Trump makes the case for editorial cartoonists pretty much every day. Are we really willing to allow such an important journalistic tradition to die out?



On July 26, I did what I normally strive to do: draw a hard-hitting cartoon on one of the important topics in the news. Little did I know that the cartoon I drew that day would change my life.

The image, which referenced President Donald Trump as well as the recent deaths of a father and child attempting to enter the United States along the southern border pulled no punches. There was a time when a pointed cartoon like that would increase a cartoonist’s value in the eyes of his or her newspaper. But instead of increasing my value with my newspapers, the next day I lost a freelance job with Brunswick News Inc., a position I held for 17 straight years.

Social media thinks I was fired for that cartoon. My former employers have continued to insist it wasn't. I’ve said repeatedly that cartoon was simply the final nail in the coffin and hastened my demise. The process to replace me was already in the works. As reported by the CBC in Canada, Greg Perry supplied Brunswick News Inc. with cartoons in case “de Adder decided he didn't want to work the two-week departure agreement.”

But before the newspaper had a chance to tell me I was being let go and negotiate a smooth transition, I drew my infamous Donald Trump cartoon. And the next day, instead of getting a two-week departure agreement, I was terminated with no such agreement in place. It was like my previous 17 years at Brunswick News Inc. disappeared overnight.

In my opinion, and given past experiences, I think it’s likely I wasn’t let go for one Trump cartoon. It’s more likely I was let go for all my Trump cartoons. But does this matter? Editorial cartoonists are losing jobs for a host of excuses these days, Donald Trump is just one of these excuses.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/my-editorial-cartoon-satirizing-trump-border-crisis-went-viral-then-ncna1029431?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma