(Check out the finished color art for this one here.)
Mitch McConnell has to be my favorite politician. He's easily the most fascinating person in contemporary politics for me, and possibly the most interesting public figure in general.
Like all politicians, McConnell primarily acts in the interests of his own political career and what he believes will get him re-elected, but what makes that wonderfully complex and three-dimensional at the moment is that he's the highest-ranking Republican in office and he's trapped in the middle of a rapidly evolving identity shift within the party.
That shift is forcing him to occupy two worlds, often contradicting his past words and actions while earning the love and ire of both parties in the process, occasionally at the same time.
More than any other politician I can think of, McConnell is lionized by the media when he acts in accordance with a particular outlet or journalist's perspective and villainized when he acts against it.
With Hell Is Empty, and Trump's GOP Is Here, I wanted to capture some of the tension between the two prevailing depictions of McConnell: one where he is portrayed as part of the old guard of the Republican party standing firm against an evil invasion, and the other where he is being consumed by it – and possibly even complicit in its arrival.
As with my last drawing, The Plague King, I will dive into more details when I share the color version (update: read it here!), but for now check out the finished line art on this one.
