Democrats won. Now the fun begins.

1. He barely holds half the caucus?
2. Why are Democrats fighting?
3. Thirty presidential hopefuls?

Will Rogers had a point.

☕ FIRST CUP ->

We can argue about whether Chuck Schumer was the architect of the midterm wave. But he had enough to do with the victory to deserve a landing pad.

When Bob Byrd stepped aside as Democratic leader, he got the all-powerful Appropriations chair. But Byrd didn’t wait for an official challenger. He stepped aside on his own. Maybe Schumer has let this go too far to deserve a prize.

I know very little about Chris Van Hollen. I’m not sure a majority leader with presidential ambitions is such a great idea. The Senate needs someone with their eye on the ball there.

But Van Hollen has the support of people I trust. So I’m in. Unless somebody I like better shows up.

Associated Press: Van Hollen to challenge Schumer for Senate Democratic leader, saying voters ‘called for change’

Attribution: Vance Claims Consistent Shape Shifting by Steve Sack

For 41 years, Steve Sack was the cartoonist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune where he won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 2013. Steve is a shining star in our profession.

Nine members of the Kennedy family have asked a federal judge to let them join the legal battle against Donald Trump’s proposed 250-foot “triumphal” arch near Arlington National Cemetery. Their complaint: Trump’s monument would cast shadows across Kennedy family graves and disrupt historic views of President John F. Kennedy’s Eternal Flame.

The family includes Kerry Kennedy, Rory Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III and Edward M. Kennedy Jr. (Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s health secretary, did not join the action).

The relatives argue that the arch would permanently diminish the gravesites of JFK, Robert Kennedy, Ethel Kennedy and Edward Kennedy, along with the solemn setting of Arlington National Cemetery. Their lawyers, Norman Eisen and Steve Jonas of Democracy Defenders Fund, contend that the administration lacks congressional authorization for the project.

WHY THIS MATTERS IN COURT

The Kennedy family brings a powerful new argument: personal harm to family graves and memorials.

That could matter at the Supreme Court, which previously allowed Trump’s White House ballroom construction to resume after questioning whether preservation advocates had standing to sue.

Virginia and D.C. already claim direct financial and operational harm from the arch. Now the Kennedys cite threatened shadows and obstructed views at gravesites they regularly visit.

Their filing calls the arch a “permanent denigration” of the gravesites, warning that relatives “would never again be able to appreciate both sites as they always have before.”

WHERE THE CASE STANDS

On November 5, the National Capital Planning Commission approved Trump’s arch 8–4. Less than two hours later, Judge Tanya Chutkan blocked construction for 14 days.

Chutkan questioned the administration’s legal authority to build the monument and recognized potential harm to D.C. and Virginia.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

The Kennedys must win permission to join the lawsuit. Meanwhile, Chutkan’s temporary construction ban remains in effect.

Three questions now loom: Did Congress authorize the arch? Will Chutkan extend her construction ban? And could the Supreme Court overturn it, as it did with Trump’s ballroom?

The Kennedys add a fourth: Can a president erect a monument that permanently alters the gravesites of another president and his family?

Attribution: Churchill Quote on American Resolve by Bob Englehart

Bob Englehart was the editorial cartoonist for the Hartford Courant for 35 years when his job was eliminated by the hedge fund that bought the newspaper. Before that, he worked for Chicago Today, the Journal-Gazette in Ft. Wayne, IN and the Journal Herald in Dayton, OH. He studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago on scholarship. His progressive editorial cartoons have been distributed all over the world by CagleCartoons.com for nearly 20 years.

Cartoon Attribution: Mike Konopacki

Mike Konopacki (born c. 1951) is an American political cartoonist from Wisconsin, best known for his labor-focused editorial cartoons and co‑founding the Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons syndicate