I had the idea for today's cartoon before the viral "Tommy" video hit social media. And then when I saw the video, I thought, "Well, Abdul El-Sayed kind of already made my point."

But, two things. One, it's a really good point (and not everybody necessarily knows about the video). Two, I couldn't come up with a better idea.

Americans certainly don't own religious intolerance. It is a universal human fault. But as it happens, being a refuge for those who have experienced religious intolerance is a critical part of our country's origin story -- it is literally foundational to how we intended our country operate.

So what El-Sayed is experiencing as a Muslim is, sadly, nothing new. Many others have gone through it. What is critical now is that we don't reward it.

Editor's note: John Auchter is a freelance political cartoonist. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Public, its management, or its license holder, the University of Michigan.

Elon Musk is back to throwing his considerable money at political campaigns. And why not? Terrible U.S. Supreme Court decisions have made it fine and dandy. And when your net worth is $1 trillion, $1 million is equivalent to what a dime is to somebody with a net worth of $100,000. Literally a rounding error.

Musk is donating to Republican candidates all over the country, including Michigan and especially to bolster Mike Rogers here. Does this have anything to do with the people of Michigan? Heck, no. Musk doesn't have any significant business interests here. His companies don't build cars, design rockets, or factory-produce propaganda in Michigan. But Republicans keeping control of the Senate would mean protection for his benefactor, Donald Trump, which would keep that sweet, sweet government money flowing in.

For you Looney Tunes fans, there's a bit of an Easter egg in the cartoon. Musk's behavior reminds me so much of Marvin the Martian. (Remember the character that wants to blow up Earth because it obstructs his view of Venus?) I couldn't help but to have Musk quoting one of Marvin's more famous lines.

Editor's note: John Auchter is a freelance political cartoonist. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Public, its management, or its license holder, the University of Michigan.

Elon Musk is back to throwing his considerable money at political campaigns.

And why not?

Terrible US Supreme Court decisions have made it fine and dandy. And when you're net worth is $1 trillion, $1 million is equivalent to what a dime is to somebody with a net worth of $100,000. Literally a rounding error.

Musk is donating to Republican candidates all over the country, including Michigan and especially to bolster Mike Rogers here.

Does this have anything to do with the people of Michigan? Heck, no.

Musk doesn't have any significant business interests here. His companies don't build cars, design rockets, or factory-produce propaganda in Michigan. But Republicans keeping control of the Senate would mean protection for his benefactor, Donald Trump, which would keep that sweet, sweet government money flowing in.

For you Looney Tunes fans, there's a bit of an Easter egg in the cartoon. Musk's behavior reminds me so much of Marvin the Martian. (Remember the character that wants to blow up Earth because it obstructs his view of Venus?) I couldn't help but to have Musk quoting one of Marvin's more famous lines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiKC4_CkLT4

So I get it. If you're a candidate who has sworn off corporate and billionaire Citizens United money, you have limited options to raise campaign funds, and pumping out texts and emails is one of those options. I don't mind so much with the emails (I've had a forever yahoo account that is typically filled with junk anyway). But recently both political parties seemed to have found my phone number, and the texts are just pouring in.

Not all "attack" ads are necessarily bad. I mean, those darkened Willie Horten-era looking ads with the scary doctored photos and tragic audio tracks — I could do without those.

But this week, the El-Sayed campaign came out with a pretty dang clever ad taking Mike Rogers to task. It features Michigander Tim Robinson, and a hilarious skit from his show, "I Think You Should Leave." In the skit, a car shaped like a hot dog (think Oscar Meyer wienermobile) crashes into a store. People in the store are in shock, and Robinson, dressed in a hot dog costume, begins to ask, "who could have done this?" It's obvious to everybody that it's the guy in the hot dog costume, but Robinson denies it and denies it.

Interspersed with that are clips of Mike Rogers claiming to be wanting to bring down drug and grocery prices, being against war with Iran, and making AI safety his top priority, when there is clear evidence that he has historically been working against all of these.

As a hat tip to Robinson and Sam Richardson and their "Detroiters" show, I took the opportunity to include a character wearing a "De2troit" t-shirt.

Editor's note: John Auchter is a freelance political cartoonist. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Public, its management, or its license holder, the University of Michigan.

Abdul El-Sayed faces some pretty obvious challenges in his run for Senate. He's a progressive Democrat keen to avoid the dreaded "socialist" label. He's a brown-skin man trying his best not to be scary to voters conditioned to be scared. And he's a Muslim, which presents all sorts of traps and landmines.

But Mike Rogers has his own tightrope to walk. Because of his traditional Republican pedigree, it has to be so counterintuitive for him line up with the MAGA folks.

I'm sure Rogers would be happy to describe the GOP as "the party of fiscal responsibility," but the Trump administration has been gleefully blowing holes in the federal deficit, spending billions on war and vanity projects and pitching potential giveaways in the trillions.

I'm sure Rogers would be happy to describe the GOP as "the party of free-market economics," but the Trump administration has over and over unapologetically smashed the invisible hand with arbitrary tariffs (taxes) and so-called deals.

I'm sure Rogers would be happy to describe the GOP as "the party that abhors the government picking winners and losers," but the Trump administration has taken unprecedented opportunity for his government (and his own interests) to grab ownership stakes of private enterprises.

Still, it could be even more challenging for them — they could be women.

Editor's note: John Auchter is a freelance political cartoonist. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Public, its management, or its license holder, the University of Michigan.