Disney, the parent company of ABC, suspended talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel last week over comments he made about the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Editorial cartoonist Nick Anderson leads this week’s gallery by depicting the edifice of free speech as crumbling and on fire.
Jack Ohman picks up the theme with his view that President Donald Trump considers his own words free speech, while what others say is hate speech. Dana Summers highlights people on the left speaking ill of Kirk while also urging people on the right to “tone down its hateful rhetoric.” Drew Sheneman’s cast of Disney characters gets a lesson in boot-licking from Mickey Mouse. Jack Ohman sees Vice President JD Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller as raptors and the First Amendment as prey. Mike Luckovich’s court jesters stand on the unemployment line with the caption, “When the king can’t take a joke.” Others comment on political violence, gun culture, polarization and social media.
Vaccines were in the news again. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory board, with members newly appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., voted change the childhood vaccination schedule for measles. Walt Handelsman views the meeting as a “superspreader event” encouraging the spread of communicable diseases. Anderson draws Kennedy at the wheel of a school bus careening down a cliff toward “preventable deaths.”
Other topics in this week’s gallery include a TikTok deal with China; a new book by Kamala Harris about her failed presidential campaign; and the death of screen legend Robert Redford.
Cartoons were drawn by Jack Ohman, Nick Anderson, Bill Bramhall, Dana Summers, Drew Sheneman, Scott Stantis, Walt Handelsman, David Horsey, Phil Hands, Joel Pett and Joey Weatherford of Tribune Content Agency; and Mike Luckovich and Michael Ramirez of Creators Syndicate.