The MAGA Movement's Links With The Global Far Right Were On Full Display At Trump's Latest Party

By Hunter Walker

Originally Published: December 13, 2023 12:18 p.m.

As a tuxedoed former President Donald Trump stood on a stage in Manhattan on Saturday night and doubled down on past quips about being a "dictator," at least one member of the audience had real ties to actual historical dictatorships.

The crowd who gathered at the swank Cipriani Wall Street for the New York Young Republican Club's annual gala included Gerald Grosz, an Austrian politician and former presidential candidate who has been part of a political party founded by Nazis and who has deep ties to a late leader who often praised the Third Reich. Grosz was one of several figures from the European far right who attended the event and have previously associated with the club that hosted Trump.

The scene was a precise encapsulation of the way Trump and his allies have embraced the global far right and authoritarian rhetoric as he runs to retake the White House. It also nodded at the irony in Trump and his allies' insistence that his strongman bluster shouldn't be taken seriously, even as they eagerly expect four years of vendettas and aggression.

Outside the MAGA bubble, fears of a Trump dictatorship are fueled by his own campaign platform, including the potentially criminal efforts to overturn and question the last election, his vows to crush political enemies, or as he has called them "vermin," promises to use the military to quash protest, and vows to suppress the press. The dark rhetoric ramped up in recent weeks as Kash Patel, a former Trump White House aide who has been tipped for a senior post if the former president returns to office, gave an interview promising a hypothetical second administration would "come after" Trump's rivals "not just in government but in the media." Amid the growing alarm, Trump loyalist and Fox News host Sean Hannity asked the former president during a town hall to promise he would "never abuse power as retribution against anybody." Rather than taking the opportunity to soothe anyone's fears, Trump declared he would only be "a dictator" on "day one" of his second term.

Trump doubled down at the NYYRC gala this weekend, where he was introduced with a flair of false and illogical 2020 election denialism as "the 45th, the 46th, and the 47th president of the United States." In his speech, Trump blasted the press as "animals" and praised global strongmen like Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un as "sharp." He also reiterated his desire to — albeit briefly — be a dictator.

"I said I want to be a dictator for one day," Trump said. "You know why I wanted to be a dictator? Because I want a wall, and I want to drill, drill, drill."

The over-the-top nature of his comments, the jovial tone, and the suggestion it's just a theoretical comment about a single day give Trump's promise of authoritarian rule a winking, nodding deniability. Self parodying humor has been a defining feature of the modern far right and neo-Nazi movement.

The notion that Trump and his MAGA movement are sending out a clear signal about his authoritarian intentions is bolstered by the fact several fellow ideological travelers from Europe were drawn to his speech last weekend.

Grosz, who did not respond to a request for comment, was initially a member of the Freedom Party of Austria, which was founded by a former Nazi leader and SS officer. He left that party for an offshoot along with a fellow member, the late Jorg Haider, the son of a Nazi stormtrooper who sparked international controversy duringt his career for praising the "orderly" policies of the Third Reich. Grosz is currently on the board of a society dedicated to Haider's memory. Last year, Grosz ran for president with a decidedly Trumpian flair, as his main slogan was "Make Austria Grosz Again."

Along with Grosz, the gala was attended by Susanna Ceccardi, a member of the European Parliament from Italy's right-wing Lega party. Another member of the European Union's legislative body, Maximilian Krah of Germany's right wing Alternative fur Deutschland party, or AfD, was also present for the festivities along with David Bendels, the editor of a publication that is aligned with the AfD.

While they hail from different countries, Grosz, Ceccardi, and Krah have all been part of movements that are staunchly nationalist and anti-immigrant. In Germany, AfD has been described by critics as a "neo-Nazi" organization, an allegation it has rejected. The group has also been classified as a right-wing extremist group by state-level intelligence agencies.

Trump's likely election opposition believes his association with these fringe figures is an alarming sign that should be taken quite seriously. Ammar Moussa, director of rapid response for the Biden campaign, described Trump's participation in an event with leaders from Europe's far right-wing as just the latest proof of his authoritarian leanings.

"Donald Trump rubbing elbows with Nazi-linked groups might be surprising if Trump's last month wasn't defined by him parroting Hitler and Mussolini, and promising to rule as a dictator so he can rip away Americans' freedoms and round up millions of Americans into detention camps," Moussa said. "The American people rejected Trump and his MAGA attacks on democracy in 2020, and it's why he's going to lose again next November."

Trump's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

For now, Trump is leading in some polls and the NYYRC gala was a snapshot of a potential second Trump administration in waiting. Under the lights at Cipriani, the international right mingled with a motley crew of MAGA world politicians and online influencers. The crowd who gathered for Trump's fiery speech included Patel, Reps. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), as well as Rogan O'Handley, the conservative commentator better known as "DC Draino," and Jack Posobiec, a right wing pundit who was a prominent advocate of the "Stop The Steal" movement and the thoroughly debunked "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory.

Trump gave shoutouts to O'Handley and Posobiec from the stage. Patel, Posobiec, and Gaetz had a meeting together at a Manhattan hotel prior to the event, according to a photo a source provided to TPM. The audience also included Steve Bannon, the once-and-future Trump confidante who has been a major force in defining the modern, nationalist so-called right wing "populist" movement and building connections between its adherents in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America. That includes politicians like former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whose supporters ransacked government buildings after he left office earlier this year, and Argentina's newly-elected president Javier Milei, who won a shocking victory last month after a campaign filled with defenses of Argentina's former military junta and promises to shutter government agencies and enact socially conservative policies.

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