July 8, 2017

Let's analyze the New Yorker's cartoon of the day.


                           “I drink up your country!”

I never saw the movie — meant to, just didn't — but I realize this plays on something in "There Will Be Blood." Know Your Meme gets me the details: 
I Drink Your Milkshake is a catchphrase originating from There Will Be Blood.... It tells the story of a silver-miner-turned-oil-man on a ruthless quest for wealth during Southern California’s oil boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In the film, the phrase was intentionally used as a metaphor: sucking milkshake from someone else to demonstrate not only oil drainage from prized land, but the harsh nature of how cruelty often trumps meekness. In its original context, the scene is meant to evoke contempt for the character of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis) and pity for his adopted son H.W. (Russel Harvard).
Interesting happenstance, the appearance of the verb "trumps."

The video at Know Your Memes is not available, but I've found it. Here:



Okay. I had never seen that before. Very intense. I get it. Here's the text (which you won't fully appreciate without hearing the performance):
That land has been had. Nothing you can do about it. It's gone. It's had... You lose.... Drainage! Drainage, Eli, you boy. Drained dry. I'm so sorry. Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that's a straw, you see? Watch it. Now, my straw reaches acroooooooss the room and starts to drink your milkshake. I... drink... your... milkshake!
Back to the cartoon. Is the other man — the little man with his back to us — supposed to be Putin? I assumed so. It was the cartoon of the day when Trump first encountered Putin in the flesh. But the setting is the Oval Office, and that's not where Putin and Trump met. And I don't think a world leader in the Oval Office is ever seated on the other side of the President's desk. But maybe the cartoonist resorted to the simplest indication that this is the Oval Office. And yet, come on, cartoonist (Farley Katz), you don't even have Trump's hair swooping in the right direction.

And why the distracting extra-long tie? I know it's stock humor about Trump — he wears his ties very long. We can veer into phallic symbology. Or are we supposed to focus on the tie? Is it the equivalent of the straw that reaches across the room? Are we to picture the drinking of Putin's (or whoever's) country as accomplished with the tie?

I like the idea of Daniel Day-Lewis playing Trump. He played Abraham Lincoln in a movie — another movie I haven't seen. Maybe there's some reference to that movie that might make the cartoon click into place for me. But I'm a little confused. I do think the little guy in the movie looks a bit Putinish, and it's funny to think of Trump towering over him, yelling at him, humiliating him, and reducing him to a quivering mass of jelly. But that doesn't seem anti-Trump enough for New Yorker cartoon-of-the-day purposes. So... maybe back to the tie. It's long but limp....

IN THE COMMENTS: I'm prodded to see the little man in the chair as Obama. David Smith points to "the big ears... the half-tone shading on the face." Laslo Spatula observes the "Vaguely tight, smooth afro (no hair lines drawn to indicate wavy, straight, etc; Trump has line detail in his hair). Big ears. Skin tone darker than Trump."

I realize this idea did cross my mind, but I was so stuck on Putin when it was cartoon of the day on that day. To see the other man as Obama answers my problem of a world leader seated on the other side of the President's desk. And now I notice the door behind "Trump." When the President is seated at his desk in the Oval Office, there are windows behind him. The Trump character there is pre-presidency Trump, looming over President Obama and threatening him.

But why would he say "I drink up your country"? The United States is Trump's country too! In The New  Yorker's view, perhaps, there are 2 Americas. Red America and Blue America, like 2 milkshakes, and Blue America might have been happy with its own milkshake, ignoring Red America over there. But Red America is cruel and greedy. It will drink up Blue America.

AND: Yet it doesn't make sense — or it makes only horrible sense — for Americans to picture political power in terms of draining the country, with the Democratic Party having its share and the Republican Party the other share. It might make sense — but I don't think this would be The New Yorker's sense — for Trump to be talking about getting votes that Democrats think belong to them. A politician is doing a fine job if he wins votes that have traditionally gone to the opposing party. But when people cast votes, they aren't drained. They've simply participated in the most recent election and they fully retain their vote, to be cast in the next election. I guess there might be some kind of insinuation that these voters, duped into voting for Trump, will have their interests drained... or maybe that a Trump presidency will destroy democracy and their vote really will be lost.

Have I thought about this more than The New Yorker did? Maybe it simply hit the editors as surreal and bizarre, and — because of a solid assumption of Trump hate — it seemed to just work.

ALSO IN THE COMMENTS: I think pacwest sums up the New Yorker's thinking:
That is Obama behind the desk in the oval office. He created an America greater than any other. The evil fat monster Donald Trump has just been elected and is going to suck all the juices out of his divine creation. Bwaa ha ha! The horror!

130 comments:

David Smith said...

I dunno, I looked at the back of the head, saw the big ears, saw the half-tone shading on the face, and figured that it was Barry, and the message was, "Sorry, kid, but slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch, the country you tried to radically transform is getting sucked up."

Then I realized, "The New Yorker, nah. Gotta be something else. They can't admit that reality."

Michael K said...

The Lincoln movie was OK but the producer took some liberties with the story.

Daniel Day Lewis did much better work. My favorite is "The Last of the Mohicans" but "My Left Foot " was probably his best acting.

David Begley said...

The guy behind the desk is George W. Bush in the Oval. The premise is Trump told GWB in the Oval that he would rule some day.

Nice analysis by Althouse but the cartoon is NOT funny. It is a failure at every level.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Back to the cartoon. Is the other man — the little man with his back to us — supposed to be Putin? I assumed so."

Might not be Putin in the other chair.

Might be Obama.

Vaguely tight, smooth afro (no hair lines drawn to indicate wavy, straight, etc; Trump has line detail in his hair).

Big ears.

Skin tone darker than Trump.

He is drinking Obama's country.

He is drinking Obama's milkshake.

The length of the tie is Trump's insecurity with a black man and his stereotypical endowment. Over-compensation.

Okay: maybe not the last part.

But the stuff before that: yes.

I am Laslo.

Fernandinande said...

David Begley said...
The guy behind the desk is George W. Bush in the Oval.


I thought it was Reagan talking to Bonzo.

David said...

"That's not funny!"

A gay friendly response is always in order.

rhhardin said...

Tie is one of Trump's languages.

Ralph L said...

Who else but Obama? The ears and the succession.

Daniel Day Lewis did much better work
He was an excellent, simpering upper-class twit in The Age of Innocence.

Robert Cook said...

It's a terrible cartoon. Witless and badly drawn--not always a liability, but, in this case, badly drawn without being graphically interesting.

rhhardin said...

The mystery guest is at the desk, Trump is visiting. Not that that helps in figuring out what train of leftist assumptions is being used to make a joke, the joke being some underlying truth that only the left thinks is true.

George M. Spencer said...

Looks like the Oval Office, but why isn't Trump sitting behind the desk?

Putin is the one who invaded Ukraine. Who is Trump supposed to be talking to--a North Korean?

Lucien said...

Is the cartoon assuming that Trump will be out of office in 2022?

Laslo Spatula said...

"I like the idea of Daniel Day-Lewis playing Trump."

I never can see the infatuation with his acting.

He always strikes me as constipated emoting -- he is constantly straining to get that big scene out.

I shit in your milkshake.

I am Laslo.

Chuck said...

There's a Seinfeld episode for this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1fSMUOzufI

MacMacConnell said...

The cartoon sucks canal water. On the other hand, I was saddened by the Daniel Day Lewis retirement.

Bob Boyd said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

The New Yorker reading Libs all feel like Trump and his Deplorables are big mean bullies sucking up all New World Order's Milkshake that they spent 30 years installing.

The whole "It is the Russians that did this" excuse churning out of the Clinton News Network smoke machine is wishful thinking. It was the Americans boondocks under a cruel new leadership that did it.

Sebastian said...

"it's funny to think of Trump towering over him" Which Trump actually did when he met Vlad.

Anyway, the cartoon ain't funny--but then, what do you expect?--but DDL could play Trump--because he could play anyone. Hollywood being Hollywood, it's unlikely he'd get a decent script.

Laslo Spatula said...

Lazy drawing, with terrible composition. The vertically truncated flag on the left, pulling your eye out of the panel.

The small framed item on the wall to the left of Trump, creating empty space at odds with the scale of the rest of the drawing.

But what bothers me the most: the lazy caption.

“I drink up your country!”

It is "I Drink Your Milkshake" NOT "I Drink UP Your Milkshake."

He cannot keep the cadence, because "I drink your country" doesn't really scan. So he blows his own joke by changing the stilted peculiarity of the original line -- which is what made it meme-worthy in the first place.

Really, the cartoon's line is closer stylistically to the "In Soviet Russia, car drives you" meme.

Which would make sense if the other figure WAS Putin, but then there is no joke: Trump is drinking up Russia? What does that mean, exactly?

Somewhere between "Hey! I got an idea!" and 'Successful Cartoon' the baton pass was botched.

Cartoonist decided to finish the race, anyway.

I am Laslo.

pacwest said...

That is Obama behind the desk in the oval office. He created an America greater than any other. The evil fat monster Donald Trump has just been elected and is going to suck all the juices out of his divine creation. Bwaa ha ha! The horror!

David Begley said...

Laslo is correct. Obama behind the desk. Trump drinks up Obama's country. Fundamental change. Transformational. Historic.

Laslo Spatula said...

Just read Althouse's addition: "But why would he say "I drink up your country"?

I'll point to my 9:17 comment as a comment before there was an addition to respond to.

I am Laslo.

Matt Sablan said...

It is definitely Obama; that's what I saw on my first read. It is Trump coming in and being the cartoon villain laughing at the defeated hero.

Michael K said...

"He always strikes me as constipated emoting "

That's why I like "Last of the Mohicans."

It's an action movie and the production details are very well done.

tcrosse said...

That's Curious George with his back to us. It makes as much sense as anything else. We are straining to bring order out of Madness.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Let's analyze the New Yorker's cartoon of the day."

Althouse gave a command, so I am doing my best.

Another observation:

The cartoonist probably spent more time getting his unctuous signature just right than he did on the rest of the cartoon.

How many cloying, cutesy versions did he go through before ending up with that branding?

I am Laslo.

William said...

Daniel Day Lewis is a fine actor, but he's not really a movie star. You never really bond with him in the way that you do with stars like Steve McQueen or Harrison Ford. There's no typical Daniel Day Lewis movie........ I'd recommend The Unbearable Lightness of Being to commenters here. The movie has lots of nudity and is,also, one of the very few overtly anti- communist movies ever made.......The caricature isn't really of Trump but rather of Daniel Day Lewis playing Trump. The tie looks like overacting, but who are we to criticize Daniel Day Lewis's choices. The man's a genius. The tie shows how Trump slithers over the boundaries that decent people respect. It's an extremely evil tie. Only a gifted actor like Daniel Day Lewis would be daring enough to wear a tie like that.

Bob Boyd said...

Obama's presidency was a dry hole because greedy capitalists like Trump have taken all the nation's wealth for themselves leaving nothing for Obama to distribute?

bagoh20 said...

You know what they say about a joke that needs explaining?

madAsHell said...

Laslo is correct. Obama behind the desk.

No, it's Curious George, and Trump is the Man in the Yellow (Orange?) Hat.

Laslo Spatula said...

What is with the way Trump's eyebrows are drawn?

I get that he is using the eyebrows to try to get across some semblance of a facial expression.

But did he have to use Don Hedaya's eyebrows to do so?

Note that the picture is Hedaya as Nixon (from the film "Dick"). Maybe it is just that all hated Presidents have the same maniacal eyebrows.

I am Laslo.

Phil 314 said...

Maybe the guy in the chair is Carl, from the Simpsons and Trump is Mr. Burns.

Does that make any sense?

Yes, because ....."TRUMP!"

Curious George said...

"tcrosse said...
That's Curious George with his back to us. It makes as much sense as anything else. We are straining to bring order out of Madness."

Let me assure you it is not.

It's Obama.

traditionalguy said...

Compare and contrast this New Yorker Magazine reaction by the East Coast Libs having the same attitude towards another surprise President who was 100% not qualified to be President, in their opinion.

But wait, they can just run a sophisticated Governor of New York against the Scots Irish idiot in the next election.

But they fail to notice that the uneducated idiot's whistle stop campaign train and radio ( old style TV) rally speeches carried directly to the country has begun running on Twitter.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Trump cannot drink up Obama's country, because Obama has no country; or rather, he has transcended such a regressive, parochial 20th century notion. He who maketh the oceans rise and fall is, in a mystical sense, the president of the world, nay, the universe.

"Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do..."

That's why Obama warned us narrow-minded deplorables about the dangers of patriotism over the Fourth of July weekend.

Laslo Spatula said...

Another thing that irks me in the cartoonist's lack of craftsmanship: the tone of the hair of the man with his back to us crosses over the line of the chair.

Sure, looseness can be a style: and he is loose with the toning elsewhere, but always within the lines.

Sloppy.

A little white-out, dude.

I am Laslo.

Ralph L said...

Laslo, you forgot that the windows and door are all in the wrong place for the actual Oval Office. And there's no fireplace or O's ugly brown sofas.
It's a complete mess.

The best part of the New Yorker is the reader-supplied captions.

Laslo Spatula said...

In Soviet New Yorker, cartoonist laughs at you.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

Ralph L said...
"The best part of the New Yorker is the reader-supplied captions."

I've entered a few from time to time.

It seems like the editors aren't enamored with captions that refer to anal sex.

I am Laslo.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Drainage does describe what has happened to the Democratic Party at the national level.

tcrosse said...

That's Curious George with his back to us. It makes as much sense as anything else. We are straining to bring order out of Madness."

Let me assure you it is not.

It's Obama.


Very well, then. The cartoonist depicted Obama by drawing Curious George. That speaks volumes.

madAsHell said...

oh....I see that I'm a little late with the Curious George thing.

Mike Wallens said...

One of the most over-rated movies ever. Boring, tedious.

Achilles said...

2022 eh?

Has a movie like that ever been made about a sitting president?

Barry Dauphin said...

One problem with the cartoon is that Daniel Day Lewis would not come out of retirement to play Donald Trump. There are already too many imitators of Trump. If he really wanted to show his acting chops, he would come out of retirement to play the lead in the Meryl Streep story.

Quaestor said...

Donald Trump's stated goal to "drink up" Kenya must be repudiated.

Sebastian said...

What William said: "The caricature isn't really of Trump but rather of Daniel Day Lewis playing Trump"--a sly dig at DDL overly-authentic overacting, with a looong tie, see, juuust like Trump, bombastically invoking a Hollywood line to show how eeeevil he is (which I do think is halfway funny), presented in a way that would make lefties nod and righties recoil at the seemingly PC anti-Trump overlay (a further sly dig at their (our?) tendency to read the obvious political message).

But it is revealing in another way. I realize they wanted to go for the movie linkage, but the "your country" only works from a lefty point of view: Trump wouldn't say it, and O didn't believe it. But in this case I don't think the PC politics is the point.

James Graham said...

Here is all the analysis you need: the present editor places his self-selected mission objective of "get rid of Trump" ahead of everything else, including "continue to produce a serious magazine."

Laslo Spatula said...

Ten failed 'New Yorker' cartoon captions...

"Of course it has to be in the ass, Rachel -- that's why it's called 'anal sex'."

"Don't get me wrong, Trevor: I love our maid, but it always smells like she had anal sex in the guest room."

"Betsy, of course you can have anal sex: just don't do it with your husband -- that's SO gauche."

"Thank goodness for Botox! When I have anal sex it still looks like I didn't feel a thing."

"I told Todd I would only have anal sex with him in the Hamptons, and now he's looking to lease."

"I'm fine with Robert having a young mistress: let HER do the anal, right?

"I don't care that he's rich, Amanda: you never have anal sex after just one dinner, no matter how nice the restaurant was."

"I was fine with Fred wanting anal sex, but now he wants me to dress up like a young schoolboy and call me Digby."

"Oh Eleanor, I remember when anal sex was just for the lower classes."

"Anal sex? But these sheets are Egyptian cotton."

I am Laslo.

MayBee said...

There is a book I really love, a biography of Julia Child - Appetite for Life: The Biography of Julia Child
Book by Noël Riley Fitch.

But there's line in it that always makes me roll my eyes. The author describes a change in political party at the top of the US government as the Republicans "seizing"power. I think that's how many Democrats see it.

tcrosse said...

"I say it's anal sex and I say the Hell with it"

Anonymous said...

An unfunny New Yorker cartoon!??!

That damn Trump!

Bill Peschel said...

Laslo, I'm so tempted to take your captions and apply them to real NYer cartoons. A couple of them made me laugh out loud.

Is this the New Yorker with the new woman in charge of cartoons? *checks Google*

Yup, Emma Allen. To early to say it proves that women aren't funny?* Or is it just The New Yorker as usual?

* Deliberate trolling.

Ann Althouse said...

"It's a terrible cartoon. Witless and badly drawn--not always a liability, but, in this case, badly drawn..."

The Trump body is drawn in a way that makes him seem to be in a chair or in front of a chair. The arms have no connection to the giant shape of his body. It was, I think, an attempt to capture the feeling of Day-Lewis looming over the seated figure.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"Guildofcannonballs said...
TRUMP SHAKES WORLD ORDER

The yellow represents Trump's golden ejaculate (shakes, as in The World is ordering Trump's 'milkshake' he is 'bringing to the yard'*) as The Brand is literally coming into all of our homes, and, in some cases even, documented at that, dreams.

*Here here.

3/7/16, 10:41 PM"

*link to https://play.google.com/music/preview/Tjeuphf5qh5xm5zpy46a5crt7q4?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-songlyrics

Mary Beth said...

In its original context, the scene is meant to evoke contempt for the character of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis) and pity for his adopted son H.W. (Russel Harvard).

I think Know Your Meme has it wrong. Daniel was talking to Eli Bandy, not H.W. in that video clip. Wrong character, but they had the right actor.

From Wikipedia: [T]he famous line in the final scene, "I drink your milkshake!", was paraphrased from a quote by former Secretary of the Interior and U.S. Senator from New Mexico, Albert Fall, speaking before a Congressional investigation into the 1920s oil-related Teapot Dome scandal. Anderson said he was fascinated "to see that word [milkshake] among all this official testimony and terminology" to explain the complicated process of oil drainage.

MayBee said...

Mary Beth- thanks for looking that up. I was going to say that Daniel Day Lewis's step son was played by Paul Dano.

chuck said...

So now the New Yorker has crummy cartoons. What's left? Sad!

Snark said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Snark said...

Seriously, how the fuck did Althouse not immediately understand that was Obama.

Snark said...

It's actually a pretty good metaphor for this blog on matters Trump. Hyperanalysis in service of missing the big picture almost entirely. This is your blog on Trump. Any questions?

Drago said...

Snark: "Hyperanalysis in service of missing the big picture almost entirely."

Well, don't leave us in suspense.

Give us the "big picture". (this should be good)

Drago said...

Seriously, how the fuck did Althouse not immediately understand that was Obama.

Maybe Althouse should be impeached or removed via the 25th Amendment.

Mary Beth said...

It's a weird quote to use. In the movie, Daniel Plainview had spent a lot of time and effort to get William Bandy to sell him his land. He never would until the end when Eli came to offer it because he was in a bad financial situation. Plainview then explained how the land was now worthless because he had drilled on the surrounding land and that drains the oil from under Bandy's land too. ("I drink your milkshake.")

To me, by using that quotation, the cartoon says that Trump had tried to get the other person (Obama/Democrats) to cooperate but that person refused so Trump succeeded without help and took away the value of what that other person had.

I doubt that's what the artist meant.

Earnest Prole said...

In humor, as in life, trying too hard is a cardinal sin.

Ralph L said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ralph L said...

The son's head is shaped frightfully like mine.

Prole, you can never be too hard for anal sex.

I am not Laslo, but that's frightfully close to my last name.

Bruce Hayden said...

"Laslo is correct. Obama behind the desk.

No, it's Curious George, and Trump is the Man in the Yellow (Orange?) Hat."

Think of how racist that is -.I still, or rare occasion, hear Blacks referred to as monkeys, chimps, etc. Mostly by nonrepentent racists. So, you have a left wing magazine read by all the right people tapping into this derogatory stereotype. Embarrassing.

BTW -,just noticed that Ann has a Laslo tag now. Congrats are in order (though probably quite belatedvon my part).

Snark said...

The big picture is that America and by extension the world is at a potentially critical point in its history because a severely personality disordered person was elected President. The chance of coming out unscathed from this are almost nil. It's shocking to me now to have listened, interested, to the warnings from historians months ago now and watch them unfold in real time as Trump cuts deep into the first leg off democracy by attacking and undermining the press with the full throated cooperation of so many Americans. You see exactly how collapses and regime changes of the past must have unfolded, right in front of your eyes, and its equal parts riveting and terrifying.

MayBee said...

The big picture is that America and by extension the world is at a potentially critical point in its history because a severely personality disordered person was elected President.

I agree.

And now Trump has to clean up after him.

Saint Croix said...

I rank that movie #4013 in my movie book. That is not a good ranking. That is a D+.

#4013 There Will Be Blood (2007) What an amazing performance from Daniel Day-Lewis. And the cinematography is gorgeous. It's a beautiful movie to look at, and his performance is breathtaking. Unfortunately the screenplay is retarded. I think this is Bush Derangement Syndrome to the ninth degree. Oil! And religion! Yeah yeah, cause those two topics go together like oil and religion.

The whole movie, oil guy is like, "Oh, I hate that religious guy." And religious guy is like, "I hate that oil man." By the third act, when they are fighting to the death in the bowling alley--dude, I cannot make this up--I didn't even know what to say. It wasn't even funny, that's how bad it was. If 60 Minutes had a spy-cam at the Republican National Convention, and we saw a 90-minute melee in a bathroom between a Texas oil man and a born-again Christian from Idaho, I would rather watch that than this again.

Snark said...

"Maybe Althouse should be impeached or removed via the 25th Amendment."

Maybe you should acknowledge at least to yourself that the analytic abilities of the person you presumably read in part for her analysis are inctreasingly questionable in the age of Trump.

Snark said...

"I agree.

And now Trump has to clean up after him."

You're smarter than this,

Anonymous said...

Soon, Trump will be bringing all the boys to the yard.

Sydney said...

What Saint Croix said. One of the worst movies ever

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

Trump is the reimagined Penguin threatening to hold the city hostage. Obama, fresh from defending abortion chambers and Planned Parenthood clinics, executing global elective wars, forcing global anthropogenic refugee crises, and spreading the prophecy of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming is cool and collected. It's subtitled: New Yorker's Dreams of a Boyfriend. It is the very modern model of racism with a sexist twist. Perhaps Obama is in transition.

Yancey Ward said...

Mary Beth,

As Mary Beth points out, the scene is not between Daniel Plainview and his "adopted" son, but rather between Daniel and Eli Sunday (not Bandy).

I also take issue with the idea that the tirade builds sympathy for Eli- it doesn't- it reveals Sunday to be nothing more than a manipulative and sniveling failure taken advantage of by an even more manipulative person who then proceeds to brutally kill him.

MayBee said...

You're smarter than this,'

hahahhaha. I don't love Trump's personality. But I'm smart enough to see Obama's foreign policy was feckless, and the world is not better off after he had his turn.

buwaya said...

Snark lays out the gist of the liberal world view on the modern situation. It is fair enough, given a limited perspective. That there are historians that have such a limited perspective is no surprise, given the very narrow focus so many of them have, mining ever-more-esoteric areas in pursuit of academic novelty. The big picture is very much out of fashion.

The conservative world view was laid out long ago by writers such as Angelo Codevilla, and many others besides, long before Trump. The modern crisis has been a long time coming and Trump, plus other phenomena such as the cultural split and the loss of media legitimacy, are symptoms, not causes. If not Trump, inevitably someone else, and, probably, worse symptoms besides.

The liberals refuse to engage with Codevilla or anyone like that, as they would be forced to see themselves as others see them. This is not an issue for conservatives of course, as the liberal-dominated culture forces funhouse mirrors on conservatives constantly, they cannot refuse to look.

Ralph L said...

Maybee, you could have added that Obama (or his protected race and amenable politics) put the press to sleep for 8 years, so the whole Snark paragraph applies. And then there were all the executive orders.

Ralph L said...

I thought the scene was comically ridiculous, and now you tell me there will be blood soon after. You RUINED the movie for me! Oh NO!

MayBee said...

It's true, Ralph. I actually deleted more that I had written.
Obama criticized the press a lot. He tried to shut Fox out of briefings. His White House called Glen Beck "un-American" when he found the Chicago Olympic debacle funny. Look what he did to James Rosen. Yet they had off-the-record dinners with more friendly news outlets. Remember the big push to declare Rush Limbaugh the head of the republican party? Granted, Rush isn't a reporter, but he was a media critic of Obama.
David Axelrod used to text Mika in the middle of Morning Joe to get her to correct what she'd said.
And let's not forget Ben Rhodes' description of how they manipulated the media for the Iran deal.

But the media loved Obama, so there was no war. The media for the most part hates Trump, and have decided the old rules need not apply.

I mean, look at the Maddow story Althouse posted. Should it be a big blockbuster that news agencies should be *cautious* when receiving documents because they might not be real? I thought that was standard good journalism practice.

buwaya said...

As for Obama, again the big picture has been missed, deliberately. The most underreported story post-2008 has been the collapse of US labor force participation, and its extremely slow recovery. This was an enormous phenomenon that explains a very great deal of the US political crisis of 2015-2016. It is the major proximate cause.

Ignored, ignored, ignored, and if brought up, rarely, deflected, deflected, deflected. Until its consequences, or their possible remedies, were finally addressed. Not in the way liberals would have liked to see. But it is the gross, extreme liberal failure, both in failing to be concerned, failing to be candid, and failing to analyze causes and act on remedies, that brought on their disarray.

And the reasons they failed so terribly are as Codevilla says.

Unknown said...

"Maybe you should acknowledge at least to yourself that the analytic abilities of the person you presumably read in part for her analysis are inctreasingly questionable in the age of Trump."

Yes indeed this is true.

MayBee said...

I didn't think it was Obama because the cheek/jaw line looks monkey like and not Obama-like. So it seems kind of racist to me if it is Obama.

Pinandpuller said...

The artist is saying President Trump should stay away from bowling alleys.

Seeing Red said...

That land has been had. Nothing you can do about it. It's gone. It's had... You lose.... Drainage! Drainage, Eli, you boy. Drained dry. I'm so sorry. Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that's a straw, you see? Watch it. Now, my straw reaches acroooooooss the room and starts to drink your milkshake. I... drink... your... milkshake!




Oddly enuf, I do believe that's what the ChiComs have been accused of drilling in the Gulf. I think they're helping either Mexico or Cuba, and they were practicing horizontal drilling and taking oil from our territory.

Seeing Red said...

Or maybe the Atlantic. Details hazy, no film at 11!

buwaya said...

Its what Saddam Hussein accused Kuwait of doing in 1990.
It is not very credible as an accusation or compelling as a casus belli as the border oilfields were minor, and slant/horizontal drilling has a very limited reach even today.

Its like sentencing a man to death for stealing nickels.

Seeing Red said...

Wait, is this a cartoon that came with the approval of the news female editor?

Seeing Red said...

new

It was The New Yorker, wasn't it?

Mary Beth said...

As Mary Beth points out, the scene is not between Daniel Plainview and his "adopted" son, but rather between Daniel and Eli Sunday (not Bandy).

You are correct, I erred. It was Bandy's land, but the twins were Eli and Paul Sunday.

Pinandpuller said...

A better reference to Trump in a Coen brothers movie would be Randall Tex Cobb stealing a baby and blowing the shit out of the town.

Seeing Red said...


The big picture is that America and by extension the world is at a potentially critical point in its history because a severely personality disordered person was elected President. The chance of coming out unscathed from this are almost nil. It's shocking to me now to have listened, interested, to the warnings from historians months ago now and watch them unfold in real time as Trump cuts deep into the first leg off democracy by attacking and undermining the press with the full throated cooperation of so many Americans. You see exactly how collapses and regime changes of the past must have unfolded, right in front of your eyes, and its equal parts riveting and terrifying.




Meh, I've lived thru this before, so what difference, at this point, does it make?


Btw, the press is undermining itself, he's just pointing it out.

John henry said...

Isn't President Trump's hair combed backwards in the cartoon?

John Henry

John henry said...

Saw the movie and DD Lewis is always great. Otherwise, meh.

The book, Oil by Upton Sinclair is a terrific read, though.

Buy it via Ann's portal.

John Henry

Ralph L said...

Chicago Olympic debacle
I'd forgotten about that. Illinois would already be bankrupt if they'd gotten it. But a few Chicago-onians would be very rich.

Valentine Smith said...

An unintentional comparison between Trump and Lincoln.

The tie is a snake, which is a universal symbol for life according to Jung. Or maybe Trump is mocking the cowering lead-from-behind Obama by pointing out that O is comparable to this limp dick tie invading his space.

Bottom line, the comic is as ineffective as Obama.

tcrosse said...

So the alternative-history cartoon would have Meryl Streep as Hillary Clinton shaking down Obama for a piece of the advance on his memoirs. By 2022 she should look old enough for the part.

Valentine Smith said...

Lewis is one of those dudes with an accent that always overacts and is called brilliant.

tim in vermont said...

Hillary lost, New Yorker, get over it! It was never her milkshake to begin with.

tim in vermont said...

Snark, maybe you should buy a bicycle.

tcrosse said...

Snark, maybe you should buy a bicycle.

Or consider switching to decaf.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Gotta think the cartoonist didn't ponder their analogy quite enough: Eli's not some hero and he's begging for Plainview's help in that scene (having ruined things himself and afraid of being exposed for the worthless phony he actually is)...and shortly after that Plainview beats him to death.

I mean, if this had been in a right-leaning publication I'm certain there'd be howls of dog-whistling for violence against the first black President, or something.

Yancey Ward said...

Also, I hadn't noticed it earlier, but Paul Dano does portray the Sunday twins.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"... said...
A better reference to Trump in a Coen brothers movie would be Randall Tex Cobb stealing a baby and blowing the shit out of the town.

7/8/17, 12:52 PM"


"Guildofcannonballs said...
Understand Inga I am a (fellow?) Nazi who wants power and blood, not in that order.

If I see small critters, I bomb them just like the guy on the bike with the cigar in Raising Arizona.

Now you know, you know.

3/26/17, 11:01 AM "

Drago said...

Snark: "blah blah blah blah

Same old nonsensical Leftist claptrap.

You want to see leftist philosophy leading to regime collapse and chaos?

Take a look at the lefts beloved Venezuela.

Venezuela is you....and we want nothing to do with it. So go ahead, keep attempting extra-constitutional means to remove a duly elected President. See where it gets you.

Krumhorn said...

Laslo, those failed cartoon captions were: (i) completely priceless, and (ii) 100% Laslo Spatula.

- Krumhorn

Earnest Prole said...

The most underreported story post-2008 has been the collapse of US labor force participation, and its extremely slow recovery.

Exactly. Now that a Republican is President perhaps it can be discussed, along with homelessness and other things we had to ignore while Obama was Emperor.

buwaya said...

Venezuela is actually quite a different situation, in fundamental ways. These were much misunderstood by the US left, and especially by the US liberal consensus. And by US conservatives as well.

Pre-Chavez Venezuela was run by a liberal consensus itself. It was a social-democracy with a liberal ethic as to government policy, with a definite split between classes, which of course was cloaked in hypocrisy. These were left-wing-ish, third-world-ish oligarchs, functionaries, and their society. It lacked almost completely what the US would consider conservatives. When Chavez inspired the lower classes to overthrow the liberal consensus, he was overthrowing a class very similar to the readers of the NYT or the New Yorker, of Trumps well-heeled enemies, and of course the Washington "swamp". Chavez was a "Trump" in fact, but in vastly different circumstances.

The US has a liberal high-low alliance against the conservative middle; Venezuela had a liberal high-middle alliance against the socialist low. And very importantly the Venezuelan military and security forces were far more leftist than their political superiors. Its no accident that Chavez was an Army Colonel. The US military is conservative. Another difference is that, in Venezuela, like many third-world countries, it is the left that is most intensely nationalist.

This is a very good case why politics does not map between countries. Only a small portion of the US Democratic party would be tempted to go full-Venezuela, and fewer of their voters. They have a considerably different path to disaster.

rehajm said...

Mary Beth said...
It's a weird quote to use. In the movie, Daniel Plainview had spent a lot of time and effort to get William Bandy to sell him his land. He never would until the end when Eli came to offer it because he was in a bad financial situation. Plainview then explained how the land was now worthless because he had drilled on the surrounding land and that drains the oil from under Bandy's land too. ("I drink your milkshake.")

To me, by using that quotation, the cartoon says that Trump had tried to get the other person (Obama/Democrats) to cooperate but that person refused so Trump succeeded without help and took away the value of what that other person had.

I doubt that's what the artist meant.


Exactly. Thank you. Now I don't have to write it...

Eli was a bit of a prick believing his land was in a strategic location. In fact he was quite ignorant of the way of things. Clearly an unintended Obama reference.

Carter Wood said...

There's no equivalent line in the source book, "Oil" by Upton Sinclair. A surprisingly good book, with little agitprop. A knock-off Dos Passos, in a good way.

Michael K said...

Venzuela also had "The Curse of Natural Resources" which often gives the left the impression that the gravy train will go on forever.

The left is usually unable to understand the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Civilization is not a default state.

Chavez was a really ignorant man. He could have run a three tiered system with the oil industry exempt from the nonsense pf Socialism.

Obama, had he been a dictator, would have done the same to us. Hillary probably was not smart enough to avoid the train wreck.

Bill was and changed course in 1994.

The present day Democrats and Bernie are not gifted with Bill's low cunning.

Drago said...

"Only a small portion of the US Democratic party would be tempted to go full-Venezuela, and fewer of their voters"

Agreed. But as we have seen, the Democrats are now being led around by nose by the far left and happily violent radicals who would like nothing more than to go the full-Venezuela.

Freeman Hunt said...

A comic in the New Yorker tradition of printing at least one unfunny comic in every issue.

n.n said...

This is a very good case why politics does not map between countries

Variations on a theme, but those differences are significant. A constellation of principles, imperatives, and circumstances.

tcrosse said...

Trying to imbue this mediocre cartoon with Deep Meaning is the epitome of Polishing a Turd.

Ken B said...

I am amazed. Of course it's Obama. Of course pacwest nailed it. Of course the New Yorker didn't notice Paul Dano's role was a shitty little charlatan.

Earnest Prole said...

the Democrats are now being led around by nose by the far left and happily violent radicals

Which is why they are starting to smell like a corpse.

walter said...

"I never saw the movie — meant to, just didn't "
Same here.
I wonder how many readers are in same boat?
A sure sign of a successful meme.

Gk1 said...

Its like a slightly more refined Ted Rall "cartoon". Subtle and full of nuance.

Laslo Spatula said...

I think the "I drink your milkshake" line was also used in the film "2 Girls 1 Cup."

I am Laslo.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Look, this is insider shit, but you people gotta know so you don't come across as idiots: 710 means OIL upside down and backwards. The zero is the O. The one the I and the seven the upside down L.

July 10th approaches faster than Shadowfax, BE PREPARED.

Drago said...

Begun, the Milkshake War has.

Achilles said...

Trudeau gives terrorist who killed and maimed American soldiers over 10 million dollars.

Of course he did it secretly or tried. Notice the media Snark worries about is ignoring the story.

The left is made up of many kinds of people. A significant number are just flat out traitors including Trudeau. The traitorous shitheads better hope and pray Trump survives both terms.

Achilles said...

Anyone who fails to denounce Linda Sarsour is a traitor.

Josephbleau said...

Aye Trosse, ye canaae polishee a trude.

Clayton Hennesey said...

I think pacwest has it right, although Trump isn't drinking anything, he's draining Obama's milkshake swamp.

walter said...

Laslo,
Perhaps the deepest dive into that..
An Investigation Into the Web’s Shittiest Mystery