Robert Matson is likely used to controversy. Being a political cartoonist, any topic of the day is going to be upsetting to one side of the political aisle or the other.
But he really went overboard in getting people riled up today.
On this, the 17th anniversary of the tragedy of 9/11 in which thousands of Americans were killed in a terrorist attack, Matson made an ill-advised comparison with Russian election meddling.
Not only did he make the comparison, but he illustrated it with a stark and rather shocking visual – a plane, heading on a collision course with two ballot boxes that look exactly like the Twin Towers once did.
What an astonishingly tone-deaf effort.
This is – in a word – disgusting.
Capitol Ink | Never Forget https://t.co/xn5YEntAul via @RollCall
— Rusty Weiss 🤔🇺🇸 (@rustyweiss74) September 11, 2018
The Matson cartoon features no caption nor description or message. Just a two-word title: Never Forget.
If you think election interference, which has taken place long before Donald Trump ever announced his candidacy, is vaguely comparable to an attack that killed nearly 3,000 people, and an aftermath including cancer-related deaths set to exceed that amount years later, then you’ve already forgotten.
Interestingly, Matson seems to have avoided producing a political cartoon on the last two anniversaries of 9/11. He should have sat this one out, too.
Compare that to cartoonist AF Branco, who graced us with this touching effort that shows there’s still a hole in the heart of the city without the World Trade Center buildings.
A.F. Branco – September 11, 2018, Still Remembering 9/11 https://t.co/IWTaOeExAA via @afbranco #911Memorial pic.twitter.com/ftJseDtynt
— A.F. Branco Cartoons (@afbranco) September 11, 2018
Matson is far from the only deluded anti-Trumper to let his emotions get the best of him.
Senator Angus King made the same comparison at an actual 9/11 memorial ceremony in his home state of Maine.
“That was, I would argue, the beginning of an attack that’s continuing today,” King said at the solemn event. “They used airplanes into towers. Now people can use the click of a computer key in St. Petersburg, Russia, to attack.”
He then reemphasized that point saying, “It’s the same kind of attack today that we heard in 2001.”
That is weapons-grade stupidity.
First of all, there is no path from 9/11 to alleged Russian meddling no matter how many lines or diagrams are drawn. Second, you can’t click a computer key and launch a terrorist attack. Third, even if you believe Russian bot farms and Facebook ads affected the 2016 election, it’s still not quite the same result as watching four planes bring down two towers, the Pentagon, and leave a smoldering hole in a Pennsylvania field.
WATCH: Sen. Angus King compares Sept. 11 attacks to Russian hackers while speaking at a 9/11 Remembrance event in Lewiston, Maine. pic.twitter.com/WUtJxJVv5c
— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) September 11, 2018
For all of the current talk about the 25th Amendment, I would say any comparison between the 2016 election and 9/11 is a sure sign of mental illness. Mr. King needs an evaluation.
Former Senator Harry Reid has also previously compared Russian hacking to the attacks of 9/11.
“I think this is as big a deal as Watergate, as 9/11,” Reid said. “I think they should have a 9/11-type commission.”
They should have a commission alright, one to evaluate what is – or is not – in the head of people so upset by President Trump’s very existence, that they think this is an okay comparison.
