original dialog referred to Trump’s plans for an “Election Integrity Army” for the 2026 election. But – as so often seems to happen with this administration – if you just wait a little while they’ll say something even worse.
TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON
Panel 1
The year is 2024. A WOMAN and a MAN sit at a table in a coffee shop, looking at their phones.
WOMAN: The Supreme Court says no official act by the president can be a crime! Can we call it fascism yet?
MAN: Of course not. Don’t be hysterical.
Panel 2
The year is 2025. The WOMAN and MAN stand outside in snowy weather; the woman is pointing to something on her phone.
WOMAN: ICE invaded Minneapolis! Masked government agents are kidnapping people! Can we call it fascism now?
MAN: No! It’s bad, but let’s not exaggerate.
Panel 3
The year is 2026. The WOMAN and MAN sit on a park bench. She reads from her phone.
WOMAN: The White House says it’ll eradicate “Antifa militants” and ignore civil liberties. Can we call it fascism yet?
MAN: Enough with the doomerism!
Panel 4
The year is 2030. Armed, armored government troops stand nearby. The WOMAN begins to speak, but the frightened MAN stops her.
WOMAN: Can we—
MAN: Shhh! Do you want to get us arrested?
CHICKEN FAT WATCH
“Chicken fat” is an ancient cartooning term for fun but unimportant details in the art.
PANEL 1: The coffee shop is called “Bump & GRIND (not a strip club).” The menu offers “brewtentious latte, true brew, vessel w/ pestle, dragon flagon, palace chalice, hot tea” and in a section marked “Pies,” offers “whim pie, pup pie, gup pie, hip pie, and yup pie.” Groucho Marx’s decapitated head is in the pastry case. The extremely embarrassed-looking barista is reading a book called 5000 Shades of Gray. The coffee mugs have a logo consisting of the words “BAD LOGO” arranged around a pile of poop. A tentacle is reaching up from under the table to grab the pie.
PANEL 2: There’s a “Calvin and Hobbes” snowman in the background. The logo on his jacket says “pradagonia.” A bird in the tree is bundled up with a scarf and knit hat.
PANEL 3: Fozzie Bear peers out of a hollow in the tree. A groundhog emerges from a hole in the ground. The MAN’s boba tea appears to be filled with eyeballs. The man’s t-shirt says “REBEL ™”.
PANEL 4: Graffiti reads “Romanes Eunt Domus” and “We ♥ Leader.” There appears to be a shark swimming in the filthy water beside the sidewalk.
@beth: Lincoln called for volunteers for 90 days. That's not a quote but a pretty clear sign he expected things…