The Transition Era; Part 6: Muir Prepares To Lash Out At An Old Foe.

As the thin pretense of DbD being a gag strip with some politics continued to give way during this period, we will find ourselves dealing with politics more and more in the personal lives of the characters. Not quite to the 'We are besties with President Trump" level of later years, but... more. Increasingly plots were going to be driven by what was happening in politics--or what Muir perceived as happening. Which makes this an excellent spot to look both back and ahead at a figure who Muir would be preoccupied with for much of the opening months of 2008.

The Clintons have always held a position of extreme hatred in Muir's mental universe. For a man who seems to have latched onto the political Right early in his life, they represented the unraveling of what had been the axiom of most of his life, the almost effortless dominance of the presidency by Republican Party. For Muir, a majority of the nation deciding they wanted to move on from Reaganism was not simply the world changing, it was a betrayal of the natural order, and possibly a conspiracy. And this was something he still had bitter feelings about from the very start of the strip.

However, Bill Clinton was not Muir's primary target of the pair, even in the early days. While Muir would snarl about the man every now and then, he seemed to understand the man was old news. Oh, he saw Bill as a permanent stain on the nation, but still, one whose time had passed, and whose designated successor had been thwarted by the glorious, sure-footed political hand of Dubya. An evil but--again, in the early days--a defeated evil. But Hillary... she was another matter.

Hillary was in the Senate, and still had an ongoing political career. She was regularly ventured as a potential presidential candidate in political commentary. And she had been just viciously disliked by the Republicans during Bill's presidency, the subject of even more grotesque rumors and conspiracy theories than her husband. All things Muir had absorbed like a sponge. Now Muir wouldn't delve deeply into that particular brand of crazy during the Mystery Business(tm) Era or the early periods of the Transition Era. Again, getting published was always the goal at this stage, and those accusations were not something that even a sympathetic paper would let you mention in a comic. But this was something that was going to lurk in the background, even then. On top of which, Muir's misogyny may not reached its present fever pitch, but it was there.

And so, the Clintons were featured quite a bit in the early years, and they were among the few Democrats to get some actual level of characterization, to be something other than a name attached to a generic caricature of Muir's interchangeable dimwitted Democrat crooks. Now, neither was a deep characterization. In fact, both were at heart just nastier versions of the pop culture slams of the pair, Bill as a corrupt degenerate horndog, and Hillary as a cold, ambitious, mannish shrew. But DbD's take on Hillary had something extra in it. 

Muir genuinely tended to see Hillary as the 'boss' of the Democratic Party, and this produced something somewhat fascinating. It was not something he showed with any nuance--Muir was fairly ignorant as to how the Republicans ran as a party, much less the Democrats. No, Hillary was generally played with the energy of a 1980s' Saturday morning cartoon "boss" villain. Somewhat cleverer and more dangerous than the minions, who she treated with boundless contempt, but still fundamentally a clod created to lose. Muir was already setting the scene to it again in 2007, as the Mystery Business(tm) Era wrapped up, and was keeping it going as the Transition Era started, as he prepared for the 2008 presidential election...

"The Tsar Has Those Of The Tainted Blood Around Him!"

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Perils of the Wild.

...

I see Muir is already picking his scapegoat in the Administration, and gosh, it's the Jewish son-in-law. It's astonishing how much of an out-and-out Nazi he's become, while imagining himself to be something that isn't.

"Now Hurry Up! I've Got To Speak To The Degenerate Gender Studies Class At JMS In An Hour!"

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Great Circus Mystery.

As usual in these cases, several days of feeling angry at the Administration have shifted to Muir finding a way to transfer his anger to his imaginary cabal of leftists. Because otherwise, Muir might have to admit he was wrong about something.

But hey, he's back to trying to make Teeter happen.

The Imaginary Victories Are Getting Damn Hard To Parse.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Fighting Ranger.

...

The most amusing part is that Muir thinks this comes off as such a big win, but Mamdani has been listening to Trump spew anti-Muslim bullshit this entire time like a deranged racist grandpa at Thanksgiving. Or he would have if there was any actual continuity in this entire sequence of strips, but again, Trump and Schumer are having problems staying consistent in their personalities and goals throughout. And I don't mean between strips. I don't even mean between panels. I mean between lines.

Muir Clearly Doesn't Realize That Trump Is A Total Broadway Fan.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Fast Express.

You know, moving past the vicious, incoherent anti-Muslim rhetoric, and you have a classic bit for DbD, where Muir is trying to write the fictional versions of politicians in his head as if they were real, except he has multiple versions of them and he can't keep them straight. And so not only do Today-Trump and Today-Schumer contradict how they were acting yesterday, they even change behaviors mid-conversation in this strip.

"And Then HE WOULD CRY!"

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Steel Trail.

And here is Muir at his most pathetic, ignoring the blatant efforts to subvert the Constitution the man he's presently following, shrieking that reforms to correct institutions that he and his have thoroughly corrupted and turned into threats are betraying the government and writing a sad little cartoon where the target subjected to this imbecilic harangue just quivers and gives up, for who can resist this transcendent truth?

Again, simply pathetic.

"Just Gotta Purge Those Elitist Upper Class Race Traitors! Nip Things In The Blood--I Mean, Bud!"

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because In the Days of Daniel Boone.

...

...

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The most pathetic thing about this vile bullshit is it's clear Muir doesn't actually know what the Frankfurt School is, he just imagines he does.

The Evil Conspiracy Of Evil Always Be Pervin'. As Opposed To Our Heroes Who... LOOK OVER THERE!

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Elmo the Mighty.

There is something bleakly comic about how the endless accusations of how the cast are being victimized by the perv-elite have gradually risen through the ranks.

That and how Muir doesn't seem to realize the inherent hypocrisy and projection in the charge. Once again, when he imagines a bad guy, he pretty much imagines himself.

Astonishingly, Muir Is Sure Everything Was Great When Muir Was A Kid.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Red Ace.

And Muir once again demonstrates that Sam is now on Marvel's comic time, where her age can vary wildly from strip to strip. Of course, we've seen Muir wax sentimental about the 1970s before, the era where he was a kid--but an old enough kid to have some freedom. And by the time he stopped being a kid during it, Jimmy Carter was in charge, so Muir could tell himself all the bad things were his fault. Because, obviously, this is a stunningly simplistic, naive, even incorrect summation of the 1970s.

Another thing poking out is that Muir misses large swathes of what the society of the New Deal built that his people have been working to destroy. But he can't accept that, so he has to tell himself that it was great despite all that "socialism" and also, if we bring back the racism, things will be good again. Hence his continued allegiance to the people trying to do that, despite the fact that they keep failing.

To quote, Dylan, only a pawn in their game.

Apparently, Muir Just Wanted To Draw Some Planes.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Jungle Goddess.

As we look at this lazy little cartoon, let's all savor the fact that these days you don't even have to wait a comic or two for Muir's declaration of how very much Nazis the Democrats are to be ironically undercut by him using Nazi-style rhetoric. 

These days, it usually follows in a panel or two.

He Is A Whiny Man... He Remains A Whiny Man.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Fighting Trail.

As always, there's something bleakly amusing when Muir trots out the tropes of Nazi propaganda while not realizing he's doing it.

Oh, and having his 'deep blue leviathan' be black while attacking a blue ship?

Chef's kiss. No notes.

He Thinks This Shows How Insightful He Is.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Blazing the Overland Trail.

Has he mentioned he thinks letting non-whites live here is treason? Because he thinks that.

Muir Isn't Jealous Of The Decadent Cosmopolitans! Don't You Ever Think That!

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because King of the Congo.

Every now and then, Muir makes a cartoon that underlines there's a tiny part of him, somewhere, that knows he's a fucking parody of humanity hating on people who are better than him, and desperately telling himself that the absolute garbage he's allied with are the champions he's saying they are no matter how many times they keep demonstrating that nope, wrong again.

And that tiny part makes the part of him that honestly believes this bullshit worse.

Muir Doesn't Understand What's Happening, But He Read A Summary, And It's Got His Blood Pumping.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere.

And we get the usual 'All socialism is totalitarian communism' bullshit, the 'Democrats have always been communists' bullshit, the 'Muir appropriating a piece of pop culture he misunderstands' bullshit, and the 'Muir dreaming about a civil war because he thinks it can only result in his sort smashing inferior leftist heads' bullshit. All pretty typical. Still, we do get an interesting variation of Muir almost certainly regurgitating someone else's bile and not realizing the implications.

Coming out against the 1848 revolutions in the 21st century. Well, we all knew Muir was turning on actual democracy and leaning towards monarchy, but it always clarifies things when he comes out and says it. Even if he doesn't realize that's what he's saying.

"Waaah! They Have To Be Cheating!"

 It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Jack Armstrong.

You know, this is a fascinating multi-level fail right here. Aside from the 'So the California Democrats will cheat to push out a Republican Mayoral candidate, but not a Republican Gubernatorial candidate" bit, he's failing to consider that if Pratt had gotten in, he would have then had to win... the actual election.

But then, anything that let's Muir whine and scream that it isn't fair, and the other guys are cheating.

Next, She'll Tell Him How Great He Looks.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Desert Hawk.

And once again, delusion and utter sycophancy is the sign of a great reporter in Muir's mind. At least, if the government is a fascist trainwreck. Anyone else must see you trying to hurl crazyshit against the wall to see if it will stick.

Who Is Even Talking In The First Panel?

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Secret Code.

Ahh, yes, the Muir Standard--a declaration of Left Wing principles can ONLY be the pretext for corrupt betrayal based on... whatever the hell idiocy's he's reading at the moment, distorted further by his warped mind. It's made him the self-declared champion of the common man who champions the common man taking it in the neck, and a so-called enemy of corruption who has to come up with elaborate conspiracy theories to explain how his heroes only look like they're corrupt.

And he never learns, and he never changes.

The 'Accusation As Confession' Has Peaked.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Deadwood Dick.

... 

He pulls this one as Trump tries to set up a slush fund and ban the IRS from looking into his family funds, and oh, yes, has the entire war with Iran going on.

...

Ugh.

This Has To Be True! He So Wants It To Be!

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Terry and the Pirates.

Remember when Muir was screaming that prosecuting people who committed actual crimes was evil and oppressive?

Projecting as usual, the fascist filth.

Of course in the real world, the Trump DoJ has proven useless at doing anything but settling with... yep, Trump. But Muir knows they have to be just... waiting, and soon they'll unleash legal fury against the Democrats and their Evil Conspiracy of Evil.

And The Begging Bowl Appears Early.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Jungle Menace.

As we see Muir doing the usual bit where he insists that he and his are somehow the bold rebels despite literally holding power at the moment, and applauding things like the VRA getting gutted because anything that balances the scales has to be an evil, corrupt conspiracy against the natural order of dumb white guys feeling like they're better off, let's note the begging bowl.

Two weeks before it came out last year--where it came out early. Of course, it also made an even earlier appearance last year, and then vanished to come out a bit later, so let's see how it goes.