‘Toon & Text by John Auchter
It’s getting to be an archaic reference, so for you kids out there: Back in 1975 when Gerald Ford was president, upon arrival on a trip to Austria he stumbled down the stairway when exiting Air Force One. (Additional note: Back then it was normal to get off a plane and walk down steps to the tarmac, not a walkway connected to the terminal. I know, primitive.) He had some other mishaps caught on video tape — an avid golfer, on a couple of occasions he sent errant shots into galleries. But what really cemented the clumsy reputation was the first season of Saturday Night Live in which breakout star Chevy Chase played Ford as a bumbling, stumbling idiot.
As the woman in my cartoon said, Ford was a little incredulous about all this (he was a college football star at the University of Michigan and probably the most athletic president we’ve ever had), but he handled it with grace and humor. In fact in 1986 he hosted a symposium at his new presidential museum in Grand Rapids titled, “Humor and the Presidency.” Not only did he invite Chase, but he also invited columnists and editorial cartoonists, including Pat Oliphant who had mercilessly drawn Ford throughout his presidency with an oversized cranium and a band-aid or two prominently on the forehead. Ford was nothing but genuinely charming about it all.
So my cartoon isn’t entirely accurate. (One more additional note: Most of them aren’t.) Another shared trait between Gerald Ford and Donald Trump is that they are both flawed. Obviously the nature of the flaws matters a great deal. But maybe what matters even more is what is done with those flaws. When you fall down, do you get back up, learn from your mistake, and move forward with thoughtfulness and graciousness? Or are you Donald Trump?
(By the way, it was not a flaw but an honor that Ford was never actually elected president — he was appointed Vice President when Spiro Agnew resigned and then President when Richard Nixon resigned. Which is also a pretty good reminder that American politics have always been a least a little screwed up.)
John Auchter draws cartoons. Lots and lots of them. You can find them at his incredibly popular website auchtoon.com.
I just got back from Greece. Flew home to the Gerald R. Ford Airport. People in Greece asked us about Mr. Trump. We said we would try to move to Greece if Mr. Trump makes it to the White House. I believe Ford had no chance of being elected President. Many Americans perceived him as Nixon’s creature. They were wrong. Still, we got Jimmy Carter instead, not such a bad President.
And… Mr. Heller, is it not time to start complaining about Daylight Saving Time again? Let’s revive the anti-DST movement. Every morning in West Mich. is dark, dark this time of year, with no relief for three weeks.
You know me — I never stop complaining. I’ve made a living at it! So, yes, it will soon be time.
If Nixon did only one thing right it was appointing Ford, few men could have stood up to the scrutiny that followed and kept their sense of humor. Ford was never bitter about losing to Carter, he knew he sort of fell on the sword for his party. That may be another thing Ford has in common with Trump, I don’t think either had any reasonable expectations to win the election.
Trump is not fit to shine Gerald Ford’s shoes. He’s a blowhard buffoon.
Count the character flaws of Donald Trump. He is:
an asinine australopithecine
foolish and childish
mad and sad
inane with no shame
moronic and idiotic
ludicrous, ridiculous, and preposterous
daft and needs a skin graft
and is totally like an absurd turd.