voters
Explanation
The Joke
The comic is divided into two panels that contrast what people say they want from their political leaders with how they actually react. The top panel, labeled "What people say they want from their leaders," shows a man calmly and reasonably stating: "They need to compromise to get things done." This represents the commonly expressed desire for bipartisan cooperation and pragmatic governance.
The bottom panel, labeled "How people react when their leaders compromise to get things done," shows the same man furiously screaming at his computer: "You traitor to human decency! I'm gonna go get the craziest moron I can find then vote for him!" This represents the actual voter response when politicians do compromise -- they are seen as sellouts, and voters respond by supporting more extreme candidates out of spite.
The Humor
The joke captures a well-known paradox in democratic politics: voters consistently say they want compromise and cooperation, but when their representatives actually do compromise, they punish them for it. The humor lies in the extreme whiplash between the calm, reasonable statement in the first panel and the unhinged rage in the second. The punchline -- that the voter's response to compromise is to deliberately seek out "the craziest moron" to vote for -- satirizes the real-world phenomenon of political polarization, where perceived moderation drives voters toward increasingly extreme candidates.
References
The comic reflects ongoing debates about political polarization in American politics, particularly the tension between voters' stated preference for bipartisanship and the electoral success of more extreme candidates who refuse to compromise.