“These signs would have been a lot funnier if Kamala had won!” the infamous Comic Cowboys told Mobile’s Mardi Gras crowds on Tuesday, and there probably was some truth in that.

Elsewhere in the world, it has not gone unnoticed that President Donald Trump has provided a certain amount of grist for Carnival satire. Google “Dusseldorf parade 2025” for example but be warned in advance that some of the results are R-rated by American standards.

Mobile’s most dangerous parading society, which has tended to handle Trump gently, opted to give him a blanket pass this year. The only direct reference was a placard celebrating “Trump’s new DEI – Done Enabling Idiots!”

Meanwhile, the interim throne-filler got dinged in a drive by. “R.I.P. Jimmy Carter,” said one float, as a prelude to declaring Joe Biden the worst living ex-president — “ever!” Somewhat more clever, in the political realm, was a salute to newly minted Congressman Shomari Figures: “Feds create new Alabama Voting District “Figures” a Democrat won.

The Cowboys, unlike every other parading society in Mobile, earn their notoriety via the sharpness of their zingers, rather than the beauty of their floats (or of their queen). Historically speaking, they tend to generate headaches for the Mobile City Council every three or four years and to spark widespread public offense about once a decade.

This looked to be a tame year, with the group putting more of an emphasis on local in-jokes: “D.O.G.E. didn’t make it to the mayor’s office,” in response to a healthy pay boost for Mobile’s next top elected official. A long-running widening project on McGregor Avenue vs. the long-promised new I-10 bridge: “We bet the bridge finishes first!” And a call-back to an unfortunate 2024 incident involving an exhausted horse in the Conde Cavaliers parade: “Conde’s weight limit solution – Clydesdales!”

Not that the Cowboys aren’t still capable of outright savagery: Consider their dig at the fledgling Mobile International Airport, which has struggled to maintain low-cost carrier service. “Downtown Airport has a problem,” said the float. “All Departures.”

More: LSU’s used of a caged and possibly drugged tiger during a game back in November brought the zinger that the animal was “more doped up than a Springhill stepmom.” A year-old case of animal abuse boomeranged back as “It’s Dog River not throw the dog in the river.” Talk about putting on ice sports in Mobile’s future new Civic Center prompted some real talk: “New Civic Center could bring hockey back? Like Mobile gives a puck!”

In a couple of cases, the Cowboys blended local and national topics. “What happened to the Prichard Water Board?” asked one float, referencing California wildfires. “Did they get jobs in L.A.?” And yet another float envisioned a conflict between Trump’s health czar and a Mobile institution, the Dew Drop Inn. “RFK wants to ban hot dogs?” it asked. “‘Hold My Weiner!’”

It should not be overlooked that the Cowboys paid tribute to another beloved Mobile institution, a late TV news anchor. “To Hell with Edward R. Murrow or Walter Cronkite,” read one sign near the start of the procession. “We Had Mel Showers!

As for any other sins of omission or commission, the Cowboys offered a last word with another portrait of Biden: “Don’t worry, Joe already pardoned the cowboys.”