Marjorie Taylor Greene, Other Extremists Rage for Trump
The New York Young Republican Club (NYYRC) hosted a pro-Trump gathering headlined by Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tuesday in New York City, where speakers struggled to be heard over raucous counterprotesters.
NYYRC, a group with numerous ties to the radical right, hosted the event in Manhattan’s Collect Pond Park, outside the courthouse where Trump later pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
The charges are associated with hush money payments the Trump organization is alleged to have made to an adult film star, Stormy Daniels, who has said she had a sexual relationship with Trump. At the park, counterprotesters drowned Greene out by blowing whistles in a coordinated manner, rendering her brief speech nearly inaudible to anyone outside a few feet of her. The counterdemonstrators also chased Greene to and from her car, giving her no opportunity to mingle with a small cluster of her fans, many of whom came decked out in red MAGA hats.
“They have decided to arrest President Trump, who is innocent, on the word of a porn star and a felon!” Greene said of Daniels and Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer who was previously convicted of a series of charges, among them a campaign finance violation related to the alleged hush money payment. “This is such a failure, and this will not stand. People will not stand for this.”
NYYRC’s clumsy, abbreviated event also featured the disinformation specialist and outspoken bigot Jack Posobiec, who at times looked visibly uncomfortable in a chaotic crowd heavily populated by Trump critics. A protester repeatedly yelled, “Jack, are you on Bumble?” at Posobiec, referring to that dating app releasing a statement in January 2018 that they removed him following user complaints. (At the time, Posobiec denied using Bumble.)
“They want us to go home. They want us to be silent. They want us to quit. Well, I can’t quit! I’m not going to quit!” Posobiec yelled into a bullhorn in a speech that lasted a little under two minutes.
Posobiec spoke to a markedly smaller and less enthusiastic audience than Greene did
and appeared to depart the event before other speakers had finished giving their speeches. His hosts, NYYRC president Gavin Wax and NYYRC executive secretary Vish Burra, previously platformed Greene and Posobiec in December 2022 at their group’s annual gala.
Burra appeared to perform a dual role as hype man and bouncer at the event, physically pushing the crowd of reporters, protesters and supporters at the event to make room for Greene’s entrance. Burra performed a similar task for disgraced New York Rep. George Santos earlier that morning. Santos arrived dressed in sunglasses, a gray blazer, a dress shirt and no tie. He left a half hour before the event started and did not speak alongside Greene and Posobiec. A reporter for The Hill asked Santos if he would be returning to the crowd.
“No,” he said. “Because you guys make it unbearable to be here.”
Harder-edged extremists also mingled among the pro-Trump faithful. Hatewatch spotted a person wearing a Proud Boys T-shirt on livestream footage of the event. Hatewatch also photographed someone wearing a MAGA hat and a skull mask, which is a common signifier among neofascist groups, including some accelerationist neo-Nazis.
Bizarre conspiracies around China
NYYRC’s speakers included Kevin Smith of Long Island Loud Majority, a hard-right, pro-Trump activist group with a significant presence in Suffolk County. It also featured a slate of even more obscure speakers who sowed conspiracy theories that China had infiltrated the U.S. justice system, blaming Trump’s legal problems in part on this incursion.
Posobiec is among the right-wing figures who took money from Gettr, a fringe social media website that was surreptitiously run by Chinese expatriate Guo Wengui, aka “Miles Guo,” according to reporting published by The Washington Post. Wengui has repeatedly pushed conspiracy theories and rhetoric suggesting China covertly controls aspects of American life. NYYRC has also hosted frequent Posobiec collaborator Steve Bannon, who is also connected to Wengui. The Department of Justice arrested Wengui on fraud charges on March 15.
“This country’s justice system has already been weaponized by the Chinese communist party!” a woman described by Wax as a Chinese dissident shrieked into the bullhorn during a quick speech.
Another man, who described himself as a pro-Trump rapper, made similar comments.
“With everything going on with the spy balloons … they’re indicting Trump all at the same time that they indicted Miles Guo … they put Miles Guo in jail! … All of this together and the CCP is at the heart of it all! They’re at the heart of everything that’s going on right now! … And if we want to help Trump, we need to get with the program and understand who’s the source. Where’s this coming from? It’s from the CCP,” the man bellowed into the bullhorn. “So … USA!”
