Trump invites cartoonist who penned ‘anti-Semitic’ Soros sketch to White House, liberals furious
Progressives and liberals took to Twitter to vent, after President Donald Trump invited right-wing cartoonist Ben Garrison to an upcoming White House social media summit. Garrison has been accused of anti-Semitism.
The guest list for Trump’s social media summit, due to take place this Thursday, looks tailor-made to trigger and enrage his opponents. Trump cheerleader Bill Mitchell will be in attendance, as will pro-Trump memesmith ‘Carpe Donktum,’ and now self-described “renegade cartoonist” Ben Garrison.
Honored to be invited to the White House! Thank You Mr. President! @realDonaldTrump#SocialMediaSummitpic.twitter.com/8b6zIa2XN3
— GrrrGraphics Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) July 5, 2019
The announcement of Garrison’s invitation set alarm bells ringing on the left, with the Montana-based illustrator described as “insanely hateful” and “blatantly anti-Semitic.”
Invited to the White House: insanely hateful racist/antisemitic alt-right “cartoonist” Ben Garrison. pic.twitter.com/YWz7Nj057W
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) July 6, 2019
Ben Garrison is every racist uncle that learned how to cartoon https://t.co/AmSKmZizBt
— Maximilian Uriarte (@TLCplMax) July 6, 2019
The anti-Semitism kerfuffle stemmed from a 2017 cartoon that was condemned by the Anti-Defamation League for its supposed anti-Jewish imagery. The cartoon depicted then-U.S. National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and retired General David Petraeus being puppeteered by billionaire liberal financier George Soros, who was himself controlled by the sickly-green hand of the Rothschild banking family.
Man who drew a cartoon the @ADL calls “blatantly anti-Semitic” says he was invited to the White House for a social media summit https://t.co/Fzckv4rJbDhttps://t.co/nmH1zyCV7Cpic.twitter.com/hvz4BpLNVt
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 6, 2019
Garrison had previously been targeted by a loose coalition of 4chan trolls and ‘Daily Stormer’ neo-Nazis, who doctored his cartoons to include blatant anti-Jewish caricatures and dubbed the doodler “Zyklon Ben” and Ben “One Man Klan” Garrison. He denies any accusations of racism or anti-Semitism.
A stated libertarian, much of Garrison’s early work was anti-government, anti-Federal Reserve, and heavily referenced ‘New World Order’ conspiracy theories. More recently, the cartoonist is best known for his drawings detailing Trump’s struggles against Democrats, the mainstream media, and the ‘Deep State.’ Trump is usually depicted as a muscular, dashing superhero, and his enemies as wretched, hammed-up villains.
Though Trump has never shared Garrison’s work on Twitter (unlike that of Carpe Donktum), the invitation was likely extended as a result of Garrison’s ban from Instagram in April, which he said was handed down for a cartoon that violated the platform’s hate speech policies. Conservatives have long called on Trump to address the supposed liberal bias of the Silicon Valley tech giants, and Thursday’s summit could be a chance for the president to address the issue with his base.
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