Donald Trump’s campaign adviser Alex Bruesewitz collapsed on stage while speaking at a GOP black tie event.
The 27-year-old strategist, who was tasked with helping the Trump campaign court young voters during the 2024 election campaign, was introducing incoming White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino at the 112th New York Young Republicans Club Gala at the Cipriani Wall Street in Manhattan on Sunday evening.
Shocking footage shows Bruesewitz speaking at the podium before he begins to slur and stare blankly at the sea of Republicans sporting tuxedos, ballgowns and red MAGA hats.
“I’m forgetting my words,” Bruesewitz said, before collapsing as members of the crowd screamed.
Several attendees quickly rushed on stage to help as the camera panned out to the audience.
Bruesewitz, CEO of political lobbying group XStrategiesLLC, was then seen being helped backstage.
Following the incident, Trump called in to the event to send his best wishes to his adviser.
“I know that Alex is going to be fine because he’s a tough son of a gun,” the president-elect said in a call broadcast live at the GOP event. “There’s no doubt about that. So I want to say hello to Alex, because he’s a very special guy.”
Master of ceremonies Raheem Kassam, a former aide to leader of Britain’s right-wing Reform Party Nigel Farage, later reassured the crowd he was fine.
“I talked to our friend Alex Bruesewitz and you know what he said to me? He goes ‘Did I at least look cool?’ I said Alex you used gravity like I’ve seen nobody use gravity before in their lives,” Kassam said.
“But he’s recuperating back there so give him a big cheer so he’ll hear you.”
Jack Posobiec, the alt-right political activist and commentator, also said he spoke with Bruesewitz backstage after the incident.
“He is getting checked out by medical after having a brief fainting spell onstage. All levels are normal,” he wrote on X. “Only thing he asked me was, ‘Did it look cool?’”
He added that the “most likely cause” of Bruesewitz’s collapse was “dehydration” and “locked legs.”
While much of the event’s focus was on Trump’s re-election to the White House, the audience also celebrated the acquittal of Daniel Penny, the ex-Marine accused of killing homeless man Jordan Neely after putting him on a chokehold on a subway train last year.
“Daniel Penny became the folk hero that we need in a post-constitutional America besieged by existential, internal threats,” club president Gavin Wax said. “Penny received about as fair a trial as he could have gotten in New York City.
“Thankfully, the jury, a Manhattan jury, thankfully did not buy their nonsense.”
The Independent has contacted the Trump Transition Team and XStrategiesLLC for more information.
