Give Those Nymphs Some HOOTERS!

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Summary: Trudeau deals with Poppy Bush, the Donald and an Ink Spill
Review: This collection of "Doonesbury" daily cartoons is from 1989, otherwise known as the first year of the George Bush administration. You might not remember what happened that year, but G. B. Trudeau and his political cartoonist colleagues announced a "Cartoonists Honeymoon Week" during which they pledged not to ridicule the new president for seven days, to give him a chance to "get a grip on the vision thing," and a way of "formally thanking him for Dan Quayle." Actually, Trudeau goes pretty easy on the new Vice-President (compare these strips with the political cartoons Pat Oliphant did during this same period collected in "What Those People Need Is a Puppy!"

However, it is Donald Trump who gets to be the cover boy on "Give Those Nymphs Some Hooters!" as "The Donald" becomes as frequent a target as the new President and the various scandals of the new administration (remember John Tower, Jack Kemp, and Ethics Czar C. Boyden Gray?). However, the real dynamic here is what is happening in the Doonesbury household. J.J. is lured by big bucks to paint neo-rocco murals on the Trump yacht (done in the style of Picasso or Michelangelo--one of those famous guys), while Mike has to put together an ad campaign to get children to smoke for R.J. Reynolds. Mike's compromised imagination gives birth to the reprehensible "Mr. Butts," but J.J. is not to be undone, giving birth on cable television to the child who brings her and Mike back together (at least for the moment). Good thing Zonker is there to help as their nanny.

Remember, these are the cartoons that Donald Trump himself could not understand and declared to be "mediocre at best," drawn by a man who White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said "glorifies drugs." Trudeau is also dissed by Second Lady Marily Quayle and David B. Fishel, R.J. Reynolds spokesman on the back cover. My favorite strips are the week that the strip suffered a horrible INK SPILL! All this goes to remind us that "Doonesbury" has been America's most controversial comic strip artist and that if Trudeau does not have people totally outraged by what he does it would not be "Doonesbury."