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Neo-Nazis showed up to a Donald Trump boat parade in Jupiter, Florida on Sunday, sparking widespread outrage and condemnation.
Organized by Carlos Gadivia, the self-described “original creator of the Trump boat movement,” the event promised paratroopers with Trump flags, an airshow, and “the world’s largest Trump flag,” according to Gadivia’s post advertising the event.
Although it wasn’t an official Trump campaign event, Rolling Stone reported that Trump’s son Eric Trump attended the boat parade, and political lobbyist and self-described “Trump-loyalist” Roger Stone had touted it as the “mother of all TRUMP boat parades” on X.
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In an October 13 post, X user Lesley Abravanel shared two photos of the neo-Nazis, who arrived in a boat of their own, brandishing swastika flags alongside Trump 2024 memorabilia. One appears to be holding a photo of My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, who recently denied allegations that his company re-priced its Standard Classic Pillow at $14.88, a number associated with white supremacist rhetoric.
“Near Palm Beach right now,” Abravanel wrote. “All Nazis are Trump voters. Sickening.”
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Trump’s lesbian niece, Mary L. Trump, an outspoken critic of her uncle, shared one of Abravanel’s photos along with another photo taken from behind the boat in an X post of her own later that day, writing, “What the fuck are we even doing?”
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The boat’s riders wore skeleton masks or sunglasses to conceal their faces, so at the time of writing, their identities are unknown. The X account @patriottakes shared a video seemingly filmed from the neo-Nazis’ boat in which its occupants combine pro-Trump sentiments with Nazi slogans, shouting things like, “Heil Trump!” and “Make America white again!”
One person in the boat can be seen wearing a Moms for Liberty shirt. The right-wing organization, originally founded in 2021 to protest COVID-19 precautions in Florida schools, has since focused its efforts on goals like banning books and restricting school discussions about gender identity, race, and sexual orientation. Although it’s unclear what ties the neo-Nazi attendee wearing the shirt has to Moms for Liberty, the organization has strong ties to Trump himself. Last month, the Republican presidential candidate attended the annual Moms for Liberty National Summit in Washington, D.C., where he was interviewed by the group’s co-founder, Tiffany Justice.
Gavidia spoke out against the parade’s neo-Nazi attendees in an October 14 Facebook reel that shows another attendee using their boat’s propellers to spray them with water.
“As you can see, this was filmed during the ultimate Trump boat parade,” Gavidia wrote in the reel’s caption. “These patriots took care of the infiltrators that came in, pretending to be with us wearing masks and having terrible flags up supporting Nazis!”
He added that “the patriots” in attendance “handled it the best we could, till PB Marine Patrol came [and] detained them so they could not be part of our celebration! [...] Don’t fall for the fake news.”
In a separate reel that also featured footage of the neo-Nazi boat, Gavidia claimed that “the left tried to send in some agitators to create a false narrative!”
Earlier today, the Trump campaign responded to Newsweek’s request for comment regarding the neo-Nazis’ presence at the parade, saying, “Kamala’s supporters are reaching all-time lows. Social media posts show that genuine Trump supporters identified these idiots as liberal activists trying to create fake news.”
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