Shhhh. Don’t tell anyone, but I put something naughty in my illustration for the Wall St. Journal this week.
I was tasked this week with illustrating a piece for the Globalist rag, also known as The Wall Street Journal. I always say yes to an assignment when my agent calls before I even read the script. You can’t turn down opportunities in this game. Upon reading the article, I was struck by, but not surprised at, what a shoddy and ham-fisted piece of anti-American propaganda it was. I considered dropping out, but I’m a pro and had already committed. The piece is completely one-sided, breaking a basic rule of journalistic integrity. Every quote is by an intelligence agent or Trump-hater working for an N.G.O. Not a single word from a spokesperson from the administration. I took the assignment but decided to infuse the art with subtle subversion for the sake of my conscience. Chalk it up as another of my many thought crimes. Arrest me. Xi might actually have me on a list if he ever gets wind of it.
I have mentored many Chinese students, and they are all amazed at the graphic vitriol aimed at Trump by political artists. They know that if they even mildly criticized Xi in visual or written form, they would be visited by the secret police and be taken into custody for interrogation and much worse. Their families might also face such a fate. The interesting cultural difference is that the Chinese people agree with these draconian policies. Many of them look at attacks on The Motherland as an insult to all Chinese people. We have a very different way of looking at it. Thank God I live in a comparatively free society where I am free to speak truth to power. Sometimes. I have been banned, censored, and shunned, but not arrested yet.
Quotes From the piece:
"Trump doesn’t share the values that we have shared with every single one of his predecessors, Republican or Democrat, for over 80 years. And he doesn’t even pretend to share them.”
-Is he referring to the old values of dismantling Western Civilization and turning young Americans into self-loathing depressives who increasingly see suicide as the only way forward in a world designed for them to fail? The system of endless wars based on lies, economic ruin for the middle class, societal crisis, and decay? THAT wonderful system he loves so much can rot in Hell, and I’m not pretending to share these values either.
"China, which retaliated against the U.S. with tariffs of its own, has already seized the occasion to fill in some of the gaps left by the dismantling of USAID."
-USAID was a corrupt money laundering, grift and looting operation wasting tax dollars on an epic scale. It makes sense that China wants to fill the void in the dark wake left in its absence.
"Chinese foreign ministry has contrasted with what it described as Washington’s “unilateral bullying practice.” While countries around the world are skeptical of Chinese intentions, that language is far more appealing than Washington's new demands to submit and pay tribute."
-Yes, Xi is such a swell guy. I’m sure his intentions are noble. Just ask the Uyghurs.
“China will continue to do the right thing. It wants to tell the whole world that trade is the enabler of mankind as a whole and that each country needs to come up with its own way of development,” said Victor Gao, vice president of the Center for China and Globalization think-tank in Beijing.
Those Chinese thinktank guys certainly want what’s best for humanity.
"Beijing is already beginning to replace the U.S. in some critical projects that were stopped following Trump’s decision to disband USAID, American military commanders warn."
-US military commanders siding with China. Makes sense.
“The more we go down the path of upsetting the international order, and in particular our allies and partners, the more they are going to have to try to find alternatives – and there really are very few alternatives, with China being the main one,” said Derek Grossman, professor of public policy at the RAND School of Public Policy and a former U.S. intelligence official."
-This admitted spook (The Rand School has been involved in much of the global crime sprees of the last 50 years.) has bet against the U.S. and is working hard to undermine American interests and hegemony. In other words, he is doing his traitorous job.
“America is defecting from a system that has worked pretty well for everybody, and particularly well for U.S. allies,” said Jeremy Shapiro, research director at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
-The CFR knows what’s best for us. Just shut up and listen to them. They never let us down.
The average unemployed, suffering American barely scraping by in Rust Belt/Fly-Over country might disagree with this CFR minion’s assessment. I guess he means the system "has worked pretty well" for HIM and his patrons at the great expense of the US.
Can you spot my subversive commentary? Just as Trump’s red power tie sends a no-nonsense businessman signal, Xi’s tie displays a symbolic representation of his agenda. I had to make it subtle to pass the censors, but you see it, right?
Please follow Anthony Freda on Instagram here
