Release of the Mueller Report would likely lead House Democrats to impeach Trump

President Trump just manages to cover his undersized junk with Attorney General William Barr's suspicious 4-page summary of the Mueller Report, according to this cartoon by R.J. Matson of Roll Call. You can find more cartoons on PoliticalCartoons.com and at The Cagle Post.

Last week's top read in The New York Times was a story reporting the special counsel's report was more damaging for Trump than first indicated.

A cartoon from Joe Heller, who was the political cartoonist for the Green Bay Press Gazette in Wisconsin from 1985 to 2013, when he was laid off by the Gannett Co. "My hands are clean," Trump says weakly.

The special counsel's investigators had already written multiple summaries of the report, but the office didn't ask AG William Barr to release them.

Cartoonist Kevin Siers of The Charlotte Observer lampooning the conclusion of Attorney General William Barr, who essentially reduced the nearly 400-page Mueller Report to two words, "Not guilty."

The full report is believed to examine President Trump's attempts to thwart the investigation of Russian interference in the presidential election.

Cartoonist Steve Sack of the Minneapolis Star Tribune has Attorney General William Barr muting the report: "Exzzzzonerate."

After Robert Mueller made no judgment on obstruction, Barr stepped in to declare that he himself had cleared Trump of wrongdoing.

Cartoonist Jeff Darcy imagines the Mueller Team's summary of Barr's 4-page summary.

Cartoonists say money and greed are root of all of Trump's evil, 2016 election fraud

Cartoonist John Cole of The Times Tribune in Scranton, Pa., exploring the latest evidence that Donald J. Trump was a candidate who personally directed an illegal scheme to manipulate the 2016 presidential election, and whose advisors had more contact with Russia than he acknowledges.

Cartoonist Steve Sack of The Minneapolis Star-Tribune illustrates a report that Trump promised a $50 million penthouse to Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of a Trump Tower deal in Moscow. He has Trump saying, "No pets," except me.

The red Christmas trees in the White House take on new meaning in this cartoon from Christopher Weyant of The Boston Globe. "I chose the [hammer-and-sickle] ornaments," Trump says

The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi exposed Trump's cold-blooded view of U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia, as illustrated by cartoonist Steve Sack. The president exaggerated wildly about the amount of arms sales to the oil-rich kingdom.

The New York stock exchange tanked last week amid trade jitters with China, and Trump's tweets didn't help, as shown in this cartoon by Rick McKee of The Augusta Chronicle in Georgia. 

Cartoonist Randy Bish of The Pittsburgh Tribune Review exploring Trump's appearance at the funeral for George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States. All of these cartoons and many others from around the world can be found at The Cagle Post.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

Only 5 of 10 voters turned out, cutting into Democrats' big election victory on Tuesday

In this photo from The New York Times, casino employees lined up to vote on Tuesday in Las Vegas.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The Blue Wave broke early -- much too early.

Democrats scored significant victories in the 2018 midterm elections on Tuesday, gaining control of the House of Representatives, but didn't do the same in the Senate.

The reason may lie in disappointing voter turnout -- whether from apathy or laziness -- one of the major factors cited for the surprising victory of Donald J. Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

"It looks like more than 113 million people voted, which would be at least 48 percent of eligible Americans," The New York Times reported on Friday, based on preliminary -- but incomplete -- data made available by the states and analyzed by Michael McDonald, a professor of political science at the University of Florida.

So that means fewer than 5 of every 10 voters cast ballots. 

"By percent of people eligible to vote, it was the highest turnout of any midterm election since at least 1970 and the first time midterm turnout topped 100 million," The Times reported, quoting Target Smart, a data analytics firm that studies voter data.

Races for governor

Democrats took the governor's office in Wisconsin, defeating conservative Scott Walker; Pennsylvania and Michigan -- the three states whose electoral votes provided the margin of victory for Trump in 2016.

Meanwhile, dysfunctional Florida began the first statewide vote recount in its history on Saturday to decide the contests for U.S. Senate and governor -- races Republicans appeared to have won.

And a record 35 new women won House seats, meaning more than 100 women will take their seats on Jan. 3.

Hackensack turnout

More than 23,000 Hackensack residents were registered to vote last Tuesday, and turnout in most of the city's 27 voting districts bettered the national average of 48%.

Turnout ranged from 43.03% to 59.94%.

Nearly 55% of the 567,568 registered voters in Bergen County cast ballots.

If more voted ...

You can only imagine how the 2018 midterm elections, the 2016 presidential election and other national contests would turn out, if more voters cast ballots.

What is turning off voters in states that don't have Republican officials trying to suppress the vote or disqualify voters, as well as gerrymandering congressional districts?

The news media's relentless focus on politics is a big factor when what voters really want is information on how candidates stand on a wide range of issues -- from health care to the environment.

And the media's addiction to sound bites means they spread Trump's lies without fact-checking or pushback, delighting his supporters.

Electronic news media are letting Trump get away with murdering our democracy

After President Trump forgot the words to "God Bless America" at a White House event, Cartoonist Kevin Siers of The Charlotte Observer in North Carolina has him making up words, including "God bless America, land that I rule" and concluding with, "It's all about me!"

TV & RADIO LAP UP EVERY LIE,

 SPREAD THEM 'ROUND WORLD

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The Liar-In-Chief of the United States left the G7 summit early and flew to Singapore on Saturday.

He is scheduled to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un on the night of June 11 -- a date that might live in infamy.

Last week, President Trump forgot the words to "God Bless America" at a White House event he staged after the Philadelphia Eagles stood him up.

In his first 500-plus days in the Oval Office, he's fulfilled few of the promises he made on the campaign trail in 2016, except for an enormous tax break for the rich and wealthy corporations that will saddle all of us with a $1.5 trillion in debt.

The massive giveaway will keep millions in campaign funds flowing to Trump and Republicans in Congress as they try to hold onto control of the House and Senate in the November midterm elections.

Endless lies

I'm still waiting for the courageous White House reporter who will tell Trump to his face, "Please stop lying to the American people."

Or, when the president starts making it up as he goes along or takes credit for the 9-year economic recovery, simply confront him or refuse to quote him in their stories.

Trump and his corrupt Cabinet have spent most of their time and energy trying to undo every one of predecessor Barack Obama's major accomplishments in office.

Unfortunately, the electronic news media can't resist capturing every lie, false claim and preposterous tweet in those annoying sound bites, and sending them winging around the world with no pushback or rebuttal.

On HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" on Friday night, the satirist discussed the merger of Bayer, a German company, and Monsanto, noting the former manufactured Zyklon B, a cyanide-based pesticide that was the preferred killing tool of the Nazis for use in extermination camps during the Holocaust.

Print media

I'm so tired of The Washington Post's Fact Checker or the thunderous editorials from The New York Times.

The damage of those TV and radio sound bites can't be undone. 

They have to be addressed on the spot by reporters confronting Trump.

Until that happens, the president controls the discussion and damages our democracy in so many ways.

He's the fake

When Trump shouts "fake news," the reporters should shout back, "You're the ultimate fake."

I just came across a site called PolitiFact.com, which summarizes "all false statements concerning Donald Trump."

Here are a couple of recent ones:

On June 5, Trump claimed Philadelphia Eagle players "stayed in the locker room for the playing of our National Anthem" or "were kneeling."

"No. The Eagles didn't kneel,"says PolitiFact.

On May 31, Trump claimed, "We got $6 billion for opioid and getting rid of that scourge that's taking over our country. And the numbers are way down."

"Deaths are up," PolitiFact says.

Cute. 

But unless reporters confront him on the spot or simply refuse to include his lies, half-truths and outrageously false claims in their stories, Trump will get away with murdering our democracy, our free press and other institutions.

Pardons, etc.

Trump claims he can pardon himself, if he is charged and convicted in the Russia investigation, or appoint himself president for life or call off the November elections.

I've heard these claims many times, but, of course, they are nonsense.

No one, not even the president, is above the law.

Cartoonist Joe Heller commenting on the suicides by hanging last week of celebrities Kate Spade, the fashion designer, and Anthony Bourdain, the chef and CNN host, who grew up on Orchard Place in Leonia, a suburb near the George Washington Bridge. You can find this and other cartoons on The Cagle Post.

News media love Trump Liar of the Union speech, more GOP propaganda about FBI

President Trump during his first -- and probably last -- State of the Union speech on Tuesday night (photo by Win McNamee via AP). 

A photo of Trump that was published after he was fired by NBC for calling Mexicans rapists and drug runners. Same tie, same lies as on Tuesday night.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

I must be the only one who remembers when a South Carolina Republican shouted "You lie" as President Obama delivered a health care speech to Congress in 2009.

Where were the shouts of "liar" during President Trump's first State of the Union speech on Tuesday night -- or Liar of the Union speech, as I like to think of it?

Instead, I had to listen to upbeat coverage of the speech on the morning TV news, with only a minute or so devoted to a rebuttal from Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass.

"It would be easy to dismiss the past year as chaos. Partisanship. Politics. But it's far bigger than that," he said, according to CNN. "This administration isn't just targeting the laws that protect us -- they are targeting the very idea that we are all worthy of protection."

Local coverage

The Page 1 headline in The Record of Woodland Park, my local daily newspaper, is puzzling, if not downright awkward:

"TRUMP TOUTS

OPTIMISTIC TONE"

One definition of "tout" is "attempt to sell." But can you try to sell an "optimistic tone" or should that have been:

"TRUMP ATTEMPTS

TO SELL OPTIMISM"

The sub-headline claims, "Speech advances infrastructure, immigration plans."

But no action  was taken on Tuesday night -- it was just a speech -- so "advances" is inaccurate.

Liar in Chief

After telling lies his entire life, does anyone really believe Trump -- con man, white supremacist, abuser of women and tax dodger -- was speaking the truth in his call for bipartisanship and unity?

"Trump offers same policies in new bipartisan packaging," was the headline over a Politico.com report.

Sounds just like media reports about Chris Christie, when he was governor of New Jersey and hailed as a "bipartisan compromiser" even as he executed one veto after another to keep Democrats in line. 

Fact Checker

Trump's claim that African-American unemployment "stands at the lowest rate ever recorded" is a total fabrication, according to The Washington Post Fact Checker:

"The African-American unemployment rate has been on a relatively steady decline since it hit a peak of 16.8 percent in March 2010.... "The rate had already fallen to 7.7 percent when Trump took the oath of office -- it is now 6.8 percent."

During the 2016 campaign, Trump claimed falsely that 58 percent of black youths were unemployed -- the actual figure was 19.2 percent, the newspaper said.

Secret memo

And the news media can't seem to get enough of the secret GOP memo about alleged investigative abuses at the FBI as part of the Russia probe.

Reminds me of all the time and space they devoted to the endless GOP lies about Hillary Clinton's emails -- stories that helped derail her campaign against Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

See: Media rewrite Christie history