A speechwriter who joined the Department of Homeland Security in March has in the past promoted the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory that is widely considered antisemitic and compared conservatives in the United States to Jews in Nazi Germany.
The baseless theory alleges that a shadowy cabal is working to replace white people with non-white immigrants; in a prominent version of the theory, which is frequently repeated, the cabal is Jewish. The theory has inspired multiple extremist attacks, including the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and a shooting at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store in 2022, and the Anti-Defamation League considers the version prevalent in the United States to be antisemitic.
Several months after the Buffalo shooting, which killed 10, Eric Lendrum endorsed the theory on his podcast “The Right Take” — not for the first time. He said it was “real” and “already being put into effect in some European cities.”
In a previous episode that aired in April 2021, titled “Is White Replacement a Myth?”, he and his co-host accused Democrats of “systematically replacing Americans” to gain political power. They acknowledged the critique of replacement theory as antisemitic but rejected it.
“It’s antisemitic by the way — even though that literally no one blames this on Jews but OK,” Lendrum said sarcastically.
Lendrum’s past comments were first reported this week by Notus, an independent news outlet covering the government. The site noted that while Lendrum’s digital output was vast, his audience appeared to be relatively small.
His X account, to which he has limited visibility to his 450 followers after Notus’ report, follows 88 accounts — a number that is widely understood to be a white supremacist code representing “Heil Hitler.” Other figures accused of antisemitism in the past have followed just 88 accounts despite using the platform frequently.
The Notus report adds Lendrum to a growing list of Trump administration hires, drawn from a vast far-right media ecosystem, who have promoted antisemitic rhetoric and ideas. It comes at a time when his department has posted social media content that appears to contain antisemitic dogwhistles.
The department’s website suggests that speechwriters are not responsible for social media posts. The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Lendrum’s past comments.
Before being hired at DHS in March, according to his LinkedIn profile, Lendrum wrote for the right-wing site American Greatness and worked as an associate producer for the radio show hosted by Sebastian Gorka, a former Trump advisor who was accused of having sworn allegiance to a far-right Hungarian group whose previous iteration collaborated with Nazis during Word War II. Gorka rejected the idea that he had any Nazi or antisemitic affinities.
“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, who graduated from college in 2017, wrote in one American Greatness column in 2021.
According to the DHS Office of Public Affairs’ website, Lendrum’s duties as a speechwriter include preparing “speeches, talking points, editorials, Congressional testimony, video scripts, web content and other written content for the Secretary and Deputy Secretary.”
Other Trump administration hires with records of promoting extremist ideas include Kingsley Wilson, who was appointed as the Pentagon press secretary in May, has repeatedly echoed antisemitic rhetoric online, sparking criticism from the House Jewish Caucus.
The appointment of Darren Beattie as the acting under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs in February also drew criticism for his track record of consorting with white supremacists and hawking conspiracy theories.
And the appointment of Paul Ingrassia in May to a senior legal role raised eyebrows because of his past defense of the avowed white supremacist Nick Fuentes and work with antisemitic influencer Andrew Tate.
Most recently, President Donald Trump tapped E.J. Antoni, who has said the Nazi warship Bismarck is “hard not to love,” to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This story has been updated with additional details about Lendrum’s comments on his podcast.
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