Ben Garrison’s 2017 cartoon depicts the Rothschilds an in turn George Sorors Puppeteering US Officials, former National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and retired General David Petraeus Image by @fifthwalltv

By Benjamin Gladstone July 11, 2019

Cartoonist Ben Garrison said earlier this week that he was disinvited from a White House “social media summit” expected to include several of the internet’s most notorious trolls and “alt-right”-adjacent provocateurs.

Garrison received harsh criticism for a drawing of Jewish financiers George Soros and the Rothschild family controlling the U.S. government like puppets, using a common anti-Semitic trope.

But several other attendees have also attacked Soros, who is also a philanthropist and major Democratic donor, in ways that some have described as reflecting anti-Semitic tropes about Jews being behind immigration efforts to harm white Americans.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Invitee Bill Mitchell accused Soros of “seditious conspiracy against the United States” and suggested that Soros be imprisoned “as an enemy of the United States.” And Rep. Matt Gaetz falsely accused Soros of funding a “caravan” of Central American migrants.

Several other elected Republican officials, like President Trump, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore, have utilized anti-Semitic tropes in their criticisms of Soros.

Other attendees have given platforms to outright white nationalists, or have appeared on their channels, according to Media Matters for America. Pro-Trump memester “Carpe Donktum” has promoted white nationalist Stefan Molyneux, Dennis Prager’s “PragerU” YouTube page has featured videos by anti-Semitic comedian Owen Benjamin, and Brent Bozell’s Media Research Center has linked to articles from white nationalist websites. And Gaetz himself has repeatedly associated with far-right troll Charles C. Johnson, who once wrote that he did not believe six million Jews died in the Holocaust.

Benjamin Gladstone is an intern at the Forward. Contact him by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @bensgladstone

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount