Over the weekend, MAGA Republicans gathered in Manhattan for a far-right young Republicans gala hosted by a slate of extremist conspiracy theorists. Some of the most strident election deniers were in attendance, including Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Donald Trump Jr., and Marjorie Taylor Greene herself. In response, Defend Democracy Project Communications Director Nicole Haley said the following:
“If Marjorie Taylor Greene would have had it her way, the attack on our country on January 6th would have gone very very differently. More police officers would have been killed and more harm would have been done to our country. Make no mistake: our democracy would have been overturned. In the House of Representatives, led by Kevin McCarthy, Marjorie Taylor Greene will have even more power and influence to force MAGA Republicans’ far-right agenda. MAGA is alive and well in our Congress and the threats of insurrection and political violence are as prevalent as they’ve ever been. Marjorie Taylor Greene is just saying the quiet part out loud.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene Wasn’t the Only Extremist in Attendance at the Republican Gala:
High-Profile Guests and Speakers Included Key Figures Involved in the Planning of January 6. On Saturday, a collection of radical figures declared a “total war” on their political enemies at the New York Young Republicans Club’s (NYYRC) annual gala, sympathizing with insurrectionists and applauding armed violence at the Capitol. Many of the gala’s attendees helped plan January 6 and the plot to overturn the 2020 election:
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14) was part of Trump’s inner circle and helped organize efforts to overturn the 2020 election. At the gala this weekend, Greene said that rioters “would’ve been armed” and claimed they would have “won” if she was more involved in organizing the violence at the Capitol. Since 2020, she has been sympathetic to the rioters and continues to defend them to this day.
- Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon relentlessly spread Donald Trump’s fraudulent conspiracies after the 2020 election, and was recently sentenced to jail time for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the Jan, 6 committee
- Trump ally Roger Stone holds close connections with far-right extremist militia groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, and texted armed rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
- Far-right figure Donald Trump Jr. has continued to defend his father’s dangerous lies about the 2020 election, and interviewed with the Jan. 6 committee in March 2022.
- Neo-Nazi collaborator Jack Posobiec was an election denier before a single vote had even been cast in the 2020 election. He even started the #StopTheSteal hashtag in September 2020. The night before Jan. 6, he declared that the protest “will be something that no one’s seen before.”
- Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani was instrumental in spreading false conspiracies about the 2020 election and defending Trump before and after Jan. 6.
- Former Trump lawyer Bernie Kerik helped lead Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and testified before the Jan. 6 committee earlier this year.
- Rep.-elect George Santos (NY-3) spread lies about the 2020 election and attended Trump’s Ellipse speech on Jan. 6.
- Rep.-elect Cory Mills (FL-7) is an election denier endorsed by a number of conspiracy-minded leaders of the Republican Party, including Jim Jordan and Ronny Jackson.
- Accused war criminal Erik Prince has helped raise money for a conservative espionage operation intended to infiltrate opponents of Donald Trump.
- Trump ally Matt Braynard runs the extremist Look Ahead America organization, and plays a key role in efforts to organize “vigils” for the Jan. 6 prisoners.
- Right-wing filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza directed the conspiratorial film ‘2000 Mules’, falsely alleging that networks of voter fraud decided the 2020 election.
