The following was written about two or three weeks ago.

Another cover for The Week with D. Trump. Ugh. What is his appeal? I hear people say he "speaks his mind". Or "He's exposing everyone to be the phonies we knew they were". He's weirdly prudish. He'll insight people towards violence at a rally and then act like he's shocked that there was violence when he appears on Good Morning America. And there is the problem. It's a profit motive... I forget which movie had that line in it. Anyway, the news is for profit. Smart intelligent conversation and debate isn't as exciting as two "men" running for public office prudishly talking about their dick sizes on national television. Cock talk gets better ratings ie., bigger profits. The press coverage of the village idiot for entertainment has given the idiot a big forum to vomit his idiot rhetoric to people who are sick of uninspired politicians.

Bernie Sanders is the scary person to the Democrats because he has inspired a lot of people. Just not enough. The press ignores him because he talks about issues, and he is a gentleman to the people he is running against, and he is the only one (similar to Trump) that isn't owned by large corporations. Although I suspect Trump has some people he owes. Sanders also speaks his mind. Sanders has also exposed the establishment in the Democratic party. And a big media bias as well.

I'm not going to post any more Trumps here unless it's about his failure to get elected. Feel the Bern!

Original color sketch. Everything was OK until...

They suggested a dark blue back ground. I feel that the red back ground was more emotional and was a little more raw. The Week isn't that kind of magazine. I think this goes with their character.

Usually silence means I'm busy meeting deadlines etc. I had a bunch this past month. My job for National Geographic for Kids became more demanding in Feb. I didn't do my News Letter that you can sign up for if you want to get things I don't post here. The covers for The Week Magazine have been more challenging since they don't want the exaggeration they originally hired me to do. It was a slow transformation over a number of years. I'm starting to treat them more like a comic book illustration. They still like something dynamic but more based in natural proportions etc.

Marco Rubio. I listen to political talk shows on the radio when I make coffee in my kitchen. Being in the back of the building, my reception is limited. I'll get the FAN sports radio. They get fixated on a few big stories and seem to have no ability to move on to another subject or analyze it very deeply. Next station usually has all the national right wing talk shows, Limbaugh, Hannity, and others. These guys really beat up Rubio while seeming to celebrate Trump. I find it amusing to see how they selectively criticize people they don't like for whatever reason. Rubio attempted to bully back at Trump in a debate and not being the sort of ass that Trump is, he bullied poorly. The guys on the radio skewered him not realizing that Rubio was still the nicer guy and ignoring completely how much worse Trump was and is, but somehow Rubio was the bad guy because he only bullied back a few times and they only seemed to quote Trump's rude assessment of Rubio as what to think.

Fortunately coffee only takes 5-10 minutes!  But I take a lot of coffee breaks when I'm painting. Boo. Here is the path of Rubio for the cover for The Week. I did this before the super Tuesday that knocked him out of the race so I guess my color sketch would have been more accurate. But they didn't want so much blood etc. On the other hand I think politics does.

Sketch

Finish. They did sort of want the "Black Knight" from the Monty Python film "Holy Grail" feel for how to portray Rubio. I got a little carried away with the absurd amount of blood in that scene.

So far so good with my projects for 2016. I did a rare caricature gig at a corporate event for The Week's PR department. I do them, but I'm not cheap! heh. I have several irons near the fire. I'd say they "in" it but it's way too early for that. So in the general vicinity of a theoretical fire is where I'd put them. More on that to come. Some maybe in my news letter! 

This was a cover I did for The Week Magazine last week as Bernie Sanders has been slowly and steadily improving and overtaking Hillary in the poles. I was never for Hillary in the first place. My general rules is one president per family. Even though she married into it, sorry Hillary. I must be devastating her right now. I'm sure of the millions and millions of people visiting my page for my superior expertise on all things political and "other" in the world... Oh yeah, I always forget to mention my rocket scientist credentials (RIP Yvonne Brill) I'm also well versed in every language ever created... and I can occasionally run a pool table while chewing gum.

Feel the Bern.

I'm not sure what the folks at The Week magazine will want to focus on for the cover this week, but it seems a lot of attention has been going to Trump these past few months. I'm aggravated by that. Trump the business man I was more or less indifferent to. But as a politician, he's freak'n scary! I never thought a non career politician would have been so awful. But what Trump's run for office really shows in all it's bluntness is this is what all the other politicians are, and that is the political rep for the wealthiest corporations in America. Take Hillary, donors to her super PACs are throwing in million dollar checks. I'm sure they expect some access to the president if she wins. She might as well wear the company logo on her "president" name-tag. All but Bernie Sanders has a super PAC. Trump has probably donated to several of these super PACs even now to protect his business interests.

I predict Trump will be a footnote by the 2nd or 3rd primary once the real campaigning kick in. Not because I think he's the worst person to be running for president of the group, but because going by past elections, the unorthodox guy who is going strong early usually isn't the one that we see getting the nomination. I still have a nagging feeling the fix will go down and we'll have a Bush vs Clinton choice in November. At least things will "only" continue into a downward spiral.