From last thread (re Jon McNaughton’s imbecilic ripoff of Goya’s “Third of May 1808”):

re: #350 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

350 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
Jun 3, 2020 • 9:28:31amreplyquote

re: #348 John Hughes

So he views the protesters as patriotic martyrs being killed by foreign invaders. How odd

He knows that is an image that his target audience will just lap right up.

Actually, I see the iconography of McNaughton’s cartoon* as being the opposite: “ordinary Americans” as the “patriotic” martyrs -note the MAGA cap on the central figure** - being killed by domestic “enemies” : the black-clad “anarchist” boogeymen Trump and his creatures have tried to blame-shift anything and everything onto. Still stupid, though….

*”Cartoon” because, IMO, that’s basically what it is. Despite Jon McNaughton’s decent grasp of technique (and ready familiarity with much “classic” iconography), most of his pictures are fundamentally oil-on-canvas versions of hackneyed right-wing political cartoons. Attempts to “elevate” unserious snark to the level of “serious” art. Which usually fail.

**Pace Calochortus, I see the middle figure more as “dark-skinned Indo/Pakistani” than “black”. Maybe it’s the ball cap, but he looks like guys I see behind the counter in nearly every bodega/convenience store in NY…