Trump administration speechwriter linked to hate speech online

A speechwriter for the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has come under scrutiny after he was linked to hate speech online.

Eric Lendrum compared the circumstances of American conservatives to that of enslaved people and Jewish people in Nazi Germany, and in his podcast claimed that the racist great replacement conspiracy theory was “real”, the news outlet Notus reported.

Notus reported that Lendrum began working at the DHS, which is headed by Kristi Noem, in March this year, after previously working at the Department of the Interior during the first Trump administration. The DHS has been at the forefront of Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigration during his second presidency.

In the gap between his government roles, Lendrum was a frequent online presence, hosting a podcast, posting on X and Telegram, and writing a blog on the website American Greatness. In one post from December 2021, Lendrum defended people who participated in the January 6 insurrection, claiming they faced “persecution for their patriotism”.

“It has been said that the most surefire way to create an authoritarian regime is to completely dehumanize a significant portion of the population, so that their subsequent enslavement by the state will not face any larger resistance,” Lendrum wrote. “It was true during slavery, it was true during the Holocaust, and it is true now.

“Actress Gina Carano [who likened the experience of Jews during the Holocaust to the US political climate] was right; American conservatives are, right now, on a course for being every bit as ostracized and alienated from broader society as Jews were in the years leading up to Nazi Germany.”

Lendrum also expressed extremist views on his podcast, claiming in October 2022 that the great replacement theory, a racist conspiracy narrative that falsely asserts there is an active, ongoing and covert effort to replace white populations in current white-majority countries, was “already being put into effect in some European cities”.

Notus and the Daily Beast found hateful posts on an X account which belongs to Lendrum. In one post from 2023 he shared a video of thousands of people protesting against Israel’s war on Gaza, and wrote:

“Cars are bigger and heavier than any one of these freaks. All it takes is one brave driver to do what needs to be done, then others will follow.”

The Daily Beast reported that the same account repeatedly posted anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments, referring to transgender people as “child molesters” and referring to “LGBTQ freaks”.

The DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. When reached by Notus, the department responded by sending a link to the first amendment, which protects free speech.