Editorial cartoons for Aug. 12, 2024: Harris-Walz ticket, Wall Street gyrations, Olympics

Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate, picking a progressive Midwesterner over swing state candidates Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Mark Kelly of Arizona. Phil Hands leads the editorial cartoon gallery with a riff on the just completed Olympic Games in Paris, relegating Shapiro and Kelly to bronze medal status.

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, and the GOP were quick to portray the Harris-Walz ticket as too liberal. Bill Bramhall draws Republicans painting the folksy ex-coach Walz as Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, while Dana Summers sees Walz cozying up to Xi Jinping of China. Several cartoonists note Walz’s use of the word “weird” to describe Republicans who want to ban books and “be in your exam room.”

Walt Handelsman comments on the momentum of the Harris-Walz campaign, while Scott Stantis derides Harris’s “tap dancing” around the war in Gaza.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential campaign took another odd turn with the revelation that he left a dead bear in New York’s Central Park as a prank.

Other news events in this week’s editorial cartoon gallery include a global stock market selloff after a weak jobs report in the United States raised fears of a recession; billionaire Elon Musk’s fight with advertisers on the social media network X; and U.S. Olympic gymnast Simone Biles anointed as the greatest of all time.

Cartoons were drawn by Jack Ohman, Nick Anderson, Bill Bramhall, Dana Summers, Drew Sheneman, Scott Stantis, Walt Handelsman, David Horsey, Phil Hands and Joey Weatherford of Tribune Content Agency; and Mike Luckovich, Steve Breen and Michael Ramirez of Creators Syndicate.