WATCH: Senator Kyl’s START Gamble [Cartoon]

A little nuclear terrorism is a small price to pay for political gains.


Mother Jones illustrator Zina Saunders creates editorial animations riffing on the political news and current events of the week. In this week’s animation, Key Senate Republican Jon Kyl is upping the ante in his game against Obama: he’s determined to stop START, even after Republican bigwigs like Henry Kissinger and George Schultz came out in support of ratifying the nuclear missile agreement with Russia. Wiley Kyl smells victory in his gamble to put a Republican in the White House in 2012; after all, a little nuclear terrorism is a small price to pay. And since you ask: Yes, Saunders does all her own awesome songs and cartoon voiceovers.—The Editors

Here are the lyrics, written and performed by Zina:

Kyl’s feeling lucky, got the world on a string

He’s in a gambling mood and he’s betting everything

It’s a scary game but one he’s glad to play

He’ll show them what he’s made of and what he’s set to pay.

Missiles and treaties don’t mean a thing to him

Who cares about a war when there’s a race to win

Who cares if it’s disaster, who cares if it’s the end

He’s gonna get Obama out, replace him a friend 

Watch him as he gambles, spin the wheel and see

He’s betting with the world on taking back DC.

He thinks it might be useful if we should go to war

It would fire up his voters and even up the score.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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