Claytoonz vs. Ben Garrison

 https://claytoonz.com/2020/12/14/trumplican-brains/

A cartoonist named Clay Jones who calls himself 'Claytoonz' has criticized me many times. Normally I ignore such chuckleheads, but he has also been lying about me, so let me set the record straight.

I do not draw anti-Semitic or racist cartoons. Now, I do understand that folks on the far left reflexively hurl such smears toward anyone remotely conservative. It's to be expected. However, this young man presents himself as a 'journalist,' and I want to remind him that making up narratives out of whole cloth that don't align with reality is not journalism. 

For example, he recently stated that I applauded Trump for the vaccine rollout. Wrong. Never said it. I'm against vaccines altogether. I've disagreed with the president on many things and I've penned cartoons sharply critical of him--and I'm against his push for an early vaccine for COVID-19. End of story. Cased closed. 

Are editorial cartoonists really 'journalists' as Mr. Toonz claims? In a way we are. We want to convey the truth to the public. We can do investigative journalism to find that truth--something most employed journalists are no longer doing. Nowadays they merely parrot propaganda handed to them by their mega-billionaire owners and the CIA. Mostly, cartoonists express strong opinions on the news. A fair and balanced cartoon that tries to tell all sides of any issue is destined to be a flop.

Regardless, ClayToonz can call himself whatever he likes--I don't care. Many others don't care, either. Despite being syndicated, despite his quest for awards and validation, and despite his bragging about being in mainstream publications such as the Los Angeles Times and on CNN, he has not garnered as much interest as he apparently expected. Like me he's an independent cartoonist and I'm sure he works hard at his quest for fame and fortune by means of editorial cartooning. If fame and fortune truly are his prime motivation, then he has the wrong mindset because he's basing success on the wrong values. I did not start out drawing cartoons for fame and fortune and in fact, for a long while they cost me money and trolls tarnished my reputation. I drew the cartoons out of a desire to ring alarm bells. I began drawing the cartoons because I saw it as my patriotic duty to help our Republic. I don't want my country to continue its slide toward globalism and socialism. 

Thanks to the ADL's libel I could not get syndicated. Mr. Toonz apparently had no problem getting syndicated--good for him. Yet he remains resentful because grrrgraphics.com has far more twitter followers than he does. My cartoons are seen by far more people than what the average employed and well-paid cartoonist receives. Clay complains about me putting labels on my cartoons (an American tradition) as well as me being a 'propagandist' simply because I balance out the Trump Derangement Syndrome omnipresent in his own work and the cartoons of his leftist peers. Mostly, though, it boils down to jealousy:

"Garrison has over 230,000 followers on Twitter who are just as insane (to be fair, a lot of those followers may be people laughing at him for the wrong reasons). I have a little over 9,000 and I’m a real boy….I mean cartoonist. You can have concerns about the virus while not believing it’ll plant a chip inside you. The most absurd thing is, these people believing in the tracking device probably all have cell phones which do track you. Or at the very least, they’re complaining about tracking devices on social media. If you’re on Twitter, you made tracking easy.-- "ClayToonz

Mr. Toonz says it himself. He's jealous! He even took the time to criticize me in a cartoon, which cracked me up. (see cartoon shown in post)

Despite the endless insults, lies, copyright infringement, trolls, and libel I've faced, my wife and I kept working hard to be able to make a living via cartooning. We're starting to succeed because our message resonates with a great many Americans who believe our constitutional Republic is worth saving. I am a real cartoonist. So is Clay, but message is predictably and consistently simple, overly-insistent, and very obvious, but the style of his cartoons may be what's holding him back. He draws in a flat manner with electric colors. If he drew with the sophistication of, say David Horsey, he'd have far more followers, but Clay's work is harsh and over-exaggerated so much that what he's drawing can be hard to decipher. His Trump is unrecognizable as a human being.

Clay has his own style and that's fine. But if he really wants to get better and evolve he'll need to stand out from the regular crowd of lefty artists who have long dominated the editorial cartooning world. You know, the usual names who win Pulitzers and then become judges and award them to their friends, circle jerk-like. Mostly, ClayToonz needs to ween himself from the lies spewed by so-called news outfits such as CNN. Maybe he'll develop a more original voice and eventually even garner more followers.

I wish him luck.

--Ben Garrison

"National Review" and "The Death of Editorial Cartooning"

'National Review' mentioned me in an article written by a Canadian man with his nose far, far up in the air (and probably in other places). No wonder this know it all, neocon, 'never-Trump' echo chamber has lost credibility. The NR itself is in decline--not just editorial cartooning, you toffee-nosed Brahmin bullshitters!

https://www.nationalreview.com/…/editorial-cartooning-decl…/

Oh--forgot to add where they mention me. I'm 'childish.' Well, OK..it's good for an old man to hear that. 

"Way on the other end, there is Ben Garrison, the favored cartoonist of the Trump-era Right. Garrison is a talented artist with firm allegiance to the traditional norms of editorial cartooning, yet his work is so childishly partisan that it’s painful to consume in large doses. The man is a living example of Poe’s Law — which states that earnestness is often indistinguishable from mean-spirited parody. A typical Garrison cartoon depicts our lumpy president as a lantern-jawed he-man fighting various embodiments of the Left and stock villains of the crackpot Right (Illuminati, Rothschilds, chemtrails, etc.). This too serves no purpose beyond propaganda."

"OUR" lumpy president? JJ, you are CANADIAN. Stick with drawing pro-Trudeau cartoons. You've stated, "Editorial cartooning now appears to be something of a dead art so lately I’ve been trying to move on to other things." It's a dead art for you because you're no good! Because your cartoons are DOA doesn't mean the entire genre is dying.

I have drawn cartoons that sharply criticize the president for his strikes on Syria as well as his stand on torture, which is abhorrent, but NR has its mind made up. Too bad for them that fewer are listening them--and to the rest of the legacy media.

Notice how outfits like the NR like to shill for the establishment. The Deep State does not exist for them because they are one of its mouthpieces. The CIA, FBI, CFR, the Bilderbergs, the military industrial complex, central bankers and so forth--all are good guys to NR and if you question it you're called a conspiracy nut. There are corrupt villains in the Deep State--they are not 'stock.'

To the cartoonist and author of this junk J.J. McCoullough: Yes, I do indeed draw Trump in a positive manner to balance out all the cartoonists who have Trump Derangement Syndrome. Trump may be our last, best hope to drain the swamp that you support.

You are CNN's cartoonist! Here's a childish cartoon you drew showing Trump with small hands, squinty eyes, tan lines, etc etc. The usual approach from anti-Trumpers. You drew the corrupt hag Hillary in a positive light. Your cartoons are ham-handed and flat. Death of editorial cartooning? Yes, and hacks such as you are definitely a part of that trend.