--- description: President Trump has invited a cartoonist known for creating an "anti-Semitic" illustration to a White House social media summit. title: President Trump Invited a Cartoonist Known for 'Anti-Semitic' Images to a White House Social Media Summit image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Donald Trump](/tag/donald-trump/) ## Donald Trump Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # President Trump Invited a Cartoonist Known for 'Anti-Semitic' Images to a White House Social Media Summit  by [Alejandro de la Garza](/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 7, 2019 3:47 PM CUT  by [Alejandro de la Garza](/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 7, 2019 3:47 PM CUT While Facebook and Twitter are reportedly still waiting for their invites, President Donald Trump has invited a cartoonist accused of creating “a blatantly anti-Semitic” illustration to a Social Media Summit at the White House. Artist [Ben Garrison](https://grrrgraphics.com/about "undefined"), whose work often display alt-right themes and is [a favorite of the popular pro-Trump Reddit community](https://www.reddit.com/r/The%5FDonald/search/?q=Ben%20Garrison&restrict%5Fsr=1 "undefined") The\_Donald, tweeted a picture Friday of his invitation to the White House for the summit the following week. > [](https://twitter.com/GrrrGraphics/status/1147249641756344320) “Honored to be invited to the White House!” wrote the Garrison on Friday. “Thank you, Mr. President!” Garrison, known for conspiracy-minded alt-right cartoons, created an illustration in 2017 that was slammed by the [Anti-Defamation League](https://www.adl.org/blog/anti-semitism-used-in-attack-against-national-security-adviser-h-r-mcmaster "undefined") for anti-Semitic imagery. It was apparently commissioned for a website created by radio host [Mike Cernovich](https://www.adl.org/education/resources/backgrounders/from-alt-right-to-alt-lite-naming-the-hate "undefined"). Cernovich promoted the bizarre [“Pizzagate” conspiracy theory](https://time.com/4590255/pizzagate-fake-news-what-to-know/ "undefined"), which eventually led to a North Carolina man firing an assault rifle in a D.C. area pizza parlor. Garrison’s 2017 cartoon depicted then-U.S. National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster and retired General David Petraeus being controlled by strings held by philanthropist George Soros. Soros, himself Jewish, is suspended from strings held by a hand labeled “Rothschilds,” an American banking family long subject to anti-Jewish conspiracy theories. > [](https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1147584776737624064) “The thrust of the cartoon is clear,” explained the ADL in 2017\. “McMaster is merely a puppet of a Jewish conspiracy.” [Garrison’s website](https://grrrgraphics.com/about "undefined") defends the cartoonist, saying, “Ben Garrison is neither racist nor anti-Semitic.” President Trump, who has accused social media giants of anti-conservative bias, announced the [Social Media Summit](https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/26/white-house-social-media-summit-1383280 "undefined") in late June. While Garrison was invited to the summit, sources told CNN that [Facebook and Twitter were not](https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/07/media/facebook-twitter-white-house-summit/index.html "undefined"). The summit will be held July 11. In May, the White House opened an online tool asking users to [share their alleged stories](https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/15/tech/white-house-social-media-bias-tool/index.html "undefined") of social media bias directly with the President. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5621558/trump-cartoonist-anti-semitic-ben-garrison-social-media-summit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5621558/trump-cartoonist-anti-semitic-ben-garrison-social-media-summit/"},"headline":"President Trump Invited a Cartoonist Known for 'Anti-Semitic' Images to a White House Social Media Summit","datePublished":"2019-07-07T15:47:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T23:55:33.523Z","description":"A 2017 cartoon was slammed by the Anti-Defamation League for anti-Semitic imagery","url":"https://time.com/5621558/trump-cartoonist-anti-semitic-ben-garrison-social-media-summit/","keywords":["Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alejandro de la Garza","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5621558/trump-cartoonist-anti-semitic-ben-garrison-social-media-summit/","name":"President Trump Invited a Cartoonist Known for 'Anti-Semitic' Images to a White House Social Media Summit"}}]}] ```