Editorial cartoons are part of the fabric of American politics, with Founding Father Benjamin Franklin credited with the first — a depiction of the colonies as a segmented snake labeled “Join, or Die” in 1754.
Tennessee Lookout cartoonist John Cole carries on the tradition, using humor and satire to skewer Tennessee politicians and policies. Frequent targets in 2023 included the Tennessee General Assembly as a body and individual members, including Speaker Cameron Sexton. Cole also addressed the legislature’s penchant for passing laws later ruled unconstitutional, police violence and the failure of the Tennessee Department of Education and of the Department of Human Services to respectively roll out a third-grade retention plan successfully or to ensure families needing food assistance were able to access it.
We share a handful of our favorites from 2023 and look forward to seeing what 2024 brings.
January 18: Tennessee Republicans filed a bill to cut Nashville’s Metro Council in half, from 40 members to 20. The measure passed but a judge put it on hold, ruling that the 2023 municipal elections would be for 40 council members. The loss was the first of several in the judicial system for the GOP.
February 8: Following the beating death of Tyre Nichols by Memphis police officers, Cole depicted the Grim Reaper fist-bumping a Memphis cop.
March 8: During a House subcommittee meeting on methods of capital punishment, Rep. Paul Sherrell, R-Sparta, suggested bringing back hanging. The statement conjured up Tennessee history of lynchings of Black people and Sherrell was taken to task by Democrats.
March 15: Cole melded two political scandals, after photos of Gov. Bill Lee dressed as a cheerleader in high school surfaced after he signed a bill banning some drag shows, and texts messages revealed Lt. Gov. Randy McNally was responding to Instagram posts of a nearly nude young gay man.
April 12: House Speaker Cameron Sexton led the expulsion of Democratic Reps. Justin J. Pearson of Memphis and Justin Jones of Nashville in an attempt to shut down gun-safety protests — but his actions drew national media coverage that lasted for months.
May 24: The enactment of a new law that would retain third-graders who didn’t score at a certain percentile on the state’s TCAP assessment resulted in chaos.
July 26: Cole depicted Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti as a dung beetle, rolling up an increasing number of lawsuits against the state — most of which the state lost.
October 11: Gabrielle Hanson, a member of Franklin, Tenn.’s board of mayor and aldermen and a candidate for mayor, invited members of an admitted Neo-Nazi group to serve as her “protection” at an Oct. 2 candidate forum. Incumbent Mayor Ken Moore defeated Hanson 80%-20%.
November 8: With state tax revenue growth predicted to stagnate, Cole depicted Gov. Bill Lee, House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally contemplating a shrunken Thanksgiving budget turkey.
November 17: Deposed U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy elbowed U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee’s Second Congressional District in the side while Burchett was conducting an interview, leading to a confrontation in the U.S. Capitol. Burchett was one of a handful of Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy.
December 20: Cole depicted the Tennessee Department of Human Services as the Grinch after thousands of families seeking food assistance were stuck in a months-long backlog this holiday season, courtesy of computer problems.
This article in this post was originally published on Tennessee Lookout and parts of it are included here under a Creative Commons license CC BY-ND 4.0
