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The strange history behind Trump's “childhood friend” (UPDATED)
David Rem is speaking at the MSG rally. But how do they know each other?
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UPDATES at bottom of story.
Donald Trump and a cohort of speakers will take the stage at New York City’s Madison Square Garden this afternoon, with Trump himself expected to speak at 5pm ET. When the list of speakers was released on Friday, a lot of the usual suspects were there: Elon Musk; Stephen Miller; Tucker Carlson; Trump’s sons. But at the very bottom, an unfamiliar name jumped out: “David Rem, Childhood Friend of President Trump.”
But as it turns out, far from being "childhood friends" Rem and Trump met for the first time just weeks ago, on October 14th this year. There's no indication that Rem is close to Trump, and Rem has his own dark history of MAGA agitating and criminality.
How did this supposedly lifelong friendship begin? Here's the clip:
Man yells to TRUMP: “Your father paid for my tuition!”
Trump then takes the time to meet him 🙏🏼
The media will never show you this!!! 🇺🇸 @realDonaldTrump
— TONY™ (@TONYxTWO)
8:56 PM • Oct 16, 2024
In a video shared on Twitter from Trump’s town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania on October 14—the one where he decided to stop taking questions and dance for 39 minutes—a man off camera can be heard shouting a story at Trump from the crowd.
“Your father paid for my tuition,” the man says. “Three kids. 1974. Kew Forest.” Trump then points at him with recognition and says, “You’re the man.” He replies, “I’m the man.” Trump then says he’ll come down to talk to him.
Less than two weeks later, Rem was listed as a speaker at Trump’s homecoming event.
Rem has publicly shared his story multiple times, and it goes something like this: In 1974, Fred Trump—Donald’s father—showed up at Rem’s family’s home in the wake of their father’s sudden death and let them know he’d be paying tuition for Rem and his siblings at Kew Forest, the same school Donald attended 17 years earlier. This story has not been confirmed outside of Rem’s telling.
Here’s a video of him sharing his story with right wing media network Real America’s Voice in May:
He ends the interview by saying, “I love you Donald. I would love to be able to shake your hand. It was my mom’s last dying wish.” In an October 17th Twitter post, Rem confirmed he got his wish.
MAMA, WE DID IT! THANK U GOD!🙏
PRESIDENT TRUMP-WE❤️LOVE U!
@realDonaldTrump @BoLoudon @JackPosobiec @bennyjohnson
@WarlordDilley @brianglenntv @TuckerCarlson @greggutfeld @seanhannity— David Rem (@DavidRem8)
11:19 AM • Oct 17, 2024
He also shared the story in the crowd outside of Trump’s recent rally on Long Island.
Rem is no politics newbie. He’s become a locally-known MAGA agitator in Queens and even claimed to be running for Congress this year in Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s district, though his candidacy was never official.
And perhaps in the speed of elevating Rem from rally attendee to main stage speaker, MAGA World neglected to do their due diligence.
According to a court record for a person matching his name and birth date, Rem was arrested in 1991 for boarding a train from Los Angeles to Chicago with a suitcase containing 18 kilograms of cocaine. He pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute and was sentenced to 151 months in prison.
I have no judgment about Rem having a criminal record. But Trump has consistently blamed migrants for the surging drug crisis in this country, and it’s particularly rich to see him elevate a man from his hometown who was found guilty of drug-related crimes.
The rally in the heart of Manhattan promises to be a dark one, filled with violent anti-immigrant and white nationalist rhetoric that has been a constant on the Trump campaign trail. It’s reminiscent of the 1939 “Pro American Rally”, also held at Madison Square Garden, hosted by the German American Bund, an American Nazi organization.
Don’t believe me? Watch this short documentary from 2015 and see how much of it feels all too familiar.
UPDATE #1 (10/27/24, 5:17pm ET)
Rem spoke at Trump’s rally around 4:30pm ET. During his brief remarks he tearfully told his Fred Trump story, called Vice President Harris “the devil” while waving a crucifix in the air, and announced his plans to run for Mayor of New York City.
Full speech here:
The MSM won’t show you David Rem’s speech at Madison Square Garden. Would be a shame if we made this go viral
Fred Trump, Donald Trump’s father, paid for his & his siblings’ private schooling after his father passed away in 1974 because he couldn’t bear to watch them return to… x.com/i/web/status/1…
— Kylie Jane Kremer (@KylieJaneKremer)
9:02 PM • Oct 27, 2024
UPDATE #2 (10/28/24, 11:30am ET)
Since publishing my story yesterday about David Rem, I’ve learned more about the seemingly random guy who ended up on stage at Trump’s Nazi rally. As I mentioned, he was a known MAGA agitator and attempted to run for Congress in NY-14. But there’s more.
First, he was the campaign manager in 2023 for…this guy:
A Republican City Council candidate from Queens is a serial sperm donor with “superior” unvaccinated genetic material who says he’s “fighting corruption” for “all” his children.
Jonathan David Rinaldi, a 44-year-old from Forest Hills, is vying for a seat in District 24 in eastern Queens to help promote “parental rights” after he spawned a prodigious pandemic hobby: fathering at least a dozen children in two years’ time.
“I’d like as many as God will give me. Why put your entire bloodline into one child when you can spread it out? Eighteen is a holy number in Judaism. And the next one is 36, so I’ll reassess then,” Rinaldi said when he was featured in a November 2022 Humans of New York post.
Rem told the NY Post at the time that Rinaldi’s “sperm is superior because he has not been injected” with the mRNA vaccine.
Here’s Rem begging Andrew Giuliani to let him into the New York Young Republican Club Christmas party last year:
As my @riseandresistny peeps and I welcomed NYC's bottom feeding elite to the @NYYRC Christmas Gala at @Cipriani Wall Street, I got to capture a little of @AndrewHGiuliani /Busey chitchatting with some mook who didn't have a ticket, when up walks @RogerJStoneJr.
#RepubliKlans— 🌊Jay W. (#StopProject2025) Walker (@jaywwalker1)
1:49 AM • Dec 10, 2023
Here he is being thrown out of a press conference with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg last year:
'UTTERLY DISGRACEFUL': Alvin Bragg protester booted from House Judiciary field hearing on crime.
fxn.ws/43D0XU3— Fox News (@FoxNews)
11:15 PM • Apr 17, 2023
And here’s Rem harassing migrants being sheltered in Staten Island:
@RepSantosNY03 Oh and David Rem took of his poncho for this stunt. Lovely.
Here he is in Staten Island this week and harassing AOC yesterday.
Same lame publicity stunts with the lame background actors.
— Resident NY3 (@Ny3Resident)
4:57 PM • Sep 16, 2023
He also spoke at a press conference with disgraced former Republican Congressman George Santos last September (starting around the nine minute mark):
🚨 BREAKING NEWS NY - “The border is a national security issue. We are suffering a national security crisis. “
George Santos gives urgent Press Conference in front of Roosevelt Hotel earlier today. Sends chilling message to all Americans and his colleagues. Please watch… x.com/i/web/status/1…
— Cafecito Break (@cafecitobreak)
7:33 PM • Sep 16, 2023
I’ve reached out to the Kew Forest school to verify Rem’s attendance there and to try and confirm the story of Fred Trump paying for him and his siblings’ tuition in 1974. It seems like an awfully big coincidence that a migrant-hating professional right wing agitator would have such an acute familial connection to the Trump family.
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