Gary Varvel: BEST OF 2023 in cartoons

Plus my essay review of the year's highlights and lowlights

Dec 31, 2023

Thank you for following Varvel’s Views From The Right in 2023. I greatly appreciate you folks who support my work. I couldn’t do this without you.

And welcome to the hundreds who joined this month. We’re glad that you’ve joined the class. Be sure to like and share. It helps my reach.

As we approach this election year, 2024 promises to be the most eventful ever. And as a Christian conservative editorial cartoonist and journalist with over 45 years experience, I will do my best to illustrate the right view of the news with a Biblical perspective that the mainstream media won’t.

2023 CARTOON GALLERY: 33 different cartoons — one every 8 seconds. Sit back and watch the slide show (above) of the craziness that happened in 2023.

YEAR IN REVIEW

January: The Republicans gaveled-in the new Congress by bickering over who was going to be Speaker of the House. After 15 ballots, Kevin McCarthy won the seat, but not for long.

In Biden’s America, the media was excited to see the FBI raid former President Donald Trump’s home to retrieve classified documents. But when Top Secret documents from the time when he was a Senator were discovered in Biden’s garage next to his vintage corvette, the media didn’t seemed concerned. The media also didn’t care that Biden’s son, Hunter was living at the home at the time.

February: A spy balloon floated slowly over our country. It appeared to be from China. Biden had it shot down after it had safely collected enough data, uh I mean, after it traveled out to sea.

A train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio and was leaking toxic chemicals so officials blew it up wafting a toxic mist into the air. Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg assured us that the cleanup crew would be diverse. President Biden never visited the disaster area. I’m sure it was NOT because the town voted for Trump in 2020.

Going Woke: Willy Wonka author Roald Dahl's children's books got a rewrite to make them politically correct. The publisher Puffin scrubbed language it deemed “insensitive” and “non-inclusive.” What’s next? Birthing Parent Water fowl?

March: Dr. Fauci ate some crow after two U.S. intelligence agencies said they believed COVID-19 was the result of a mishap in a Chinese lab, rather than Fauci’s story that it came from a bat in the wet market.

In Biden’s America inflation crushed consumers with price increases costing families an extra $11,400 a year.

Communist Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin have met over 40 times in the past decade but their bromance of evil appears to be getting a lot more dangerous.

Three students and three adults at Covenant Christian School in Nashville, Tennessee were killed by a school shooter who was a former female student who claimed to be transgender.

April: In Biden’s America, democrats used the courts to indict former President Donald Trump. The ploy backfired when Trump’s poll numbers increased. Voters see the trumped-up charges as election interference.

In Biden’s America, smash and grabs have become commonplace causing some businesses in major cities to close or move.

Elon Musk and others voiced a concern over the dangers of AI - Artificial Intelligence.

In a shocking move, Fox News fired Tucker Carlson, their most popular host.

May: When parents complained to their school boards about pornographic materials in school libraries, the left, media and the FBI called them book-banners and domestic terrorists.

Special counsel John Durham concluded his 4-year investigation and found that the FBI should never have launched an investigation into Donald Trump for Russian Collusion. The illegal probe that crippled Trump’s presidency was a hoax paid for by Hillary Clinton. The FBI knew it early on.

In Biden’s Green New Deal America, gas appliances are bad and must be banned.

June: For Pride Month the mainstream media gave us a nauseating diet of stories on Drag Queen Story Hour for children...

President Biden tripped and fell at a graduation ceremony reminding us once again of his age concerns in his reelection campaign.

We learned that Hunter Biden created 20 shell companies that circulate foreign money but don’t provide a service. Curious. When the president was asked about it, he said, “Where’s the money?” Good question.

July: In Biden’s White House, Secret Service discovered a bag of cocaine. Despite being the most secure building in the world, they didn’t find who was responsible.

August: Minority leader Mitch McConnell froze in mid-sentence on more than one occasion leading the public to question why we have so many octogenarians in political office.

President Biden kept perpetrating the tall tale that he never discussed his son’s business despite eyewitnesses who say he dined with Hunter’s foreign business associates and on 20 occasions called into their meetings to discuss the weather. It must’ve been raining money.

Trump didn’t participate in the first presidential debate with the other GOP candidates, but he overshadowed the event.

September: Trump was arraigned, photographed and pleaded not guilty in a Washington, DC, federal courthouse to charges related to the January 6 case. His mugshot made for an iconic cartoon.

Hunter Biden threatens to sue the IRS for embarrassing him. Didn’t he do that to himself?

In a prisoner swap with Iran, the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, President Biden decided to unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian assets to be used only for humanitarian purposes. I trust them, don’t you?

October: Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, challenges and successfully ousted Kevin McCarthy.

On Oct. 7, Iran-backed terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel killing over 1200 innocent men, women and children with indescribable brutality. Americans were among the hostages reminding us of Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy.

More than 3,800 car dealerships sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to put the brakes on his demand for EV production because the dealers are losing money on them.

Mike Johnson becomes the new Speaker of the House.

November: Millions of anti-semitic protesters take to the streets in cities around the world and at American colleges in opposition to Israel and the Jews. Protests on campuses became threatening to Jewish students.

The General, former IU Coach Bob Knight died.

Biden’s poll numbers are worse than Jimmy Carter’s at this point in his presidency.

December: The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump should be kept off of the ballot for president. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows also barred Trump for the 2024 ballot. It’s obvious that the media, the courts and the DOJ are all out to interfere in the 2024 election.

My “It’s a Wonderful Life” cartoon says, protect your children from psychological poison. Instead “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” - Psalm 34:8