The editorial cartoon “Loaded Rhetoric” by Pat Bagley is exactly the opposite of President Biden’s statement to turn down the rhetoric. It is no big reveal that Bagley has some interesting, if not crude, ways to message the public with his picture commentaries. In light of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the death of a father and wounding of two others on July 13, to allow a cartoon of the former president surrounded by guns seems a bit rushed to demean what tragically occurred in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The most dangerous part of the cartoon is the image of the bullet hitting Trump’s ear and bouncing off. The caption is “Ping!” That’s the interpretation of that event? A minor little hit a fraction from someone’s brain? Another man was permanently “pinged” and two others are still fighting to recover from their wounds.
There would be no other person in this same situation that Bagley would have drawn like this.
It is the continuing hateful advances of some people to destroy anyone with different views. The Tribune is printing story after story about how the American people need to realign their thinking in this tragic political environment. And yet, they give full permission to someone representing The Tribune, not a full three days after an assassination attempt and innocent people killed and wounded, to make light of a tragic, horrific event.
I suggest Bagley be removed from his position due to continued attacks of poor taste and lack of any understanding of innocent suffering when it suits him. “Ping” him with a pink slip.
Molly McDonald, Salt Lake City