Pence is legitimately disgusting but he’s not a literal child rapist who wants to blow up all Muslims.
Or if he is, at least he lies about it.
Thulcandran
Pence put a jail penalty on LGBTs applying for a marriage license.
Tnoy
And he is a terrible, terrible person. I just don’t think he’s as bad as Trump. Although that’s an academic distinction for the LGBT community, I’m sure.
butts
Well, yes, on a personal level he probably hasn’t sexually assaulted anyone. From a governing perspective, though, he’s pretty much indistinguishable.
Scolopendra
Hardly – Trump is personally despicable but politically harmless. Pence has the expertise necessary to actually sign his hateful beliefs into law. Impeachment would not save us.
ety
Trump may have all the help he needs to accomplish just as much.
Trump isn’t politically harmless at all…he’s been preaching exactly what the GOP Congressional primary electorate believes. They’ll go along with it, they have to if they want any chance of keeping their seats.
HarryB
This is how I describe it. You need to have surgery do you want the doctor the has been convicted of malpractice or the cook at Wendy’s. Trump has the potential to do genuinely bad things that in retrospect help literally no one simply because he doesn’t know what the fuck he is doing.
Deanatay
This calls for a double impeachment!
Hey, we didn’t get our first female President. That just means we need to find new ways to make Presidential history.
It’s basically confirmed that Pence will be doing all the actual governance work himself.
LynneB
He supports “inalienable right to life” — that is, abortion illegal under any and all circumstances, including where necessary to save the life of the mother. He would literally rather the woman die than allow an abortion to be performed.
He supported fully defunding Planned Parenthood.
He voted “No” on every single economic stimulus bill and helped kill every bill which would have helped people avoid mortgage foreclosures.
He supports environmental and business deregulation for, well, everything. He supported stripping the Endangered Species Act of the power to designate “critical habitat.” He has voted against any funding for alternate power sources, and supports opening up all available land for oil drilling. He has consistently voted to dismantle pollution controls, and has supported legislation which limits private citizens’ ability to sue corporations for endangering their lives.
He supports and encourages police “stop and frisk” policies and votes no on everything which has been proposed to help tackle police bias towards minorities.
He has consistently voted to support enforcing prayer in schools, and consistently voted no for funding schools.
That doesn’t even cover all of it.
But I’m serious, if you think he’s less scary than Trump is, you aren’t paying attention. Trump is ultimately relatively stupid. Pence is able to carry through his threats.
Skorpeyon
This doesn’t even cover the fact that he supports gay conversion therapy. Tearing people down to make them not who they are and rebuilding them in your image. It’s literally programming and/or brainwashing and has caused plenty of people to commit suicide, but the people who do this shit are okay with that because at least they aren’t gay anymore.
LynneB
@Skorpeyon — oh, yes, absolutely, his hatred of lesbians and gays. Let us not forget that.
Dr. T
Not only does Pence support gay conversion therapy, he actually rerouted money that was supposed to combat and prevent the spread of HIV to groups that carried out the process.
Knayt
Assuming this nests properly:
Pence doesn’t “support” completely defunding planned parenthood. That’s not a political issue where he’s part of some sort of coalition supporting existing leadership, or even a political issue where he inherited a leadership role. Mike Pence is the guy behind those bills. He is leading the charge to defund planned parenthood, and it’s the rest of the people on that who are supporting him. On this particular issue (though by no means only on this particular issue) he is on the far right of the far right.
Oberon
And Pence wants women who have an abortion to hold a funeral service for the fetus.
Trump just wants some vague, unspecified “punishment” to be levied against those same women. And since he is undecided he’ll probably go with the Pence funeral idea.
Can we chain impeachments? Just to get them over sooner and all.
Needfuldoer
Then the Speaker of the House becomes president. Paul Ryan has been in Congress since 1999, so he likely has the connections to keep the party together. Trump isn’t that popular with the Republican establishment, so moderates may be more likely to cross the aisle to maintain balance.
Oberon
You keep believing that. There isn’t going to be any more ‘crossing of isles’ under Trump than there was under Obama. Look at all the frantic back-pedaling of every Republican who voiced a criticism of Trump or revoked their endorsement. A call from a wealthy donor, a thousand emails flooding their office, and suddenly they are on the phone soliciting votes for Trump.
Skorpeyon
My father, during the primaries, compared Trump to Hitler. Once the primaries were over, he began insisting he’d make a good president. I don’t understand how anyone can go from one of those extremes to the other.
David
Well, it’s either that or emigrate. The sad thing is that the Americans helped writing the memo “why letting a nationalistic xenophobic megalomaniac fascist wield power is a bad idea” in WWII and were seminal in establishing a multi-party democracy in Germany with considerable safeguards against critical agglomeration of power not actually capable of representing the will of the people with some detail.
But in the U.S. themselves, they still have the original system heavily tilted to preserving power to an incumbent elite which converges to a bad choice.
It still takes a bit of idiocy at each stage to pick the worst alternative, but less so than picking the greatest idiot straight from among a larger set of viable options.
Shadow12000
David I’d love to immigrate, I’ve wanted to live in Canada long before this election even began because I’d stayed there for some months and absolutely loved it (in Alberta). It’s not an easy process though, even though it’s easier than it used to be, it’s still a “what do we gain by you living here?” sort of deal, and since I couldn’t afford college and only have experience as an administrative assistant at best, I’m way back in the line for potential immigrants. It could be more than 4 years before I’m able to finally even considered, and then longer before I’m actually able to move. TV stars make it look really easy but that’s because they’re worth so much that they’re gladly accepted.
With a Republican controlled Congress? Fat chance. The voters have spoken and the USA is toast. We had a good run, but times up.
(((Mkvenner)))
Manchineel anyone?
Splork
We only lasted half as long as the Roman Republic. 🙁
Shadow12000
I wouldn’t say “the voters have spoken”, since Hillary won the popular vote. We officially have the 4th time in U.S. history that the Electoral College results and the population’s results are different.
I’m pretty sure that if Trump behaves as he has in the past he’ll do something that can’t be defended by Republicans soon enough. It’s not they defend his behaviour much as it is; they just ignore it. If it’s something they have to vote on, that’s a different matter.
Yeah, he would have mocked Joyce for having been traumatized, and not worried about making it worse.
“This ridiculous cartoon caricature of a politician comes closer to being a real human being than the man who – at best, if we’re being really optimistic – came a hair’s breadth from the actual presidency” doesn’t actually make me feel any better
One elector vowed not to vote for Hillary, nobody’s made that pledge for Trump. Almost half the US has laws to punish Faithless Electors, several of which have gone red.
Trump’s campaign played heavily on the idea that his supporters were being marginalized. If the electors were to overturn a clear victory on their own initiative, it would only make things worse.
N0083rP00F
And sadly there is truth in that. Look at small town USA where all those big companies moved out and shipped work off to China etc.,
Yet profits are up, the NYSE is up, so everything is great right?
Nope, joe sixpack cant afford more than a can at a time and his kids school is crap, he has mandatory health insurance but not actual healthcare, Medical costs are out of a cybepunk dystopia, etc etc
Commodore Jeep-Eep
And the dems choose the completely wrong option – they ran someone who got beat by a flaming no-name black senator with a Muslim sounding name after 9/11, and who was the wife of the person who signed NAFTA – brexit should have been a warning sign. This was a disaster I saw coming ever since she got the nom – and the fact that non-dems favored the competition should have been a warning sign, instead of something brushed off. They threw away youth enthusiasm and showed off their complete disregard for the deindustrialized in the process, throwing away votes that might have saved lives.
Clinton’s nomination will replace the 1983 manifesto of the UK Labour party as a touchstone for political failure on the left.
And the clintonites are already trying to shift the blame to anyone but their messiah; the fucking dem establishment need to be purged, top to bottom, of her creatures because otherwise we’re seeing a repeat in 2018 and 2020.
They should be resigning en masse after this, because it is not an exaggeration to say that they will have the blood of the queer and black dead of the trump presidency on their hands.
The left establishment across the west has failed completely, and I hope they realize it, because otherwise this is going to be a domino effect.
Dr. T
I am seeing that at least 8 transgendered kids committed suicide since last night in addition to several others who attempted.
Commodore Jeep-Eep
And they won’t be the last. We mustn’t let the folks responsible for this disaster off the hook. Those deaths must be avenged.
kelticat
I was working in the polls all day during the election in California. At 3:00 pm pacific standard time, I heard that Trump “won” the election. 5 HOURS before the polls closed. The big rush that occurred during the primary at 3:30 to 8:00 didn’t show. How many people decided that they might as well not vote because of that report?
What really gets to me is that Hawaii would have gotten that report around NOON. And I think most states had polls closing at 8, some at 7. How many people decided that their voice and vote didn’t matter?
I don’t think Robin is trying to be even remotely funny here. She actually acts like she is concerned about Joyce as she seems to know about the shooting on the campus.
As far as her answer for working with men: as a female tech working with mostly male engineers – I find her answer is about half right. I never tried to be ‘one of the guys, or play the female card. I simply did my job. Dont’ expect respect to be handed to you, male or female, you have to earn it.
Most of the men I worked with were okay, when I had proved myself. I knew I was never going to be one of the guys, but I proved I was good at my job and that was all I expected to prove.
I think Robin is more concerned about her own political career, and just barely smart enough to realise that maybe she shouldn’t add victims of recent horrible tragedies to the list of people publically hating on her.
HMH
I honestly don’t read the character as dumb, just absurdly jaded and cynical about the process she is participating in, and more focused on winning first and worrying about policy later. Perhaps she was more like her sister at first, but slowly came to realize that, no, what she’s doing right now is actually the only path to power in her country. The characters would make much more interesting foils in that way, rather than “lol the liberal sister is oh so enlightened and the right-wing sister is a half-wit,” and in the time I’ve spent with this strip that seems more in-line with the kind of messages that Willis likes to communicate.
ANYONE ignorant enough to think Pence isn’t as bad as Trump needs to understand that conversion therapy is basically GITMO for LGBT Teens. FUCKING GITMO! Right down to electric torture, heated copper metal torture, needle torture, and all while being forced to watch gay porn “A Clockwork Orange” style! Not as bad as Trump MY TRANS PANSEXUAL ASS.
To be fair he’s got a 3 plus month buffer of comics. It would be funnier if Trump was currently curled up in a ball, kicking his feet and screaming “It’s not fair, it’s not fair!” at the top of his lungs on live TV. But he had no way of knowing that wouldn’t happen.
Can we get a bunch of billionaires together and have them offer trump 20 billion dollars if only he steps down?
Gamaran Sepudomyn
Heck, offer him a fashion model job to bolster his ego. Sure, it’ll collapse the fashion industry, but that’s a small price to pay if it means he doesn’t kill people anymore.
478 thoughts on “Lament”
Ana Chronistic
all kinds of tragedies going on about now =[
Airyu
your dorothy icon is how i feel rn
butts
I don’t know, I’m sorta feeling more like my gravatar right now.
Anorak
you feel like a butt? what do butts feel like?
That Damn Rat
Squishy mostly. Though do get the occasional hard one.
Robert
um…butt hurt?
Kris
I think this will be known as one of the most depressing comments section in DoA so far. And it’s for one of the most mundane dram free strips.
Needfuldoer
At least Alec Baldwin will have something to do for a few years?
I got nothin’. It’s baffling that America chose Biff Tannen over Mom from Futurama.
N0083rP00F
Well except Biff is a Jennifer Marlowe and MoM a space spider from Orion.
Emily
I really really can’t find Robin even remotely funny under these circumstances.
spriteless
Well, on the bight side, impeachment is a thing.
Zach
‘Cause Pence is going to be any better?
Tnoy
Pence is legitimately disgusting but he’s not a literal child rapist who wants to blow up all Muslims.
Or if he is, at least he lies about it.
Thulcandran
Pence put a jail penalty on LGBTs applying for a marriage license.
Tnoy
And he is a terrible, terrible person. I just don’t think he’s as bad as Trump. Although that’s an academic distinction for the LGBT community, I’m sure.
butts
Well, yes, on a personal level he probably hasn’t sexually assaulted anyone. From a governing perspective, though, he’s pretty much indistinguishable.
Scolopendra
Hardly – Trump is personally despicable but politically harmless. Pence has the expertise necessary to actually sign his hateful beliefs into law. Impeachment would not save us.
ety
Trump may have all the help he needs to accomplish just as much.
buckybone
Trump isn’t politically harmless at all…he’s been preaching exactly what the GOP Congressional primary electorate believes. They’ll go along with it, they have to if they want any chance of keeping their seats.
HarryB
This is how I describe it. You need to have surgery do you want the doctor the has been convicted of malpractice or the cook at Wendy’s. Trump has the potential to do genuinely bad things that in retrospect help literally no one simply because he doesn’t know what the fuck he is doing.
Deanatay
This calls for a double impeachment!
Hey, we didn’t get our first female President. That just means we need to find new ways to make Presidential history.
HeySo
Tell me more about this double impeachment. :X
Pablo360
It’s basically confirmed that Pence will be doing all the actual governance work himself.
LynneB
He supports “inalienable right to life” — that is, abortion illegal under any and all circumstances, including where necessary to save the life of the mother. He would literally rather the woman die than allow an abortion to be performed.
He supported fully defunding Planned Parenthood.
He voted “No” on every single economic stimulus bill and helped kill every bill which would have helped people avoid mortgage foreclosures.
He supports environmental and business deregulation for, well, everything. He supported stripping the Endangered Species Act of the power to designate “critical habitat.” He has voted against any funding for alternate power sources, and supports opening up all available land for oil drilling. He has consistently voted to dismantle pollution controls, and has supported legislation which limits private citizens’ ability to sue corporations for endangering their lives.
He supports and encourages police “stop and frisk” policies and votes no on everything which has been proposed to help tackle police bias towards minorities.
He has consistently voted to support enforcing prayer in schools, and consistently voted no for funding schools.
That doesn’t even cover all of it.
But I’m serious, if you think he’s less scary than Trump is, you aren’t paying attention. Trump is ultimately relatively stupid. Pence is able to carry through his threats.
Skorpeyon
This doesn’t even cover the fact that he supports gay conversion therapy. Tearing people down to make them not who they are and rebuilding them in your image. It’s literally programming and/or brainwashing and has caused plenty of people to commit suicide, but the people who do this shit are okay with that because at least they aren’t gay anymore.
LynneB
@Skorpeyon — oh, yes, absolutely, his hatred of lesbians and gays. Let us not forget that.
Dr. T
Not only does Pence support gay conversion therapy, he actually rerouted money that was supposed to combat and prevent the spread of HIV to groups that carried out the process.
Knayt
Assuming this nests properly:
Pence doesn’t “support” completely defunding planned parenthood. That’s not a political issue where he’s part of some sort of coalition supporting existing leadership, or even a political issue where he inherited a leadership role. Mike Pence is the guy behind those bills. He is leading the charge to defund planned parenthood, and it’s the rest of the people on that who are supporting him. On this particular issue (though by no means only on this particular issue) he is on the far right of the far right.
Oberon
And Pence wants women who have an abortion to hold a funeral service for the fetus.
Trump just wants some vague, unspecified “punishment” to be levied against those same women. And since he is undecided he’ll probably go with the Pence funeral idea.
Fart Captor
Trump doesn’t have the attention span or work ethic to actually govern. Pence will likely be the Cheney to his Dubya. Only so much worse
Ana Chronistic
Can we chain impeachments? Just to get them over sooner and all.
Needfuldoer
Then the Speaker of the House becomes president. Paul Ryan has been in Congress since 1999, so he likely has the connections to keep the party together. Trump isn’t that popular with the Republican establishment, so moderates may be more likely to cross the aisle to maintain balance.
Oberon
You keep believing that. There isn’t going to be any more ‘crossing of isles’ under Trump than there was under Obama. Look at all the frantic back-pedaling of every Republican who voiced a criticism of Trump or revoked their endorsement. A call from a wealthy donor, a thousand emails flooding their office, and suddenly they are on the phone soliciting votes for Trump.
Skorpeyon
My father, during the primaries, compared Trump to Hitler. Once the primaries were over, he began insisting he’d make a good president. I don’t understand how anyone can go from one of those extremes to the other.
David
Well, it’s either that or emigrate. The sad thing is that the Americans helped writing the memo “why letting a nationalistic xenophobic megalomaniac fascist wield power is a bad idea” in WWII and were seminal in establishing a multi-party democracy in Germany with considerable safeguards against critical agglomeration of power not actually capable of representing the will of the people with some detail.
But in the U.S. themselves, they still have the original system heavily tilted to preserving power to an incumbent elite which converges to a bad choice.
It still takes a bit of idiocy at each stage to pick the worst alternative, but less so than picking the greatest idiot straight from among a larger set of viable options.
Shadow12000
David I’d love to immigrate, I’ve wanted to live in Canada long before this election even began because I’d stayed there for some months and absolutely loved it (in Alberta). It’s not an easy process though, even though it’s easier than it used to be, it’s still a “what do we gain by you living here?” sort of deal, and since I couldn’t afford college and only have experience as an administrative assistant at best, I’m way back in the line for potential immigrants. It could be more than 4 years before I’m able to finally even considered, and then longer before I’m actually able to move. TV stars make it look really easy but that’s because they’re worth so much that they’re gladly accepted.
buckybone
Needs 2/3 of the Senate…one isn’t happening, let alone more than that.
Ohiobound
With a Republican controlled Congress? Fat chance. The voters have spoken and the USA is toast. We had a good run, but times up.
(((Mkvenner)))
Manchineel anyone?
Splork
We only lasted half as long as the Roman Republic. 🙁
Shadow12000
I wouldn’t say “the voters have spoken”, since Hillary won the popular vote. We officially have the 4th time in U.S. history that the Electoral College results and the population’s results are different.
Orion Fury
Again? I’m out.
Kamino Neko
Impeachment requires Congress to agree to it.
Congress also went red.
Zababcd
I’m pretty sure that if Trump behaves as he has in the past he’ll do something that can’t be defended by Republicans soon enough. It’s not they defend his behaviour much as it is; they just ignore it. If it’s something they have to vote on, that’s a different matter.
Spencer
yeah im just kinda
its too real now
i dont know what to say. im just horrified.
Godfather
Agreed. 🙁
Shiro
At least the stuff she’s saying right now is stuff the orange menace can’t relate to in any way, shape, or form.
…except maybe the last panel.
Fart Captor
Yeah, he would have mocked Joyce for having been traumatized, and not worried about making it worse.
“This ridiculous cartoon caricature of a politician comes closer to being a real human being than the man who – at best, if we’re being really optimistic – came a hair’s breadth from the actual presidency” doesn’t actually make me feel any better
Mav
Same. My mother told me to go to sleep, but I can’t.
Vanessa
I told my children to go to sleep, but I can’t.
(((Mkvenner)))
Faithless electors.
Kamino Neko
Not something to pin hopes on.
One elector vowed not to vote for Hillary, nobody’s made that pledge for Trump. Almost half the US has laws to punish Faithless Electors, several of which have gone red.
Splork
If they have integrity, this could happen. But…
Smiling Cat
Trump’s campaign played heavily on the idea that his supporters were being marginalized. If the electors were to overturn a clear victory on their own initiative, it would only make things worse.
N0083rP00F
And sadly there is truth in that. Look at small town USA where all those big companies moved out and shipped work off to China etc.,
Yet profits are up, the NYSE is up, so everything is great right?
Nope, joe sixpack cant afford more than a can at a time and his kids school is crap, he has mandatory health insurance but not actual healthcare, Medical costs are out of a cybepunk dystopia, etc etc
Commodore Jeep-Eep
And the dems choose the completely wrong option – they ran someone who got beat by a flaming no-name black senator with a Muslim sounding name after 9/11, and who was the wife of the person who signed NAFTA – brexit should have been a warning sign. This was a disaster I saw coming ever since she got the nom – and the fact that non-dems favored the competition should have been a warning sign, instead of something brushed off. They threw away youth enthusiasm and showed off their complete disregard for the deindustrialized in the process, throwing away votes that might have saved lives.
Clinton’s nomination will replace the 1983 manifesto of the UK Labour party as a touchstone for political failure on the left.
And the clintonites are already trying to shift the blame to anyone but their messiah; the fucking dem establishment need to be purged, top to bottom, of her creatures because otherwise we’re seeing a repeat in 2018 and 2020.
They should be resigning en masse after this, because it is not an exaggeration to say that they will have the blood of the queer and black dead of the trump presidency on their hands.
The left establishment across the west has failed completely, and I hope they realize it, because otherwise this is going to be a domino effect.
Dr. T
I am seeing that at least 8 transgendered kids committed suicide since last night in addition to several others who attempted.
Commodore Jeep-Eep
And they won’t be the last. We mustn’t let the folks responsible for this disaster off the hook. Those deaths must be avenged.
kelticat
I was working in the polls all day during the election in California. At 3:00 pm pacific standard time, I heard that Trump “won” the election. 5 HOURS before the polls closed. The big rush that occurred during the primary at 3:30 to 8:00 didn’t show. How many people decided that they might as well not vote because of that report?
What really gets to me is that Hawaii would have gotten that report around NOON. And I think most states had polls closing at 8, some at 7. How many people decided that their voice and vote didn’t matter?
Idontcarenomore
I don’t think Robin is trying to be even remotely funny here. She actually acts like she is concerned about Joyce as she seems to know about the shooting on the campus.
As far as her answer for working with men: as a female tech working with mostly male engineers – I find her answer is about half right. I never tried to be ‘one of the guys, or play the female card. I simply did my job. Dont’ expect respect to be handed to you, male or female, you have to earn it.
Most of the men I worked with were okay, when I had proved myself. I knew I was never going to be one of the guys, but I proved I was good at my job and that was all I expected to prove.
Positron
I think Robin is more concerned about her own political career, and just barely smart enough to realise that maybe she shouldn’t add victims of recent horrible tragedies to the list of people publically hating on her.
HMH
I honestly don’t read the character as dumb, just absurdly jaded and cynical about the process she is participating in, and more focused on winning first and worrying about policy later. Perhaps she was more like her sister at first, but slowly came to realize that, no, what she’s doing right now is actually the only path to power in her country. The characters would make much more interesting foils in that way, rather than “lol the liberal sister is oh so enlightened and the right-wing sister is a half-wit,” and in the time I’ve spent with this strip that seems more in-line with the kind of messages that Willis likes to communicate.
KrimsonKat
ANYONE ignorant enough to think Pence isn’t as bad as Trump needs to understand that conversion therapy is basically GITMO for LGBT Teens. FUCKING GITMO! Right down to electric torture, heated copper metal torture, needle torture, and all while being forced to watch gay porn “A Clockwork Orange” style! Not as bad as Trump MY TRANS PANSEXUAL ASS.
Fauna Sarcastic
Kyle’s true name “Aide.” Lord of time.
Robin has no clue whatsoever.
Haven
yikes
Architex
ABORT ANSWER I REPEAT ABORT PROMPTING THE BLONDE WITH A WRIST BRACE
Architex
Also, @alt-text if there was a classroom at IU that functioned like a classroom in an anime, it would be Leslie’s. Just minus the windows.
Slartibeast Button, BIA
But who is the bossy Class President?
Woobie
Leslie.
Just A. Thinker
Willis, your jokes are good, but they’d be funnier if an orange monster wasn’t about to win the presidency.
tim gueguen
To be fair he’s got a 3 plus month buffer of comics. It would be funnier if Trump was currently curled up in a ball, kicking his feet and screaming “It’s not fair, it’s not fair!” at the top of his lungs on live TV. But he had no way of knowing that wouldn’t happen.
Just A. Thinker
Can we get a bunch of billionaires together and have them offer trump 20 billion dollars if only he steps down?
Gamaran Sepudomyn
Heck, offer him a fashion model job to bolster his ego. Sure, it’ll collapse the fashion industry, but that’s a small price to pay if it means he doesn’t kill people anymore.