Eric Trump (Left) and Charlie Ward(Right)
Two Hitler-promoting antisemites were dropped from a speaking engagement at former President Donald Trump's Miami hotel alongside key members of the ex-president’s orbit, including his son Eric Trump. The cancellations came only after Team Trump was heavily criticized for associating with the antisemites and after Eric Trump already spoke alongside them at numerous other stops.
Trump ally Alan Dershowitz relayed a message from Eric Trump on his Rumble podcast yesterday, stating: “This is from Eric Trump: I asked the event organizer that the speaker be uninvited and they -- because there's more than one -- won't be allowed on our property. Don't know the person or anything about them. … They will no longer be here.” The tour’s website no longer lists them as speakers at Trump's Miami hotel. (The speakers in question, Scott McKay and Charlie Ward, are still listed as overall tour “featured" speakers.)
The ReAwaken America tour, which has been going around the country, is making its latest stop at Trump National Doral in Miami on Friday and Saturday. McKay and Ward, who both host shows on Rumble, were scheduled to speak alongside numerous members of Trump’s orbit, including Eric and Lara Trump; Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes; former senior Department of Defense official Kash Patel; and former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker.
McKay has said that “Hitler was actually fighting the same people that we're trying to take down today.” He’s also claimed Jewish people orchestrated 9/11 and presidential assassinations; and said Jewish people torture and eat children.
Ward has shared posts praising Hitler for supposedly “warning us” about Judaism; claiming that “VIRUSES are Man (JEW) made”; and attacking the alleged Jewish media for supposedly lying about the Holocaust.
Eric Trump and the two Hitler-promoting antisemites have spoken at prior stops together, including at Nashville in January; Branson in November; Batavia/Rochester in August; and Virginia Beach in July. McKay wrote last year that Eric Trump “says his Dad loves what we’re doing.” The two have had their picture taken with Eric Trump.
Tour co-founder Clay Clark recently celebrated that McKay has gained access to Team Trump, telling him: “You've stuck to your guns. ... Now you're seeing folks like Eric Trump and Kash Patel and Gen. Flynn on the same stage with yourself." (Clark is a frequent guest on the programs of McKay and Ward.)
McKay and Ward were invited to speak at the Trump Doral event until Eric Trump’s association with them became a liability.
Media Matters reported on Eric Trump’s connections to the two, including their scheduled Trump Doral appearances, in February. That reporting was re-upped on May 8 with additional information. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow then dedicated part of her May 8 show to covering the event.
Eric Trump initially responded not by publicly denouncing the two antisemites but by threatening to “take legal action against” Maddow for her accurate reporting. He followed that by suggesting that reporting on the event was timed to distract from Hunter Biden news and hiding behind “my Orthodox Jewish brother-in-law, Jared Kushner, who Lara and I chose to marry us on our wedding day.”
CNN’s Jake Tapper reported yesterday on the event and said that Eric Trump stated that organizers told him that McKay and Ward would be dropped.
Media Matters has documented over 100 instances of Republican politicians embracing antisemitic media figures since 2021.
While McKay and Ward are no longer part of the Trump Doral event, the tour is still scheduled to feature numerous far-right conspiracy theorists, including fellow QAnon supporters Mel K, Ann Vandersteel, Gene Ho, John Michael Chambers, and Liz Crokin; January 6 insurrectionist Simone Gold; Stella Immanuel, a COVID-19 conspiracy theorist who “believes in Alien DNA, demon Sperm, and hydroxychloroquine”; and Julie Green, who has claimed that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “loves to drink the little children’s blood.”
And while it’s still early, a poster for the tour’s Las Vegas stop in August features McKay, Ward, and Eric Trump, along with Alex Jones.
Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.
