Trump administration recently froze $175 million in federal funding to university
An anti-Israel University of Pennsylvania cartoonist and lecturer blamed “MAGA thugs” after he lost his job, following a $175 million federal spending freeze.
Dwayne Booth’s cartoons had drawn scrutiny from the Jewish community for what the university president called “reprehensible” images. One cartoon published in the New Yorker, shows three businessmen in front of a hybrid Israeli and American flag drinking blood from wine glasses labeled “Gaza.” One of the individuals calls a dove with an olive branch an “anti-Semite.”
Booth uses the pen name “Mr. Fish” for his cartoons, as first reported by the Washington Free Beacon. The conservative news outlet suggested the cartoon promotes “the ancient blood libel employed in anti-Semitic propaganda that accused Jews of using the blood of Christian children for baking matzah and other rituals.”
President Donald Trump’s alma mater is currently facing a loss of $175 millions because it allowed William Thomas, a male, to compete on the women’s swim team. The university has also faced criticism for its handling of antisemitism complaints.
Booth, a communications lecturer, compared himself to Jesus Christ after he was fired for “budgetary” reasons.
He wrote on his Patreon page:
I was informed that the reason for the termination was budgetary, which I think is the same reason they gave to Jesus just before they crucified him, and Malcolm X just before they shot him, and what they told Eugene Debs, Susan B. Anthony, and Lenny Bruce just before jailing them. I jest, of course.
The reality – and something that, unfortunately, is not unique to Penn – is that colleges and universities nationwide have been way too complicit with the largely Republican-led efforts to target students and faculty members engaged in any and all speech rendered in support of trans/black/immigrant, and women’s rights, free speech, the independent press, academic freedom, and medical research – speech that also voices bold criticism of right-wing nationalism, genocide, apartheid, fascism, and specifically the Israeli assault on Palestine.
Booth said Penn has been “handing over the private emails of professors and students” as part of a congressional inquiry.
He wrote:
The cowardice and complete lack of courage demonstrated by the UPenn administration has ruined the lives of a great number of professors and students whom I know personally, as if the total capitulation to the demands of MAGA thugs and bullies will somehow eventually ameliorate the suffering and deter the collapse of higher education.
Booth hinted at legal action, saying that attorneys for the American Association of University Professors were looking into the situation. He drew a salary of $36,000 per year from the university. Booth said he planned to start a podcast to make up the lost income.
He blamed “fascist monsters devouring campuses everywhere” for his firing as well, but said he remains “blessed” by his readers and their support.
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IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: A screenshot of Dwayne Booth’s faculty page at the University of Pennsylvania; University of Pennsylvania
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