Honestly, I don't think I'll ever understand how some people who purport to be Christian so thoroughly miss the actual teachings of Jesus Christ.

Last week I was on vacation in New York City, and I finally got the chance to visit Ellis Island. Wow. Just wow. I wish that everybody, but especially my fellow Americans, would get the opportunity to experience it.

So, yeah, I'm probably a little more juiced than I normally would be about the whole melting pot thing. It's hard not to be seeing my father-in-law's name — his different, weird Italian name — on the wall of honor. He, his mother, and two brothers got out of Italy in 1938 just before the war. He grew up in Flint, went to GMI, worked as an engineer at Buick for 41 years, married, raised six children, and is still walking his two miles and enjoying life every day.

It's quite a story. But if you visit Ellis Island, you are reminded that there are millions of those amazing stories.

This week, voters here in Michigan chose a man named Abdul El-Sayed to be Michigan's Democratic Senate candidate. Like him, don't like him. Like his policies, don't like his policies. Vote for him in November, don't vote for him. Your choice. But don't fall for the BS and demonize him because of his name.

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.

Typically, when a cartoonist makes a note to apologize for appropriating another cartoonist's work, it's for something widely recognized. For example, apologizing to Schultz for a "Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown" setup.

My apology is for something less well known but no less brilliant. In the 1960s, Brant Parker and Johnny Hart created a newspaper comic strip called "The Wizard of Id." And probably their best known gag from that strip had the tyrant king speechifying to a crowd of peasants, doing his best to pacify them by stressing the need for peace and harmony.

"Remember the golden rule," he said. "We must all live by the golden rule."

In the next panel, one of the peasants turned to another and said, "What the heck is the golden rule?" And in the last panel another said, "Whoever has the gold makes the rules."

President Donald Trump came to Michigan this week and delivered a speech that very much had this vibe. And in fact he did say to his subjects, er, the crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen of Michigan, the golden age of America is upon us!"

Really? Seriously? Because that's not what us peasants, er, citizens, are experiencing.

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.