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:

"It's difficult not to do that every time my pen approaches the paper," Chast replies, her mouth immediately contorting into one of her character's trademark scowls. "He's such an asshole-such an asshole," she repeats, almost spitting the words, as if to exorcise a demon that's taken up unwanted residency in her spleen. "The despicableness of that person trumps every feeling I've 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, that's so terrible. That picture of them getting off of the plane-it's like she's just a thing to him. I feel terrible for her." Chast takes a deep breath.

I ask Chast if she's been taking a lot of deep breaths lately.

"Yeah," she says, "because I don't 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 Chast's brow clear, her frown transforms into a mischievous grin, and a conspiratorial chuckle sneaks out of the corner of her mouth. "Yes, that's true," she says with a sly smile.

I've just made Roz Chast laugh, and it feels like I've won the Pulitzer Prize, albeit in a new, and very nichey, category-Best Joke Told to a Writer's Favorite Cartoonist. "But my God," she adds with a quick grimace, "what an asshole." And, we're back.