New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast on Trump

Ben Marks says: "A couple of weeks ago, I was given the opportunity to interview New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast, who was in San Francisco for the opening of her show at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. Naturally, I felt compelled to ask the author of Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? an unpleasant question: How does she manage to get through the day without drawing a cartoon about Donald Trump?

Here's a snip from the conversation that followed:

Its difficult not to do that every time my pen approaches the paper, Chast replies, her mouth immediately contorting into one of her characters trademark scowls. Hes such an assholesuch an asshole, she repeats, almost spitting the words, as if to exorcise a demon thats taken up unwanted residency in her spleen. The despicableness of that person trumps every feeling Ive ever had about a politician. His horrible voice, that stupid hair, the way he pushes his mouth out like that. Chast purses her lips like a deranged baby duck.

The courtesy he shows his wife, I offer, goading her on.

More lightning bolts. Oh, God, thats so terrible. That picture of them getting off of the planeits like shes just a thing to him. I feel terrible for her. Chast takes a deep breath.

I ask Chast if shes been taking a lot of deep breaths lately.

Yeah, she says, because I dont want to think about him that much. Chast pauses briefly, shakes her head, and then asks, Do you know he actually said that he got higher ratings than 9/11?

Well, I suggest, choosing the words that follow carefully, at least he was comparing apples to apples.

And with that, the furrows in Chasts brow clear, her frown transforms into a mischievous grin, and a conspiratorial chuckle sneaks out of the corner of her mouth. Yes, thats true, she says with a sly smile.

Ive just made Roz Chast laugh, and it feels like Ive won the Pulitzer Prize, albeit in a new, and very nichey, categoryBest Joke Told to a Writers Favorite Cartoonist. But my God, she adds with a quick grimace, what an asshole. And, were back.