In partnership with
Gary Varvel Has the Mic Again Today
Gary Varvel is in the chair one more day while I'm out with my family. This is his last day filling in.
He opens on John F. Kennedy rolling over in his grave — ask not what your country can do for you — and a party that has turned that line completely on its head. Then he gets to the Democratic Socialists of America, their national co-chair Megan Romer, and the list she was asked about. What's on the chopping block: the Senate. The presidency. The Supreme Court. The Pentagon. The border and ICE. Prisons. The Constitution.
Then he reads Ayn Rand on what separates socialism from communism — force versus vote, murder versus suicide, and either way the country is dead. He puts a number on it, too. Historians put the worldwide death toll from communist and radical socialist regimes somewhere between 60 and 100 million people in the 19th Century.
He walks you through a couple of his own cartoons along the way. The Titanic going down with the Democrat donkey on deck hollering all aboard. Anthony Fauci on the Liar Liar movie poster — the lie being that we never funded gain-of-function research. Gary figures the man who told us he represented science may end up remembered as Dr. Death.
In the middle of the Toddcast, Gary goes back to 1979 and the overthrow of the Shah. He calls it a red-green alliance — red for communism, green for Islam — two movements with nothing in common except an enemy. Khomeini ran it from exile in France talking about freedom, social justice and anti-imperialism, and kept the theocracy he actually wanted to himself. The Marxists figured they would ride his wave into power and sideline the clerics afterward.
Then he walks through what happened to the Marxists once Khomeini came home. The disarmament. The banning of the Tudeh Party in 1983. The death committees in 1988.
Gary says there's no question the same alliance is here today, and that it lives in the Democratic Party. Held together by the same thing that held the 1979 version together — a shared enemy.
The second half of the Toddcast is about morality, and he builds it out of Revelation 2 — remember, repent, return. Remember our founding, is his point. So he goes to John Adams on a government made only for a moral and religious people, to John Quincy Adams writing his son about the three beliefs any conscience rests on, to Washington's Farewell Address, and to Franklin at the Constitutional Convention — God governs the affairs of men, and a republic, if you can keep it. Then he tells you what he thinks changed in 1963.
He also gets to the law Governor Maura Healey just signed in Massachusetts, which he says legalizes elective abortion right up to birth, and which he calls infanticide. He drew the signing — grim reapers around the governor, applauding with bloodstained hands. And he reaches back to Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat, calling a late-term procedure too close to infanticide.
Gary closes on death. The death rate is 100 percent, and there are people spending real money trying to change that. And even if they pull it off, it doesn't fix the real problem. Science can't forgive sin, and there's still a judgment coming. He says they're trying to build their own tree of life. The real one is already being offered, and it's free.
I hope you take a moment to listen.
Conservative, not bitter.
Todd
Quote of the Day
Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
More From Gary
Views From The Right — where Gary posts the cartoons he describes on air, so you can actually see the ones he walks through today.
Creators Syndicate — his syndicated archive, updated as new cartoons run.
Inner Circle Plus
🔒 Inner Circle Plus members get today's full episode commercial-free — zero ad breaks — plus a members-only deep dive and live Q&A every month. Not a member yet? Join Inner Circle Plus
Smart starts here.
You don't have to read everything — just the right thing. 1440's daily newsletter distills the day's biggest stories from 100+ sources into one quick, 5-minute read. It's the fastest way to stay sharp, sound informed, and actually understand what's happening in the world. Join 4.5 million readers who start their day the smart way.
We’ve Had A Great Week
We spent the week in Montana. Fly fishing, horseback riding, hiking — and a lot of good time with family. It’s a truly majestic place and our time away has been very refreshing. Looking forward to the final couple of days — and I’m looking forward to getting back, too.
Thanks to Krish Dhanam and Gary Varvel for covering while I was gone.
I'll be back Monday. Have a great weekend.