White House disinvites author of ‘anti-Semitic’ Soros cartoon from social media summit

Cartoonist Ben Garrison has been disinvited from the White House Social Media Summit after complaints about a ‘blatantly anti-Semitic’ cartoon he drew depicting controversial financier George Soros as a puppet master.

“Because I mentioned Soros and the Rothschilds in a cartoon, the perception from the [Anti-Defamation League] and those on the left is that I'm a 'blatantly' anti-Semitic cartoonist and they were all dancing a tantrum because Trump invited me,” Garrison said in a statement on Wednesday via tweet, adding that he and the WH had agreed on Tuesday that his presence would be “a media distraction from the President's message.” 

The cartoon, from 2017, shows Soros as a puppet-master controlling then-National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and retired General David Petraeus. Above Soros is the arm of another disembodied puppeteer, labeled "Rothschilds." Journalist Yashar Ali tweeted the cartoon Tuesday morning, informing his audience (who might not otherwise have realized why the cartoon was anti-Semitic) that the "Rothschilds" arm was the naughty part.

Ali's followers were split between the perplexed ("Quit stretching for something to be outraged about") and the incensed ("how is this not a national scandal?") – with a healthy dose of sarcasm ("Only Nazis criticize bankers"). It's easy to see how a reader could get lost on the road to righteous indignation, given that Soros – a favorite bogeyman of the Right whose financial speculation has devastated entire nations’ economies while bankrolling progressive political causes – is also portrayed as the victim of “anti-Semitic conspiracy theories” – when he's not being attacked as an anti-Semite himself by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and others on the Right. Further complicating matters is the fact that McMaster was, in fact, a member of the Soros-funded International Institute for Strategic Studies for 11 years.

Garrison was “disappointed” in both the White House's decision to disinvite him and its choosing to publicly announce the withdrawal of its invitation to the summit, which is scheduled for Thursday, he said. While he had initially pledged to remain silent about the invitation's withdrawal, he chose to issue his statement after the White House leaked the news to the media.

The Fake News Media is only attacking me to attack the President. I will not let this stand.

“It is obvious to anyone with common sense that I am not anti-Semitic,” Garrison continued. “I'm not anti-Semitic merely because the ADL says I am.” He accused the group of libel, pointing out that it continues to host retouched artwork of his “with the face of an offensive Jewish stereotype pasted over my cartoon,” declaring it further proof of his anti-Semitism.

Lawyer Robert Barnes retweeted the fake cartoon, warning the ADL that it would be a delicious irony to have to sue the group for defamation, and Garrison seconded the threat, telling the censor-happy group to “take this seriously.”

“Judaism is a religion, not a race, and evil heretics like Soros and the secularist Rothschild bankers have nothing to do with my community of faith,” Rabbi Joseph Kolakowski wrote to Garrison in a letter congratulating him on his invitation, one of many ‘Jewish friends’ Garrison cited in his statement who had come forward with their support.

“Nowadays you can't criticize Soros without getting called 'anti-Semitic.' They wouldn't care at all about this if I wasn't going to the White House on Thursday,” Garrison told CulTTTure, pointing out that CNN reporter Jake Tapper - one of the first mainstream media voices to signal-boost the ADL's smear – is himself a “failed cartoonist.” With the New York Times canceling its own political cartoon slot, and MAD Magazine going the way of the dodo, American political humor appears to be experiencing its death throes.

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