ABOUT M. SOARES
Equal-opportunity irritation.
If somebody in politics does something ridiculous, the party label is not going to save them.
Five years in Washington was plenty.
M. Soares lived and worked in Washington, D.C. for five years. That was long enough to see politics up close — and long enough to develop a lasting distrust of people who decide public office should be a permanent occupation.
Politically homeless by choice
For most of his life, Soares was a Democrat. These days he prefers independent. The reason is not mysterious: he thinks Democrats have an extraordinary talent for fighting among themselves at precisely the moment they might otherwise be able to win.
Progressive, moderate, establishment, insurgent — none of those labels earns immunity here. If Democrats start doing things as dumb as Trump, they get a cartoon too. Trump simply has a remarkable habit of keeping the calendar full.
Term limits would ruin the business model
Soares’ working assumption is that long-term politicians eventually learn to lie for a living. The ones who leave after a term may still disappoint him; the ones who stay for decades begin with a credibility deficit.
The cartoons are not designed to defend a party. They are designed to make fun of power, vanity, hypocrisy, self-dealing, bad judgment and the kind of sentence that makes you wonder whether a microphone should have an emergency shutoff switch.
“A cartoon should make the point before you finish laughing.”
And yes, he wants you to buy stuff
There is no tortured artistic manifesto here. If a cartoon makes you laugh and you want it on a mug, print or something equally unnecessary, excellent.
Make America Pay Again
Wouldn’t you love a “Make America Pay Again” mug? Soares would love you to love one. Preferably enough to buy it.
See what’s coming