Donald Trump and his cronies have been gambling with our democracy for the last nine years. “Alternative facts,” lies, and an insurrection to upend the 2020 presidential election threaten the very foundation of our country.
Artist Jeff Gates has created a fitting symbol of these times with a poker deck of cards, each featuring one participant in Trump’s attempt to turn America into an authoritarian state. And now you can have your own deck!
Place your bets and play your hand. Strategy with a bit of luck will determine the outcome of this game. Take a look.
View My Chamomile Tea Party Posters
Chamomile Tea Party posters call for a change in how we discuss critical political, social, and cultural issues. There’s too much hubris, hypocrisy, and posturing these days. Cultural wedge issues have become more important than substantial legislation that reduces social and racial injustice, domestic terrorism, income inequality, and climate change. We won’t accomplish anything significant if party comes before country and legislators’ personal aspirations determine their votes. Remember: “We the People….” My posters started as contemporary remixes of old propaganda posters from World War I and II. While more recent ones are original designs.
Read About the Genesis of This Work
As I walked home from my day job just before the Fourth of July weekend in 2010, I listened to a story on NPR about the confirmation hearing of Elena Hagen to the Supreme Court. The reporter said that the vote would go along party lines. This is the moment it hit me: partisanship had gone too far. My political science and design backgrounds suddenly mixed with our legislative realities, and the Chamomile Tea Party was born. Over that holiday weekend, I made the first four posters of what has now become an archive of over 260: a visual contemporary history about American politics.