When President Donald Trump weighed in after the Seattle mayoral election to model the winner, Katie Wilson, a communist, it was yet one more instance of nationwide politics intruding on native political choices.
However it isn’t simply politics, it’s financial insurance policies, technological improvements and upheaval within the federal authorities which might be having main impacts on the native stage. Generally, it feels as if nothing is merely native anymore. To kick off the brand new 12 months, I reached again via my cartoons from 2025 and located 5 that illustrate this new dynamic:
ICE on the border
The Trump administration’s amped-up struggle on undocumented immigrants has hit the Seattle space and the border crossings with British Columbia. Americans and overseas vacationers have typically discovered it troublesome to return to the USA from Canada if there’s any distant query of their immigration standing. Add to that Trump’s blather about making Canada the 51st state, and lots of Canadians who used to move south to Seattle for visits are actually staying away.
Tariffs and the port
Final 12 months, locals who preserve observe of this stuff seen a dearth of cargo ships cruising into Elliott Bay. The place did these ships go? Not right here. Trump’s erratic and onerous tariffs on overseas items depressed commerce and raised costs on imported merchandise for People already struggling to pay month-to-month payments.
Musk and nationwide parks
One of many glories of dwelling within the Puget Sound area is that there are three nationwide parks that may be reached in underneath three hours from the middle of Seattle. Thus, it was an affront to native sensibilities when Trump unleashed wacky billionaire Elon Musk to intestine a lot of the federal authorities, together with the Nationwide Parks Service. Musk’s demolition derby barely made a dent within the nationwide debt, however left the already underfunded nationwide parks understaffed and struggling.
Federal assault on Portland
When protesters across the nation turned out to confront marauding, masked ICE brokers, Trump took the chance to ship Nationwide Guard items into a number of American cities, together with our neighbor to the south, Portland. Trump’s crazed rhetoric about anarchy within the streets of Seattle made many marvel if the Emerald Metropolis would even be invaded by federal troops. Fortunately, that has not occurred… but.
AI outflanks politicians
Tech firms like our little native store, Microsoft, are pouring billions of {dollars} into the event of synthetic intelligence and good individuals are saying the end result shall be large unemployment when human employees are changed by robots. Already, entry stage jobs in tech are being taken by AI, leaving current school graduates scrambling to seek out work. In the meantime, too many politicians proceed to speak as if nothing within the financial system has modified since 1955.
See extra of David Horsey’s cartoons at: st.news/davidhorsey
View different syndicated cartoonists at: st.news/cartoons
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