During a MAGA boat parade on Sunday, one group flew swastikas alongside Trump 2024 flags.
The parade drew a healthy crowd, with former President Donald Trump’s son Eric and his wife Lara in attendance.
The Nazi display—which also featured racial slurs yelled by the boat’s passengers—was upsetting and offensive to many. However, some Republicans claim that the group on the boat with swastikas weren’t actually Trump supporters, but people attempting to smear Trump supporters.
Today, far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer tweeted that the boat with the Nazi flags is owned by someone who is “not a registered Republican and is not a Trump supporter.”
“He has been accused in the past of passing out Nazi flyers,” Loomer tweeted. “This was clearly a set up to make it look like Trump supporters at the boat parade are Nazis.”
The man Loomer referenced previously passed out antisemitic flyers in Punta Gorda, Florida in 2022 and was identified by local police. The Daily Sun, a Florida outlet, also connected the flyers to the Goyim Defense League (GDL), a neo-Nazi group in Florida.
But the flyers weren’t apolitical Nazi propaganda. They reiterated the pro-Trump slogan “Let’s Go Brandon,” while calling out members of the Biden administration.
The Daily Dot was unable to independently confirm the boat’s owner.
Colton McCormick, another Trump supporter, provided a different explanation. In a post on his social media accounts, he said that the boat with the Nazi flags was actually piloted by antifa, a leftist organization, who were “undercover as Trump supporters.”
“These were the Antifa scums that attended the boat parade today!!” McCormick said in an Instagram post. “They were undercover dressed as Trump supporters while flying Swastika flags!!”
Jim Pfaff, the president of the Conservative Caucus, a right-wing organization, also said that the Nazi display alongside the Trump flags was “so obviously a ruse.”
Many others claimed that not only were the Nazi flags flown by leftists, the Republican party doesn’t associate with Nazis, highlighting another boat spraying the Nazi group with water.
“Far left ANTIFA Nazis tried to join a Trump boat parade. They were flying Nazi flags and Trump flags, trying to create a literal false flag event,” far-right influencer Wall Street Silver tweeted. “Trump supporters dealt with the ANTIFA infiltrators appropriately.”
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
