Tag Archives: Politicians

Kollection Trump: Art 4 the #ManBaby We Love to Hate

Kollection Trump: Donald Trump Covid-19 Legacy–The MAGA Files

A long time ago... like four years ago (gah!)... I thought I could and should do some public interest graphics on the life and career of the "stable genius"—none other than our brand spanking* new POTUS, Donald J. Trump. I called it the "Trump Files"—or T Files for short.

I began the project and it quickly got out of hand. I mean, way, way, way out of hand. What I thought would be half a dozen or so infographics quickly metastasized into dozens, and then continued to grow in scope and complexity.

With every rock I turned over, I found more scandalous material that I felt should be added to the series for context. Between the research and writing alone, what I had thought would be a day or so project started to stretch into days...

And rapidly became exhausting. It was just too much. Then, as if often the case, some paying projects came along and that was pretty much was the end of that.

Sigh.

What I should have done is follow my own advice, the very thing I used to tell my staffers when a big project seemed overwhelming; break it down into smaller chunks. Eat the elephant one bite at a time. But, I confess, sometimes you get so close to something you can't see out of the hole you've dug for yourself. Anyway...

Cut to 2020, nearly 2021.

*With a rolled up magazine applied across vast, flabby white butt cheeks, of course.

The Worst President in Ever is about to exit the main stage of history, and I find myself long past overtaken by time and events. Even if I had the time now (I don't) to revive that long abandoned T Files project...

Well, the words "Who cares?" come to mind!

But even as Trump goes (carping and whining, of course), he is guaranteed to remain front and center in our collective consciousness and our reality because A) he is, by nature, one of those "gifts" that keep on giving, B) he is bound to be in the news for some time to come because, most experts believe, he has a nearly endless array of legal entanglements awaiting him, and C) the Covid-19 pandemic will still be maiming and killing us long after he's gone. And, to my mind, he's personally responsible for about 80% of it.

No, Trump didn't create the Coronavirus problem—it was going to plague (pun intended) any President, regardless of name or party affiliation—but thru his willful ignorance, utter incompetence, sociopathic maliciousness and syphilitic madness, he has made it 1000% worse than it had to be.

I am and have been freakin' outraged by Trump's baleful actions, carelessness, laziness and reckless prevarications. I should have done something long since. But I think it's really important to remind each and every one of us what he hath wrought.

Hence, the MAGA Files are born. My plan, such as it is, is to update the graphic every few days, so that those paying attention can follow the "progress" of this horrifying disease which, I hope and pray, will forever and henceforth be known as Trump's Disease.

A more fitting tribute to his memory I could not have conjured up myself.

Kollection Trump: The T-Shirts & Merch

Back in 2015, I thought it was a sure bet that I'd make a fortune with my caustic and brutally humorous anti Trump t-shirts and such. I mean, for every idiot who loves #MangoMussolini, there's two who hate him.

Unfortunately, what I learned the hard way is that while people love to buy tees to tell the world who they are and what they love, they aren't so keen to own or wear duds that are the opposite.

I also think that, in the extremely bifurcated polity of modern day Amerika, it takes real guts to wear anti Trump gear, because there's a genuine and real fear that some lunatic Trumper will go off at sight of anything calling into question the infallible greatness of The Donald.

In any event, I did sell a fair amount of shirts, but hardly enough to write home about—or retire on. I also made some vids along the way to promote said shirts. The above is the latest and what is assuredly the last.

It's a pretty cool vid, though. You should watch it.

I supposed I could be wrong, but I doubt that the limited demand for anti Trump gear is going to increase as he fades into (what we hope) will be relative obscurity.

Some of the shirts shown were nuked by Teepublic almost as fast as they went up. You can learn more about that saga over here.

Kollection Trump: The "Lil Donald Trump" Illustrations

The above digital illustration/graphic and the below Donald Trump "cartoons" were created for my good friend K.S. Knight, for his article which he published first on Medium and then on his own site.

Each cartoon addresses a Trumpian myth. We felt this was necessary, because even at the point the article was written, approx. 2 years into the disastrous, calamitous, felonious President Donald J. Trump 24/7 shit show, there were people who continued to believe he is Smart, Slick, a Genius, Modest and a Winner—despite the overwhelming and steadily mounting evidence to the contrary.

Donald Trump – Smart

Donald Trump – Slick

Donald Trump – Genius

Donald Trump – Modest

Donald Trump – Winner

Klik on the above for bigger images.

Kollection Trump: Enter the Trumpenfuhrer

Another piece created for K.S. Knight, author of TRUMP IN HELL.

Many folks live under the assumption that "it can't happen here." They are very often the same people who don't know that Adolf Hitler, while initially made famous by a failed coup (the Beer Hall Putsch), came to power by way of the vote. Yes, he was elected into high office, and from there, seized total power and destroyed the nascent democracy the Germans built after WWI.

On a related note—and this is something everybody should understand and take to heart—everything the Nazis did was legal. Everything. Yes, it was all legal. Under Nazi law, that is. And there is the rub.

Hitler to Trump transformation. Digital retouching (i.e. "Photoshop" wizardry), animated. Trump would like nothing more than to become a modern day Fuhrer.

The Hitler-Trump comparisons are apt, for a wide variety of reasons. The "rule of law" is only as good as the men administering it.

Which brings us back around to Trump, of course. The man who has said on more than one occasion that he plans to be President For Life, just like his buddy Vlad.

He has demonstrated, through repeated demonstrations of his ignorance, indifference and impulsiveness, that he would make a particularly erratic and terrifying dictator.

Donald Trump is the man who puts the dick (albeit a tiny one) in dictator.

Kollection Trump: Art for K.S. Knight

This section contains various pieces of cover/header art for K.S. Knight's articles, as well as promos for his first Amazon book, called QANON & TRUMP EXPOSED (QTE).

Like so much of Knight's work, QTE was way ahead of it's time, and so therefore languishes on Amazon, ignored and only reviewed by a few idiot MAGAts and Qult members. But Knight showed that Qanon was an incredibly stupid scam even back in 2017, long before the mainstream (or even alternative) media got interested.

One of the great Q-related ironies here is that Donnybrook clearly has no idea who or what Q is. It's obvious if you've watched his behavior once Qanon signs began showing up at TrumpWorld rallies.

He's even been asked a few times about Qanon by reporters, and from the slightly befuddled look on his face to the awkward ad-libbing he does to attempt to cover up his ignorance (which in itself proves he really is clueless on the subject, since he doesn't even have a good "cover story" at the ready), there's no doubt he has no idea about his supposed role as Our Savior From the Deep State.

The ManBaby, American Hero

Yeah, that's right. Our resident high-functioning White House moron is actually, in the deeply deluded eyes of Qanon adherents, a nonpareil genius playing 9th dimensional chess against the evil baby-raping cannibal vampire cabal secretly running the USA.

Oh yeah.

You know, that exclusive blood-soaked flesh-ripping club which includes among it's many members not just each and every liberal and Democrat across the land (presumably, the rank and file too), but such famous figures as Tom Hanks and his wife, the entire Obama family, Oprah Winfrey, and presumably, Jill and Joe Biden as well.

This deranged conspiracy theory/belief says far more about Trump's followers than it does about The Donald.

What I'm not clear how many of the Biden grandkids are either A) lucky enough to have survived the ravenous depredations of their elders, or B) are being groomed as the next generation of vampires.

As they say on the interwebs: SMFH.

Kollection Trump: The Donald vs. The Dyke Feud

It seems like a gazillion years ago, but there was a time when Donald F'n Trump was just an ignorant, self-promoting, obnoxious, evil shit who was mainly a danger to himself.

No more.

Sigh.

Simpler times.

Though I was making the transition from mainstream marketing to entertainment advertising at the time, I rarely paid any attention to pop culture and never watched THE APPRENTICE (other than bits and pieces of it here and there).

However, for some reason I knew about Donnybrook.

Perhaps this was due to his infamous and epic business failures.

What Dad and I Thought

Following Donald's fabled Atlantic City fiascos, I think word even reached West Coast business banking circles, within which my father was a dues-paying member, that Donald J. Trump was a flake and and a fool and a very, very bad risk indeed. Basically, to hear my father tell it, Trump got blackballed by Amerika's banking institutions.

Dad didn't need his favorite after dinner "light reading"—The Wall Street Journal, don't ya know—to tell him Trump was a nincompoop. Business and the economy was one of the few topics my father and I could have discussions about, so The Donald had been a subject of conversation on several occasions.

We both came to feel that Trump was not just a terrible businessman (hardly a worse sin being imaginable to Dad) but a revolting human being as well. To our mutual horror but total lack of surprise, we watched him become a household name and even something of a star.

The Bitch-fest Begins

And then, somewhere along the way (1993), the Trumpster got into what turned out to be a long-running spat with Rosie O'Donnell.

It literally went on for years, and even continues to this day. Check out the complete timeline of "Donald vs. The Dyke" hate for all the gory details.

Because the Trump/O'Donnell spat became such a high-profile, public "thing" it actually penetrated into my reality enough that I took notice. I dunno why, exactly. Probably because, like OJ or the Menendez Brothers, it was a big story in general, but due to local interest, an even bigger one in the L.A. media market. I remember that back in the day, everybody was talking about it.

That it was a big, steaming, stinking hot mess there was no doubt. But as they say in the news biz, "If it bleeds, it leads." And while there was no actual bloodshed in the Trump vs. O'Donnell fracas (except maybe on the set of The View), it had plenty of invective and barbs, and for the TV crowd, that was good enough.

The spat really flared up again in 2006 and 2007, which is why my piece got done. It started off as a lark and ended up as one of the first satirical cultural-reference pieces I ever did. God knows more of what would end up being called Kollection Trump soon followed. I still think it's pretty cool. You?

Anyway, this last entry in Kollection Trump was the first thing I ever did where The Donald had any presence whatsoever in my work. It was made it onto a limited run of t shirts which, if any still exist all these decades later, are collectors items, for sure.

If my anti Trump street cred needed to be established, I'm pretty sure this piece from long ago does it.

DC*DEMONS Political Card Game Darkly Funny Fun

PLAN A—DEAD ON ARRIVAL

DC*DEMONS is yet another insane, hairbrained concept my partner KS Knight and I have been workin' on. But it didn't start out anything like the card prototypes you see here. In fact, the only thing that hasn't changed through several major iterations is the concept of doing a political card game with recognizable versions of real people in the mix.

The original concept, aka Plan A, was an extremely cynical, darkly funny political card game satirizing the way things work (or don't) in Washington D.C., wherein the personality cards would represent well known modern pols from Donald Trump to Nancy Pelosi, each with his or her own strengths and weaknesses, and individual victory conditions.

But the more we batted the idea around—and after talking to many other gamers, geeks and even the general public—we realized that a pure political card game was probably a non-starter. As a rule, people hate politicians so much, they mostly choose to ignore them (which, I should add, is a fate nearly worse than death for a narcissist, which describes most of 'em). People have about as much intrinsic interest in a political card game as they do in politics. Which is to say, not much.

We also came to the realization that one of our goals—educating the public about realpolitik, at least to some small degree—was putting the proverbial cart before the horse. It seemed that we were going to try to interest people in the subject in order to get them to buy (a difficult proposition), when they would just buy in the first place if they were already interested. Which they weren't. Ugh.

I mean, we are tough old cusses up for a challenge, but Sisyphean rock pushing is not one of them.

Klik Image to Enlarge.	Klik Image to Enlarge.

While making a political card game for wonks and other governance nerds would undoubtedly be satisfying on some level, we also learned that there were already several "funny" political card games on the market, and as far as we could tell, none were exactly sellin' like hotcakes, either! Not good signs, brah.

Creative satisfaction is important, but if you're going to pour months of your life into a commercial venture, it would be nice if it were... uh... actually commercial! 😮

It had never been a goal to create a product for an audience of five, or fifty, or even five hundred. The goal was to create something with broad appeal. And besides, too many people told us that even a gritty, grimy, cutthroat card game about "how the sausage really gets made" was just too... well, "icky" was a word that came up more than once.

Yeah, it's apparently true. Most Amerikans consider politics as revolting and gut churning ("icky") as watching pigs getting ground up into sausage links—but considerably less appealing!

Sigh.

After crying in our beers for some time, Knight remarked that if the game were about politicians being ground up into franks, people would be much more receptive!

Which is when the light bulb, as they say, flickered on.

PLAN B—THE UNDEAD LIVE

Despite being grossed out by the thought of playing a straight-up political card game, gamers are known to have no such aversion to blood and gore in general. Quite the contrary, in fact. It's not that they don't like "icky." It's just that it's gotta be the right kind of icky. Which gave me an idea...

Paris Hilton must really love this one. Though some would argue it's absolutely delightful in comparison to her infamous split beaver feature.

Being big fans of zombie culture in general, Knight and I really liked the late, lamented, long-gone Topps Hollywood Zombies series. We thought—why not do something like it, but a as a card game, rather than pure collectibles?

Politicians as zombies! It's a natural, right?

What if the zombies took over, and these zombies have some small semblance of intelligence left? Sounds just like politicians, right? And what if they tried to organize their society by modeling it after what once was?

Furthermore, what if the currency in the game was not gold, or guns, or even butter, but living, breathing human beings—their brains, in particular? These hapless humans would be an ever more valuable commodity as the species nears extinction! And what if the zombie bosses can only maintain their modicum of smarts—the thing which gives them the edge over all the other flesh rippers, who are mostly as bright as the darkness at the bottom of a well—by eating fresh, hot, human brains?

Sure, the sweet meats are great, but they don't give you an edge, man!

Er... zomb!

Bring on the brains! Yummmm.

We also played around with the idea of a West Coast, East Coast rivalry thing, like with rappers back in the day. What if, on some level, it was D.C. Zombies vs. "Hollywood Zombies?" (We definitely couldn't call them that, though!) Maybe each group was vying for control of all of "ZombieLand." (Another no-no for copyright reasons). Now that could be interesting...

The whole project was particularly appealing, being that we're both A) former "Hollywood insider" types, and B) politics dorks as well. This also got more traction with our informal focus group.

Again, nobody has gotten worked up over the idea of running for office. Talk about "icky."

Rosie O'Donnell as zombie. Mz. O'Donnell did try to warn us about the brain damaged ghoul currently occupying the White House, to no avail. No amount of hot, juicy grey matter can save him from himself—or us from him.

Of course, people didn't get how low down 'n' dirty what we had in mind was—with cards like Dirty Hurty Secrets, Blackmail by Email, Dick Sent Pics, Hush Money Honey, Extortion Racket Packet, Skeleton Closet Rattle 'n' Tattle, etc.—but so be it. The thing needed to have instant nerd appeal, since it's fanboys (and girls) who play crazy card games, not policy wonks.

Zombies will do that, and a game about zombie politicians shredding each other not only had instant appeal on it's face, we learned that it plugged into something else we didn't know about the general public—but probably should have (the market research team really blew it here). That being, they secretly despise politicians! And in some cases, not-so-secretly.

A game about politicians and politics was never of much interest to "average joes." But a game about the savage dismemberment and murder of zombified D.C. denizens? Well, that was a different story altogether! "Hell yes!" the throng screamed. 😉

Things were looking promising. Exciting even!

And then...

Well, and then, it all came crashing down after our ~~mutha f'n~~ fabulous lawyer got involved.

We had a serious concern, which is why we went to him for input. Were we getting too damn close to Topp's Hollywood Zombies in form? Could we get sued for copyright infringement, or some such? Theirs was not a card game, but it was all about satirizing famous people. As zombies. On cards.

What we had in mind was not identical, but it was pretty similar.

What we really wanted to know was if our concept for D.C. Zombies—and possibly zombies in Hollywood, too—was close enough that it might land us in legal trouble.

"Well, yes, it might..." was Mr. Lawyer's indefinite but thoroughly murderous answer. Again, we're ballers and everything, but we seriously don't want to spend any of our precious time in court fighting over a silly political card game (no matter how serious the subtext might be).

I mean, as in never. As in never-ever. Know what I mean?

You can read more on this particular aspect of the saga below (WHAT THE (DAMN) LAWYER SAID), should you really care to.

So anyway, that was that for Plan B, friend. So goes it in development land. What next?

John Martin's depiction of the underworld, called Pandemonium. The government center of Hell City aka Dys?

PLAN C—THE DEAD DON'T DIE

So after a lot of back and forth, we came up with what we thought was a pretty fun one. A new plan. A better plan. An infallible plan. Ahem.

Plan C, in other words.

The latest (and hopefully last) prototype version of our "simple little" political card game. The new concept was maybe a bit more on the nose (horn?) than even the zombies thing, but we thought it was still damn good. And it has the added benefit of not being limited in any way by "reality."

Ancient figures could be mixed with modern ones, and it's no problem, either. Imagine putting Caligula (Calighoula?), David Koresh (Davy Korpsesh?) and Donald Trump (Darnold Tramp) on the same team. Insane? Yes. Bound to lose? Probably. Fun to play? HELL YES!!!

In DC*DEMONS, each player takes control of a prominent human-turned-demon in the underworld (known as a Persona). Players attempt to build up their Faction as a power base from which to achieve victory. Often, this is by adding valuable allies (secondary Personas) and seizing and holding the all-important position of Potentate of Dys. Dys being the central hub of power in Hell and the Potentcy being the top job, directly underneath Old Scratch himself (i.e. the Devil).

Personas have one or more of the seven deadly sins working against them, and this makes for potential ongoing issues during play.

Gluttons can be sidelined by getting a plate from the Feast of All Devils (a virtually endless smorgasboard of remarkably edible food which tastes like home cookin' on the way down, but has a tendency to come roaring back up—and out).

Those with Lust in their hearts can be sidetracked by Perverse Promises or Succubus Surprise.

The Greedy have many Temptations to deal with, from My Ponzi Party to Satan's Cash Box. You get the idea.

A demon from Hans Memling's Triptych of Earthly Vanity and Divine Salvation - Panel 3

Much of the play involves acquiring and using powerful Event cards which hinder opponents and help yourself. For instance, the Plague of Spiders can weaken and even kill Personas within a Faction, whereas Satanic Favor can, momentarily at least, give you a number of benefits.

One of the most dread of all Events is Banishment to Sheol, which sends a Persona to the furthest (and worst) regions of Hell where, if you're lucky (!) you get a Tormenter personally assigned to you.

Oh yeah!

Reclaimation can bring a Banished Persona back to the Satanate, whilst Restoration can bring a "dead" Persona back to "life" (and the big city), but often at great cost (such as being "remade" with two heads, or massive disfigurement, or with other limitations).

It can even occasionally (rarely) result in being better off (such as receiving a boost to abilities, or some other benefit)—though one would not want to go through the process of dying in Hell (never pretty) on the small chance of "leveling up" for the experience.

And let's not even talk about being Reborn.

There are also "real-world" problems to be dealt with, like The Righteous Riot to Demonic Strike Action, Sewage Surprise to Conspiracy of Curses, Assignation Assassination to My Personal Vietnam (a reference real Trump fans will understand) and many, many more. Deal with an Event well, and you get the glory; deal with it poorly, and you may find yourself diving for rectal polyps (certain rare ones are very valuable) in the Diarrhea Sea.

Each Persona is a "leader" in Hell, vying for more power, wealth, authority and prestige. See, Satan can't be bothered with running the day-to-day affairs of Hell, or of overseeing the hundreds of millions of sinners in his region of the underworld. He's got much more important things to do! Therefore, he delegates the work to the current Potentate and Sub-Potentates (i.e. Personas)—and he's a very harsh taskmaster.

Those who let Lucifer down can find themselves exiled to the parts of Hell even archdemons avoid—or worse! Which is how and why the Potentcy has been known to change hands at a moment's notice.

The idea was that DC*Demons would be a fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek, darkly funny game of double-dealing and dastardly deeds set in the hellish version of D.C.—the real District of Corruption—where just about anything goes. I mean, in this locale Bribery is not a crime—it's Just How Business Gets Done.

Hillary Clinton (Hellory Clawem) would vie not just with her own contemporaneous rivals, but with those from the recent past like Richard Nixon (Dick Nixum) and LBJ (Lynchem Banes Jawrun), as well as those from history near and far—such august figures of renown (ahem) as Hitler (Hateler?), Saddam Hussein (Goddamn Insane?), Torquemada (TorquedMotha?) and so on.

Booster packs would include new Persona cards (there's a virtually endless supply, when you factor in historical figures), new Event cards and more!

Triumph of the Guillotine by Nicolas-Antoine Taunay: The French Revolution as a scene from Hell. Or vice versa.

We prepared a pretty crude prototype and did some informal playtesting, to see just how well this rather strange, off-beat political card game would do. Was it fun? Was it funny? Did it actually work for people who cared nothing about real world politics, or those who knew little more about the subject than the names of it''s most famous players?

The answer, we were astonished to learn, was a rather thundering "YES!" 😀

Which is great, but it sorta leaves us on the (demon) horns of a dilemma. Drop everything and push forward, full steam ahead, to get this thing out there ASAP... or park it on the slow boat from China? Or maybe on the raft crossing the River Charon, as the case may be. Unfortunately for those who want to see our deeply cynical, slightly subversive, darkly funny political card game on the market immediatamente, you're gonna haveta wait. 🙁

WHAT'S NEXT FOR DC*DEMONS?

The project is now "in development," as they say in Tinsel Town. This means we're workin' on it, but it's not the top priority. Knight has got his writing and I've got my various art projects. We do think there's a lot of potential here for a really, really great political card game, something which could become as popular as Hollywood Zombies was at one point, but with even broader appeal and a lot more zazz.

Our playtesters and small network of boosters seem to agree.

Alas, there are just so many hours in the day.

However, YOU can make a difference! How? First off, if you dig this concept, let us know. The easy way to do that is to give this post a Like. But the far better, more valuable way would be to give this post a Like and Comment!

Further, if you really, really, really want to see this thing hit the market, then... TELL A FRIEND! Or 20 of 'em. Or 50! Share this post, brother (or sister)! Share it!!!

Additionally, we'd really love to hear from you. Tell us what you think! What are your ideas, questions, concerns or constructive criticism? Would you be willing to put your money where your mouth is? (Not that we really want to know where your mouth is, or where it has been!)

With enough interest and excitement, we could crowdfund this bad boy and really make it something special, much faster than it might otherwise materialize. Does that sound like a good idea?

Without a push like that, this badass, satirical, funny political card game is likely to remain on slow burn—just like the hordes of the damned sizzling away for all eternity in the Great Lake of Fire. 😮

WHAT THE (DAMN) LAWYER SAID

Our ~~irritating~~ ever-vigilant legal eagle told us (reminded us, really) that Amerika is an extremely litigious nation, and anybody can be sued over just about anything, no matter how trivial or frivolous. Caution was warranted.

Yes, he frequently rains on our creative parade. The ~~bastard~~ nice man.

But his point is and was relevant and valid. "Sure," he told us, "such a lame lawsuit is not likely to last long in court, but that's not really the point. When one of these big boys sues for copyright infringement, the aim is quite often not to win, per se. It's to kill your progress. In other words, make it so expensive to compete, you have to cease and desist. That you take a beating in the process is just part of the fun."

He further went on to say: "Big operations intimidate small operations all the time. It's how they keep the competition out of the market, and control it. It's the American way."

It just makes ya proud to be "a Murican," don't it?

In other words, what happens is that well heeled folks sue us paupers just to make our lives a living hell. They know we can't afford to fight them, but if we want to try, we have to lawyer up at great cost. They don't expect to win, or in many cases, even get to court. But it's all about sending a very strong message: F with us, and it's gonna cost you. And cost you. And cost you.

Such things are inherently unAmerican and opposed to the entire free market concept capitalists are supposed to adore. But the truth is, big capitalists are quite often totally opposed to actual competition, so much so that they'll stoop to any kind of legal (and sometimes illegal) sleaze to protect their markets. The famous industrialist John D. Rockefeller once said: "Competition is a sin." Big capitalists are often just cartelists in disguise.

Once upon a time, when I worked in Korporate Amerika, I saw such efforts in action. Furthermore, I'm ashamed to say, I was even part of them, at least to a small extent, by being an employee whose work touched on same.

Ugh. I still feel dirty and hope someday, in some way, to atone for my sins. Hopefully not in the Great Lake of Fire, though I'm told by some that's likely.

Anyway, so it goes working for Korporate Amerika, where bad karma comes as part of your deal package.

And so it goes with your next "great idea" if there's any chance it might piss off one of the big boys. Or really, anybody with a significantly bigger bankroll than you have. 🙁

MannArtt

The Most Dangerous Artist in Amerika.™