Far-right cartoonist Ben Garrison frequently posts bigoted illustrations of conservatives' favorite enemies on his website, but the absurdity of his work is even more apparent in his portrayals of former President Donald Trump.
Garrison often paints Trump as an athletic, god-like figure leading the crusade against supposed enemies of freedom.
But a recent Garrison masterpiece is going viral for all the wrong reasons.
Trump recently announced a lawsuit against Big Tech companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google's YouTube for what he says are free speech violations against conservatives. Trump and his ilk immediately started fundraising off the effort.
Garrison attempted to embody Trump as a fighter against Big Tech suppression, portraying Big Tech as a windmill and Trump as the literary icon Don Quixote.
New Ben Garrison Cartoon #Trump Quixote- Donald Trump Quixote\u2019s enemies are not imagined.\n\nThey are all too real and dangerous.\n\nWe support his lawsuit. Our first amendment rights must be protected and preserved for future Americans.\n\nhttps://grrrgraphics.com/donald-quixote/\u00a0pic.twitter.com/QOD1X8telQ— Ben Garrison Cartoons GrrrGraphics.com (@Ben Garrison Cartoons GrrrGraphics.com) 1625759656
There's just one problem.
Don Quixote is the main character of the 15th century story The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes.
Quixote is an aging and angry man who becomes delusional and rebrands himself as a knight, donning a dilapidated suit of armor and mounting an exhausted horse. He sees inns as castles, innkeepers as lords, and windmills as ferocious giants.
Quixote's feud with windmills has been an enduring theme for centuries, and gave birth to the British phrase "tilting at windmills," meaning to fight enemies that don't actually exist.
Garrison's portrayal of Trump as Don Quixote pursuing the windmill of Big Tech censorship paints the former President as delusional, mounting a war on an imaginary foe—a primary criticism of Trump's
Garrison tried to clarify that Trump's enemies aren't imagined—the diametric opposite of the meaning conveyed by his picture—but the internet had to laugh at the accidentally true comparison.
Ben Garrison accidentally makes an accurate comic while proving he's never actually read Don Quixote.pic.twitter.com/lwpm1ZnxGe— Found footage horror movie aesthetic (@Found footage horror movie aesthetic) 1625773288
In a moment of stupidity Ben Garrison created the greatest comic of his entire career. Like this has so many layers and all of them were on accident. Incredible.https://twitter.com/BrianBLevinson/status/1413169281420902401\u00a0\u2026— Zane Schacht, Voice Goblin (@Zane Schacht, Voice Goblin) 1625761645
this might be accidentally the only good Ben garrison comichttps://twitter.com/BrianBLevinson/status/1413169281420902401\u00a0\u2026— neptuna (@neptuna) 1625773015
Ben Garrison is the king of accidentally amazing comics because he doesn't understand what anything means or is about.pic.twitter.com/bpTV2Fm5wh— _grimm (@_grimm) 1625761216
Ben Garrison, welcome to The Resistancepic.twitter.com/3mCMc0N9xK— ElElegante101 (@ElElegante101) 1625774343
Unlike Ben Garrison, I read through all 900 pages of Don Quixote. The windmill kicks his ass, he routinely winds up helping criminals who also kick his ass, his mouth writes checks he never delivers, and the moment he achieves clarity that he was never a hero, he dies.pic.twitter.com/PIvDe2JO9O— the infamous taco (@the infamous taco) 1625767063
Garrison's attempts to clarify were mocked as well.
Appreciate Ben Garrison\u2019s disclaimer here that portraying Trump as Don Quixote should not be interpreted as portraying Trump as Don Quixotehttps://twitter.com/cartoonsben/status/1413164542612230146\u00a0\u2026— James Urbaniak (@James Urbaniak) 1625772596
Yes when I make a point I do the opposite of what I mean and then act like the wrongness of it is actually highlighting what I meant.https://twitter.com/cartoonsben/status/1413164542612230146\u00a0\u2026— Desi (@Desi) 1625772848
when your toon comes with a preamble to explain that it means the exact opposite as the metaphor used in the drawing... That's when you know you nailed it.— YellowBackTheCrane (@YellowBackTheCrane) 1625771715
Trump has been compared to Don Quixote before, however, due to both of their obsessions with windmills.
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
@arianagrande/Instagram
@arianagrande/Instagram