Why do you consider the fly swatter to be modern? Because of it's design? It's design would be determined by it's function, to keep flies away. That would be the same no matter what era it was used in. It appears to be a thick mesh at the end of a slotted stick. The mesh could be made out of reed.

The subject in the photo has more of a resemblance to George Booth than it does to Trotsky. The copy of the Declaration of Independence would refer to the birthdate of a new nation that allowed freedom of speech and the press. Values that George Booth would cherish, support and defend as one of the leading newspaper men of the country.

The date of the Philadelphia Gazette might be from a special edition that was printed as soon as the Declaration was made available to the printer. Don't you think the Declaration would warrant a special edition rather than wait to publish the next day.

The fly could represent those forces that might seek to limit the freedom of the press to exercise it's role as the Fourth Estate. Washington and the founding Fathers would be the ones who created the documents that defined these rights and stand vigilant against their suppression.

Trotsky-like glasses? The portrait of George Booth clearly shows he wore the same glasses as those in the painting.