DHS shrugs as speech writer linked to explicit hate posts

A speechwriter for the Department of Homeland Security has floated racist conspiracy theories, called for the “evil ideology of transgenderism” to be “eradicated,” and celebrated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to several podcast episodes and social media posts linked to their name, NOTUS reported Monday.

That speechwriter is Eric Lendrum, who previously served as President Donald Trump’s press assistant during his first term. NOTUS linked the online posts to Lendrum “through keyword searches on Google and social media platforms,” noting that his “comments were easily accessible.”

Examples of Lendrum’s alleged online footprint include an endorsement of the “great replacement theory,” the white nationalist conspiracy theory that proclaims world elites are working to eradicate people of European descent from the earth. He said the theory was “real, by the way, folks” on his podcast “The Right Take” in an episode that, despite being published in 2022, has garnered only nine views as of Monday morning.

According to Lendrum’s LinkedIn profile, he previously served as a White House intern in 2019, and was hired as a speechwriter for DHS in March of this year. His LinkedIn also lists him as being a contributor to the conservative opinion and news website American Greatness, where in 2021, a post with Lendrum’s byline compared backlash against Republicans following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to what “Jews” faced “in the years leading up to Nazi Germany.”

“It was true during slavery, it was true during the Holocaust, and it is true now,” the post reads.

On X, a profile named “@realEricLendrum,” which includes a link to his byline on American Greatness, NOTUS uncovered a number of comments using transphobic rhetoric, including the equation of “trannies” to “child molesters,” and a call to "eradicate transgenderism” and “wipe it off the face of the earth.”

“I will keep calling them trannies because I know it’s derogatory, and I know they freakin’ hate it,” Lendrum said in a 2023 episode of The Right Take. “That’s why I deadname them. That’s why I use their original pronouns. You control the language. Don’t give these freaks an inch on the language.”

NOTUS reached out to both Lendrum and DHS for comment, receiving no response from Lendrum, but a vague response from DHS.

“In response to detailed questions from NOTUS, DHS responded only with a link to the text of the First Amendment,” wrote NOTUS reporter Emily Kennard.