IS IT OK TO FIND HUMOR IN A SERIOUS SITUATION?

If you know me, you know my humor, and you know that I find it everywhere. I published a book of cartoons, trumpery: some clowns just aren't funny, in which I make fun of the President of the United States and his family and his Republican supporters. Some, if not all the targets of the cartoons are serious matters, and yet I found humor in them. 

I firmly believe that laughter is good, it is a release, it helps us deal with the serious and tragic moments. Certainly, there are times when a joke is not appropriate, and a humorist is usually aware of these. There are, and have been, comics who purposefully tell jokes deemed inappropriate by large numbers of people; however, this is their point. 

And so today I offer another cartoon in my trumpery series. There was a moment of monumental humor in the midst of a horrible scene a few days ago. Donald Trump, the butt of my jokes, was advised that he should make an appearance outside his bunkered White House to demonstrate to his people that he, well, this is where the humor kicks in; nobody can figure out the purpose of his stunt. The Trump people ordered the police to clear protestors out of Lafayette Park so the POTUS and his entourage of butt kissers could walk from the White House to St. John's Church. The police brutally attacked the peaceful protestors and cleared them from the park. Then Trump and his group walked across to the church where the POTUS posed awkwardly in front of the church and held up a bible (some say it was upside down) for a photo op. And then they went back to the White House. So what was the message? "Hi there, dear supporters. I am your President, and I am holding up a bible in front of a church. Love me." 

A reporter asked Trump if it was his bible. He looked at the book, looked at her, seemingly puzzled by the question, and mumbled: "It's a bible." 

And here is my cartoon:

We are in a time of national crises; a pandemic, cops murdering Black people, many tens of thousands of people in the streets of dozens of American cities protesting these brutal murders and the racism of America. And there was the Clown in Chief, beating up peaceful protestors so he could try some ill-conceived PR stunt that made no sense to anyone. I still find humor when I'm not raging against the machine.

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