Auchtoon!

Last week the news broke that General Motors plans to move its global headquarters from the iconic Renaissance Center in Detroit to a newly developed building, also in Detroit. It’s news, but not historic news. Decades ago when GM moved from its glory-days location in the New Center area of Detroit to the RenCen, it involved thousands of workers. The number this time is estimated to be 850.

Also news: Taxpayers are gonna get hosed in the process. The new building, which is on the site of what was the flagship Hudson’s department store, was financed with tax breaks for the promise of 2,000 new jobs. The GM jobs coming to that building are not new — and certainly not a net gain for Detroit.

Taxpayers getting the short end of the stick is not unusual. But it does come at a time when Michiganders are particularly sensitive about highly touted deals in which we are likely going to get a diminished return on investment. Deals that Michigan made for big automotive battery projects just a couple of years ago are now being questioned and revisited.

The pendulum seems to be swinging toward the “no tax breaks” side of economic development. We’ll see how long that lasts when other states go back to outbidding us with their tax breaks.

This week — perhaps even by the time you read this — autoworkers at a Volkswagen assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, are voting on whether to join the United Autoworkers (UAW) union. This is the start of a drive by the UAW to get autoworkers currently in non-union plants (mostly in the south) to join them. Republican governors from six southern states (Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas) put out a joint statement warning that doing so will put jobs in jeopardy and, by the way, you can’t trust them unionizers.

As Michiganders, we know well that there are compelling arguments for and against unions in general and the UAW in particular. But “disingenuous” is the most charitable way that I can describe southern politicians accusing the UAW of running campaigns “driven by misinformation and scare tactics.” Misinformation and scare tactics have been their favorite tools for union prevention (and union busting) for generations!

Careful readers will notice that there are six states but only five governors in the cartoon. Six was just too crowded, and Tennessee Governor Bill Lee was by far the least interesting to draw.

I don’t think Governor Whitmer actually regrets repealing the 1931 Michigan law defining abortion access that could have very well become active law after Roe v. Wade was overturned. But — you know what? — it really shouldn’t matter what I think Whitmer thinks.

In fact, we would all be much better off if we spent less time trying to imagine the motivations of candidates and elected officials.

I believe getting rid of that zombie law was the right thing to do, specifically from a women’s health point of view. You may have a different position. That’s fine. We both then should do our best to learn about the issue, understand it, and vote accordingly — and not be trying to use our votes to effect some sort of strategic outcome.

Arizona did not successfully remove its even more ancient and draconian abortion law, and now it is the actual law in that state. This is an inconvenience for Donald Trump and his campaign. But it’s women and families who will suffer the real-life consequences. Learn about that, understand it, and vote accordingly.

With such a deep saturation of bonkers-level behavior by elected officials and the blink-and-you-missed-it news cycle, you may not be aware of Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) recently saying in a town hall that Gaza should be dealt with “like Nagasaki and Hiroshima.”

All right. Let’s be fair. Let’s explore what he said around that quote. (Spoiler: It makes it worse.)

This from the Washington Post:

Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) was answering a question from a constituent during a town hall in Dundee, Mich., on Monday, about the United States’ plan to build a floating pier off the coast of Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid.

“Why are we spending our money to build a port for them?” someone asks in the video.

Walberg, who is not seen in the video, responds by saying that the United States “shouldn’t be spending a dime on humanitarian aid” and then references the two Japanese cities where the United States dropped atomic bombs during World War II.

“It should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick,” Walberg said.

Walberg’s office responded saying he “clearly uses a metaphor to support Israel’s swift elimination of Hamas, which is the best chance to save lives long-term and the only hope at achieving a permanent peace in the region.”

Uh-huh. Metaphor. Okay. Sure. But what a terrible, tone-deaf, dangerous metaphor. And let’s not look past the whole “not a dime of humanitarian aid” bit. My God. But it gets worse. Again, from the Washington Post:

…after the congressman said “Get it over quick,” he added, “The same should be in Ukraine.”

“Defeat [Russian President Vladimir] Putin quick,” Walberg continued. “Instead [of] 80 percent in Ukraine being used for humanitarian purposes, it should be 80 to 100 percent to wipe out Russia — if that’s what we want to do.”

Walberg seems to be seriously channeling General Buck Turgidson, the George C. Scott character in Dr. Stangelove. That was political satire. It’s not so funny when it’s real.

Editor’s note: John Auchter is a freelance political cartoonist. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Public, its management, or its license holder, the University of Michigan.