“I wish Trump was a Nazi! I wish Trump was racist!” said Hayden McDougall, while hanging outside the New York Young Republican Club’s 113th annual gala last Saturday. McDougall was just one of several notable tuxedoed antisemites in attendance.

The gala also welcomed Jared Taylor, a white nationalist leader; EmpathChan, an influencer who wore blackface on Halloween; Vish Burra, who recently lost his job at the conservative One America News Network last month for posting a cartoon depicting Jews as cockroaches; and 19 members of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, a German political party that regularly spouts anti-immigrant rhetoric, Politico reported.

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McDougall made his comment while responding to an anti-GOP demonstrator outside of the gala venue. The demonstrator wore and handed out Nazi armbands to highlight anti-Jewish sentiment among Republicans.

Pointing at the demonstrator, McDougall said, “This guy is a fa**ot, and everybody knows it…. Go back to Israel!” He also mockingly said, “Borders are racist, guys! We gotta let 10 million Indians in.”

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Shortly after McDougall made his pro-Nazi statement, another gala attendee named Kevin Smith slapped him. However, Smith later apologized to McDougall in a video, explaining that he meant to slap the anti-Nazi protester instead.

Wild moment outside the New York Young Republican Club gala tonight.

After a protestor was removed for waving a swastika, an attendee named Hayden McDougall accepted it.

Another attendee then stepped out, smacked McDougall, called him a slur, and chased him down the street. pic.twitter.com/JrY0cBDrij

— Timmy Facciola (@TimmyFacciola_) December 14, 2025

Five GOP elected officials who were expected to attend the gala didn’t show up. Following a weekend shooting of a Jewish event in Australia, the New York Young Republican Club posted a now-deleted post blaming immigrants for the violence. The shooters are believed to be Islamic extremists.

“The horrific terror attack in Australia last night is more evidence that Remigration is the only path forward for Western countries,” the club wrote in a since-deleted post. “America, Germany, Australia, and the rest of Europe must implement Remigration or more shootings like this will be inevitable.”

Scholars have drawn parallels between remigration ideology and Nazi fascist movements.

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