There are many times in history when people in power have become angry over a cartoon criticizing them. Some of these powerful people threaten, and sometimes, they succeed. But in this case, the Trump lawyers succeeded only momentarily.
Nick Anderson, who won the Pulitzer, created this cartoon:
The graphic novelist Derf Backderf posted on his Facebook page:
"So Nick turned this into a t-shirt and posted it on RedBubble [a site that sells t-shirts, prints, etc]. The Trump Organization had it removed within 24 hours, claiming (you'll LOVE this) that the MAGA hats depicted in the cartoon were Trump's intellectual property!
"The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund went to bat for Nick, and Red Bubble reinstated the shirts this week.
"'I doubt anyone had even seen it yet on the site,' Anderson said. 'This reveals that the Trump campaign has a system in place, trawling for material they find objectionable. The president is a hypocrite who complains about the ‘violation’ of his free speech on Twitter, then tries to actively suppress the free speech of others. These are actions of an adolescent wannabe-authoritarian.'"
Just around this same time, the Counterpoint Twitter account, which is an online editorial cartoon service co-founded by Nick, disappeared. And then, without explanation, came back. But with one difference:
"Our account was suspended/censored earlier. It seems we're back now. We aren't sure why it was suspended. We have since lost all our followers. We are a newsletter dedicated to providing both sides of political cartooning - please RT to support FREE SPEECH"
Related:
Counterpoint Twitter home page
Buy the T-shirt
The Guardian
The angry toddler's Morons Are Governing America hats don't even look like that, so that scotches even that smidgen of an excuse.
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