The status of federal workers fired by Elon Musk’s cost-cutting initiative remained in flux last week. Two federal judges issued court orders reversing the terminations but workers remained on administrative leave while the Trump administration appeals.
Editorial cartoonist Dana Summers comments on the precarity of federal employment by drawing a mission control specialist telling the Space X rescue crew: “I have a message from Elon … You’re all fired. Just kidding.”
David Horsey imagines a scene from the French revolution, with Social Security facing the guillotine. Walt Handelsman notes Trump’s silencing of the Voice of America. Drew Sheneman comes up with a new mission statement for the dismantled Department of Education.
Meanwhile, Musk took it on the chin from critics who are selling their Teslas and demonstrating at car lots. Steve Breen, Michael Ramirez, Mike Luckovich and Summers offer varying views of the boycott.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, also was on the hot seat for his vote for the continuing budget resolution that prevented a government shutdown. Schumer postponed a book tour over “security concerns.” Jack Ohman thinks he just doesn’t want to hear from angry liberals. In a riff on James Montgomery Flagg’s World War I recruiting poster, Bill Bramhall’s Uncle Sam tells Democrats: “I want you to get your act together.”
Other news events in this week’s gallery include the Trump administration’s deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members to prison in El Salvador; Trump bracketology; and the release of more files relating to the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Cartoons were drawn by Jack Ohman, Nick Anderson, Bill Bramhall, Dana Summers, Drew Sheneman, Scott Stantis, Walt Handelsman, David Horsey, Joel Pett and Joey Weatherford of Tribune Content Agency; and Mike Luckovich, Steve Breen and Michael Ramirez of Creators Syndicate.
Editorial cartoons for March 16, 2025: Stock selloff, seesaw tariffs, Tesla backlashEditorial cartoons for March 9, 2025: Tariff whiplash, Trump speech, Ukraine ruptureEditorial cartoons for March 2, 2025: More DOGE cuts; Ukraine’s minerals; measles outbreakEditorial cartoons for Feb. 23, 2025: Trump’s Ukraine U-turn, Musk’s spending cutsEditorial cartoons for Feb. 16, 2025: DOGE’s bite, executive power, Valentine’s Day