Wrong Island

This week’s new Dustinland comic was inspired by my recent trip to Long Island. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not ALL like that — aka full of Trump trucks driving around with giant flags as if it’s still the summer of 2020. But there is quite a bit of that and it’s pretty depressing. And not only because I disagree with their politics. I think the real depressing part is that so many people are that angry all the time, that they need to literally drive the streets with flags designed to anger and intimidate their fellow citizens.

But yeah, we’re screwed. I actually drew a different final frame originally but edited it out. The original frame had a flag attached to my car, that said 1. You’re wrong 2. I don’t care 3. We’re all screwed, just deal with it quietly like an adult. Which is pretty much how I feel, although that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to make the world a better place. It just means odds are we’re doomed and for your own mental health, accept that. We’ll all be a lot happier, and maybe even pleasantly surprised.

Moderaters

This week’s new Dustinland comic is my response to all the political experts who have been telling us who can and can’t beat Trump. Well, at least they tell us who can’t. And that seems to be anyone who actually stands for any sort of truly progressive issue, any candidate who believes in changing America for the better. They tell us, oh America isn’t ready for that. You stand for change? That’s crazy! You want the same healthcare the rest of the world has? You crazy leftists! You think it’s bad that multi-billion-dollar companies pay zero taxes in the U.S.? You wacky socialists! You better shut up and leave the politics to the centrists. Yes, play it safe, right down the middle, stand for nothing. That’s the way to win elections.

Meanwhile conservatives around the world push for increasingly extremist agendas and win. So the right goes further to the right, and it works for them, but we’re told that the left should not do the same… instead of fighting back and pushing for progressive stances, we should either support the status quo, or actually go further to the right. That makes a lot of sense. Turn ourselves into a watered down version of the right, in order to combat the right. That sounds like a winning recipe. But this advice is from the people who got us where we are today, so maybe they’re not the best ones to listen to after all.

Overcome

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about conservatives and how horribly persecuted they are. Or want to be. You’ll see what I mean.

Props to Matt Taibbi for bringing this to my attention many years ago in his excellent book, Spanking The Donkey.

Slippery Slope

This week’s new Dustinland comic tackles a particularly annoying argument tactic used frequently by conservatives (well, really Trump supporters so basically hypnotized fascists): The Slippery Slope! Any regulation can be argued against by saying, “oh well it starts here and then where does it end?!” Obviously this is ridiculous because we live in a society that must be governed and managed by rules, and if we stand by the philosophy of slippery slope, then any rule can be argued against. “I can’t murder?! What’s next, I can’t defend my own property against a band of armed robbers!” It’s just a thread of nonsense, but that doesn’t stop the NRA from using it every day.

I’m sure people on the left use it too from time to time, but right now the country is essentially being overtaken by an illegal rightwing coup, so that’s my bigger focus for the time being. If the country doesn’t devolve into a complete dictatorship, if the economy doesn’t collapse as the rest of the world begins to isolate us (except our new best friends, Russia), if the boiling planet doesn’t burn us off into extinction along with every other disappearing species, then maybe I’ll make some more comics that point out problems with liberals. Until then I will focus on the party that thinks science is magic and guns are peaceful and up is down.

So Much Winning

This week’s new Dustinland comic is the culmination of many months of thought, but was inspired by a single Reddit comment.

While I’ve been calling this whole Trump thing a game and a culture war that has nothing to do with policy (except for “guns are good, muslims and Mexicans are bad”), someone posted a comment on a Reddit thread that went something like “A Trump supporter would let Trump shit in his mouth if a liberal had to smell it.” That had a nice ring to it, and it sort of led me in this direction.

I mean, the politics of “winning” and spite and “us vs. them” have really brought us to a horrible place. Quite scary. The end of democracy in America, maybe the world, and maybe the end of human civilization ultimately. Fun times!

The Fun Never Begins

This new Dustinland comic is pretty straight forward so not too much to say here, aside from the fact that I was inspired to write it after reading comments from Trump supporters regarding the Women’s March. It really was amazing how people who didn’t know each other were saying almost identical things in completely different forums and social media platforms. I know there’s a lot of similarity between liberal ideas, but the speed in which the identical response to the Women’s March was shared between Trump fans was really amazing, and sort of scary. For a group that proposes to be about freedom and anti-establishment values, they seem pretty eager to accept and spread any propaganda that reinforces their beliefs and makes them feel better about themselves in the face of evidence and facts that paint them and their man in even the slightest negative light.

Should be a fun four years (or months). Oh well, they can always read last week’s comic for excuses once the S.S. Donald starts taking on water.

Truly Trump

This week’s Trump-inspired Dustinland comic is pretty straightforward. But where it came from is actually more interesting. I’ve thought about the culture war thing behind both the intense and illogical hatred of Obama and the rise of Trump for a while. So clearly that was a big part of this strip. The fact that people support Trump not really because of policy but because they want to “win.” There’s an us vs. them mentality in this country, and it’s been particularly stoked on the right by FOX News and rightwing radio for financial gain. So supporting Trump’s “initiatives” is really just code for “he’s one of us.” I don’t think this is really that much of a new thought, although I feel good about repeating it. But one unexpected thing that inspired this strip came to me through a little research into the other side.

You can read all the opinion articles and punditry pieces you want. Even when they’re incredibly thoughtful and well-informed, you can still learn just as much by reading forums and comment sections. I came across a post by a conservative talk show host asking his followers why they liked Trump despite the many instances where he has clearly not stood up for traditional conservative values and issues. There were some comments where people straight up said”I know it’s not rational, I know he probably doesn’t know what he’s doing politically, but I’m so angry and he is the voice of my anger.” I always assumed it was something subconscious. To hear people admitting they will vote for a crappy, inexperienced candidate simply because he says the right things and makes them feel good, that was really something amazing to see. It’s basically someone accepting that propaganda is working on them, and embracing it, sort of like loving Big Brother at the end of 1984.

Really fun times, guys. I can’t wait to see how crazy conservatives get if they lose the election. Will they be able to handle it, or will they go off the deep end and wreck some serious havoc? Will they look inward and try to make some real changes to their party and approach? Will they double down and dig the hole deeper? I’m sure whatever happens, it will be unpleasant for everyone.

Repouble-ican Standard

Man, I just read some shit on a diehard conservative blog where they were defending the Koch brothers by attacking George Soros, and I wish I would have included that in this week’s Dustinland.