President-elect Donald Trump’s choices for his Cabinet faced scrutiny and some opposition as they head to the Senate for confirmation. Editorial cartoonist Dana Summers leads the gallery with his view of the clash ahead: a too-tall truck heading for a low bridge.
Scandal claimed the nomination of former Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general. Gaetz withdrew as portions of a House ethics investigation leaked into public view and CNN reported details of a second sexual tryst with a minor. Gaetz makes only a cameo appearance in this week’s gallery.
Instead, cartoonists concentrate their fire on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s nomination as secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy is a vaccine skeptic, which leads critics to say he should not be leading the nation’s public health apparatus. Mike Luckovich sees him as the Wicked Witch dispatching flying monkeys bearing communicable diseases. Bill Bramhall borrows imagery from the plague years in the Middle Ages. Michael Ramirez and Joey Weatherford depict RFK Jr. in a shaman’s mask.
Wildfires burned parts of drought-stricken New York and New Jersey. “Still think global warming is a hoax?” asks Bramhall’s Smokey the Bear with skyscrapers behind him.
Other topics on the minds of editorial cartoonists include President Joe Biden’s escalation of the Ukraine war via the provision of long-range U.S. missiles; more second-guessing by Democrats on the direction forward; and the suspension of Trump’s legal cases until after he is no longer president.
Cartoons were drawn by Jack Ohman, Nick Anderson, Bill Bramhall, Dana Summers, Drew Sheneman, Scott Stantis, Walt Handelsman, David Horsey, Phil Hands, Joel Pett and Joey Weatherford of Tribune Content Agency; and Mike Luckovich, Steve Breen and Michael Ramirez of Creators Syndicate.