"Sigh of relief"...

The Head Boy is back to sort out the Playground, with a whole new posse around him.

My time with the communist daily newspaper, the Morning Star, (2015 - 2020) coincided with the rise and fall of two extraordinary politicians on opposite sides of the Pond.

Very different from each other, but both able to command total devotion and loyalty from their supporters: Donald Trump and Jeremy Corbyn.

As far apart politically as it's possible to be, they had one thing in common: they were both God's gift to cartoonists everywhere! (That's if you believe in a Deity, I'll get to that).

As I quickly became the newspaper's principal cartoonist, the editors welcomed my cartoons, which illustrated their own support for Corbyn…

…and their condemnation of his enemies, the most viscous of whom were within his own Parliamentary Labour party!

However, there were lines in the sand their contributors could not cross, and we all knew what they were. The biggest No-No was “Chy-na” (as Trump calls it). We couldn't produce cartoons or articles critical of ANY communist regimes abroad.

Nor, of course, could we express any hint of admiration for the demonized Trump.

Apart from a few gentle digs at the crazy “Russia, Russia, Russia” accusations. This one made it past the Morning Star censor:

But this one had no chance! I had to wait to self-publish my own book* at the end of 2020, after my cancellation, to include it!

Expressing liking for Trump, questioning the constant slurs against him, even whispering that you quite liked his policies (I mean, “peace in the Middle East” is quite a good one), were all social suicide. There were NO political cartoonists in Britain openly supporting Trump. It would have been career-ending to try.

There was one thing he and Corbyn had in common, besides their charisma and tribal loyalty - the constant knifing-in-the-back from their own side, from day one of their leadership.

Corbyn couldn't survive the onslaught, and now sits in Parliament as an Independent, banished forever from the party he served as an MP for 37 years. The saying which we “Not Far-Right, just Right-So-Far” people use a lot nowadays is “I didn't leave the Left, the Left left me”.

That's certainly true of Corbyn, who never diluted his Socialism; except for allowing himself to be bullied, as party leader, into first sitting on the fence over Brexit, then being pro-EU; a position which implicitly agreed with the mass immigration introduced by his (emphatically non-socialist) predecessor, Tony Blair.

There are two Socialist principles which those of us Leftys who have stayed put still hold, while the entire political establishment has turned sharp Globalist and retreated over the hill: anti-mass immigration, legal and illegal, (because of it's effect on wages, housing, health, and infrastructure for working people); and protecting and promoting Women's Rights.

It was my support for that latter principle which earned me my cancellation from the Morning Star, which some of you may know about! Here's the cartoon for which the TUC forced the paper to cancel me and publicly apologise for, by threatening to defund them!

These two seemingly never-ending struggles (against mass-immigration, and for Women's Rights) are entirely Class-based.

This the “masses” understand, as they have now demonstrated in spectacular fashion. -In Britain by the Brexit Referendum vote in 2016, and in America, three days ago, by their historical re-electing of President Donald Trump.

Disgust with the corrupt Biden administration: their unsecured border, the drugs epidemic, Biden abandoning Afghanistan, “it's the Economy, stupid”, and not least, the Trans-Ideological assault on women and the family; all inspired American voters to say “enough is enough".

Trump has cannily surrounded himself with a posse of cross-party figures, including Democrats like RFK, and people who have previously banned and repudiated him (Elon Musk, Megyn Kelly). Many wavering voters were reassured.

Years of boots-on-the-ground electioneering by young MAGA campaigners like Charlie Kirk in the Universities, has also played a huge part.

But there's another reason Trump is back.

I haven't seen any commentator mention the Faith which motivated so many voters to get off the couch and go to vote.

But I've seen numerous short videos on social media, of Americans making it very clear that they genuinely believe God saved Trump from the assassin's bullet, as a message to them to get out there, and make him President again.

As an English Atheist pagan myself, it's hard for me to understand. It's a constant surprise that the biggest secular country on Earth is so religious!

But AS an Atheist/pagan, I honour the Judeo-Christian tradition I've grown up in. (You didn't steal our pagan sites - you're just borrowing them for a while)!

Trump himself mentioned God at all his rallies. I wrote a substack about his “miracle escape":

https://search.app?link=https%3A%2F%2Fradicalcartoons.substack.com%2Fp%2Fsaved-by-who&utm_campaign=aga&utm_source=agsadl2%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4

So my lasting memory from his campaign is this. Shortly after his victory speech to his supporters, around 5am on 6th November, they decided to have a little sing-song.

And not the sort of singing you would expect at the successful conclusion of a political campaign here, on this side of the Pond.

“America the Beautiful”? No. “YMCA"? (The signature tune at Trump's rallies)? No. It was this - “How Great Thou Art”. (hope you can play it from this link).

https://search.app?link=https%3A%2F%2Fgettr.com%2Fpost%2Fp3d8upsdedb&utm_campaign=aga&utm_source=agsadl2%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4

* My book, “2020, The Year We Were All Cancelled” is still available on Amazon and other online bookstores.

See my artwork at radicalcartoons.com and follow me on GETTR and spinster.xyz