
Who is Brad Nall? Des Moines man seen tearing down anti-Trump posters in viral video launches GoFundMe
Viral video
The incident took place on a bridge in Des Moines, Iowa, where a group of protesters had displayed signs equating President Donald Trump with Adolf Hitler. In the viral clip, Nall is seen aggressively tearing down the posters while the protesters shout at him and hurl expletives. At one point, he appears to push one of the women. As he finishes ripping down the signs, he walks away laughing and heads toward his pickup truck.
The video quickly spread across social media platforms, garnering millions of views. Supporters of Trump praised Nall's actions, calling him a 'patriot,' while critics condemned his behavior as aggressive and potentially criminal.
One person wrote on X, 'Whoever the gentleman is in Des Moines, Iowa, thank you for tearing down their signs; if they can put them up illegally, then you can take the signs down.'
Another commented, 'Nice to see patriots taking action."
A third person wrote, 'Disgusting.'
Another person commented, 'He should be arrested for assault.'
Also Read: Hillary Clinton says she'd nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize on one condition: 'My goal here is…'
GoFundMe launched
Following the viral attention, Nall launched a GoFundMe campaign titled 'Justice for Fed Up Patriot,' which was later taken down by the platform. He then created a second fundraiser called 'Support for Patriot Standing for Trump.'
In his message on the page, Nall wrote, 'I am just an ordinary working man who took a stand against people who want to try to slander President Trump's name and malign him with Adolf Hitler. I did not harm anyone, but I got maced as I was walking away. I'm sure they will pursue some kind of charges. I see these kinds of ridiculous signs everyday and I just got fed up with the lies. I work hard for my family and feel like our President is a good person who is on our side, America's side for once.'
He added, "I've lived and worked in Des Moines my whole life. Protests happen all the time. But illegally covering the bridges in ridiculous propaganda comparing Trump to Hitler is crossing the line. I didn't put my hands on anyone. I took the signs down. They maced me as I was walking away. Calling me a pedophile over and over like deranged lunatics. They're harassing me, my job, and my family as well as completely innocent people who had old phone numbers and addresses of mine because the lunatics were trying to doxx me. Now they're trying to sue me in civil court, because there wasn't cause for a criminal charge, and they are insane with hatred and brainwashing. Thank you for your support! I appreciate all the messages! God Bless.'
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The Hindu
12 minutes ago
- The Hindu
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First Post
12 minutes ago
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He would have known that the Russian President is at his best when pushed to a corner, thanks to his street-fighting experience during his childhood in Leningrad. As Lourie writes: 'The lesson that the streets of Leningrad taught was simple, and it stayed with Putin his whole life: The weak get beaten. Weakness is both disgrace and danger.' That street code shaped Putin's worldview and his political tactics. 'The streets of Leningrad taught me one thing: if a fight is unavoidable, throw the first punch,' the Russian president would concede much later in an interview. Putin thrives on others' aggression, and in Alaska, Trump provided him just that. However, Putin's drive is not just personal psychology. As historian Orlando Figes writes in The Story of Russia, Ukraine is an 'existential war' for him—he will fight until he can claim a credible victory. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Ukraine being non-negotiable for Russia makes Putin doubly lethal—and an almost impossible war for the West to win. Ukraine's importance comes from the fact that it has always been central to Russia's identity, both historically and strategically. 'All Russian history flowed from Kiev. Every schoolchild learned: Kiev is the mother of Russian cities, Ukraine is Russia's breadbasket,' Lourie notes. During the Soviet Union's 75 years, Ukrainian leaders—including Khrushchev, Brezhnev and Chernenko—ruled for three decades. A Missed Opportunity At the heart of the Ukraine conflict lies Russia's enduring apprehension of encirclement by the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato). Lourie recalls how, in 1990, US Secretary of State James Baker promised Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that if Moscow pulled its forces from East Germany and allowed reunification, Nato would not move 'one inch east'. In the three decades since, Nato has expanded not by inches but by hundreds of kilometres. The policy was so fundamentally flawed that it had even drawn criticism from George Kennan, America's foremost Russia strategist and author of the Cold War containment doctrine. Kennan called Nato's enlargement 'the most fateful error of American policy in the post-Cold-War era', predicting it would revive 'nationalistic, anti-Western and militaristic tendencies in Russian opinion'. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The Ukraine war is a making of the West's own folly, envy, and ambition. In his first presidential term, Putin actually sought integration with the West. He frequently emphasised that Russia was part of European culture and even entertained the idea of joining Nato or the EU. But the Western European nations rebuffed him—repeatedly. Orlando Figes describes this rejection as part of a 'recurring pattern running right through Russian history since at least the eighteenth century'. Russia 'sought respect and recognition as part of Europe, but when humiliated, it turned inward, rebuilt, and armed itself against the West'. Putin soon realised Russia's destiny couldn't lie with the West, possibly inspired by thinkers like Nikolai Danilevsky. Figes writes, 'His (Putin's) thinking here was possibly derived from Danilevsky's Russia and Europe, written in the wake of the Crimean War, in which the Pan-Slav thinker had maintained that Russia was a distinctive multicultural civilisation, neither understood nor recognised by Europe, which saw it only as an aggressor state and wanted to diminish it.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Western condescension—rooted in a sense of cultural and even racial superiority—pushed Russia to reposition itself, not as European but as a Eurasian power. It started looking afresh at its Asian roots and allies. Conclusion There's no solution to Ukraine without understanding these moot points and differences. Peace comes through negotiations, understanding and fair play, sometimes imposed through the barrel of a gun. It just cannot happen because a leader is in a hurry to gain Nobel nominations or even impress his domestic audience. Trump went to Alaska hoping for a breakthrough he could tout to his domestic audience and impress upon the Nobel committee. Instead, he was steamrolled. For Putin, it was a win-win situation. He secured global legitimacy, widened Western divisions, and strengthened the impression that Russia dictates terms on the Ukrainian issue while Washington scrambles to catch up. However, we are yet to hear the last word on Ukraine—and of course, the Trump-Putin saga. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.