When Anu offered the word Gobbledygook, I instantly thought of a past president who gave a memorable speech on Gettysburg.

Not Lincoln, of course! — the Former Guy, who tragically is now The Future Guy. When he first took office in 2017, the Year of the Rooster, I painted him as a Cockalorum. His tendency to produce loud, irritating & meaningless noise has certainly not diminished since then, so I decided to reprise that character here. This time he’s producing a speech bubble in the shape of a G (à la Saul Steinberg) containing verbatim excerpts from the Cockalorum’s incoherent word salad in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania last April. And the background shows a ketchup bloodbath, layered over dictionary text and a political map of North America.

It certainly was not as much fun to paint this illustration as I’d hoped. When I sketched it out I was picturing November as a relatively happy time when we could all shake our heads in disbelief that such a disreputable & ridiculous character could run for president twice. Instead this country has made the devastating mistake of actually reelecting him. It’s a perilous moment for the United States, not just because of this particular scoundrel, but the cruel, corrupt, anti-science & arguably insane company he keeps. In my long life I’ve never been more disappointed in an election or more concerned for the future of the country & the world.

Sometimes it feels inappropriate to make fun of TFG when the situation is so serious. But then I remember the cartoons of the 40s… so I guess I’ll keep doing what I do as long as I can!

This painting & prints can be found in my Etsy shop, Curious Art Lab.