Rapid City, S.D., we have a problem. You're hosting the South Dakota GOP Convention, and your event's organizers just banned one of the conservative movement's and the nation's strongest proponents of fair elections. This is far too on-brand for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), and consequently, your great state. This sort of thing doesn't happen by accident.
For context, Scott Presler is living proof of a number of new developments within the conservative movement. As one of the most effective conservative voter registration campaigners, he’s a great example that one person with the right priorities can make a difference. He’s done this on a shoestring budget at times. When you look back at President Donald Trump’s victory in Pennsylvania in 2024, you can’t overstate the role Presler played in giving that state and its Electoral College votes to him. Of course, Presler didn’t limit himself to the Keystone State.
He also happens to be a long-haired, cowboy-boot-wearing gay man. When it comes to successful conservative fighters, that's probably something that was not on your bingo card five or 10 years ago.
Lately, a big area of focus for Presler has been the SAVE America Act and the need to get Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) off his duff to do something about it.
Presler doesn’t just post on social media or give speeches. He’s prone to going where the action is and showing up, always respectfully. That would explain why Presler traveled to Rapid City, South Dakota for the state's GOP Convention and a Republican barbecue event where Thune was scheduled to appear. According to multiple reports and Presler himself, event staff denied him entry even though he had pre-purchased a ticket for the event.
It was Senate Majority Leader Thune’s staff that would not let me into the dinner.
— ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) June 26, 2026
Thought I looked mildly handsome.
Pass the SAVE America Act! pic.twitter.com/bkFerxx8oD
Below is a video Presler took of Jim Eschenbaum, who chairs the South Dakota GOP, telling Presler why he’s been denied admittance.
Chairman Jim Eschenbaum confirmed that Senate Majority Leader Thune asked me not to attend this event.
— ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) June 26, 2026
Thank you for recording everything, James Bialota. pic.twitter.com/7hlx46v2Mn
While Presler posted all of this to his X account, accusing Thune’s office of being behind the event ban, according to Newsweek, Thune’s staff responded with denials, labeling Presler’s allegations a “categorical lie.”
If we’re going to get into “categorical” descriptions of things, I suppose some people would use such a word interchangeably and wrongly with “technically,” and so I will give Thune’s office the benefit of the doubt on word choice. Let's take that denial to mean that Thune’s people weren’t directly involved in the effort to ban Presler, but they did not need to be in order to achieve a desired outcome.
Then there's this: someone actually prepared a flyer with Presler’s picture on it for some reason and placed it near the entry doors to the closed event.
Inside the dinner that I was denied entry, they even had a picture of me on the table.
— ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) June 26, 2026
What does that tell you? pic.twitter.com/F4lcoiYofY
So, technically, while Presler was denied access, Thune supposedly had nothing to do with it, "categorically." Ryan Wrasse, Thune’s communications director, explained on X in true Washington fashion.
A few undeniable facts about last night:
— Ryan Wrasse (@RWrasse) June 26, 2026
✅ It was not a Thune event. It was hosted by SDGOP.
✅ Zero Thune staff working at the doors. Zero.
✅ John Thune did not tell anyone they couldn’t enter, period (again, it was not his event).
But keep the grift alive, I guess
Wrasse is telling us it wasn’t a Thune event, that Thune wasn’t manning the doors himself, telling people they couldn’t come in, and that Thune’s staff was not manning the doors. All of that can be true, and it still doesn’t leave out the very real possibility that signals weren't sent to convention organizers that some people might not be welcome guests.
In crisis or damage control situations, the narrower and more specific the denial, the more compelled you have to be to go looking for what they are not saying or not denying. Where is the dog that's not barking?
Let's proceed. Wrasse further made the case that even though Presler bought a ticket for the event, because he had a press badge, he had to be denied entry because members of the press were denied access.
The event was closed to the press and advertised as such. No press were allowed in, whether they had a dinner ticket or not. He literally posted a photo of himself with a *press badge* just before he made these false claims about a state party event (not Thune’s). It’s nonsense. https://t.co/2X4QDhMS2E pic.twitter.com/NWiOktz5Ac
— Ryan Wrasse (@RWrasse) June 26, 2026
So if this wasn’t a Thune event, and Thune or his staff didn’t have any fingerprints on the Presler banning, why is Wrasse so defensive? And why is he the one defending the event organizers’ admission policies? Put another way, if you’re not in charge of the event, why are you the one taking the lead (and not the event's organizers) to explain event admission policies?
If I were in Wrasse's position, and everything he says is true, my response would have been, "Hey, Presler is welcome as far as we're concerned, but it's not our call." The fact that he didn't or couldn't say something to that effect is puzzling to me.
Well, okay, taken on face value, maybe it wasn’t the Thune people themselves, but we seem to be getting warmer. South Dakota Republican Party, and GOP Convention Sergeant at Arms Matthew Bruner stepped up. He brazenly joined Presler on camera to take credit for the banning.
GAME ON 🚨
— @Chicago1Ray 🇺🇸 (@Chicago1Ray) June 26, 2026
Big mistake by Thune in sending one of his goons to stop Scott Presler from entering an event he had a ticket for
Presler's already pledged to help oust Thune
That's a done deal now...Thune is all but gone
This won't end well for Thunepic.twitter.com/HyC11zr6wG pic.twitter.com/llVb0LwftY
Bruner went on to rub it in on Presler.
John Thune needs to step down. This is ridiculous.
— The Undercurrent (@NotTheirScript) June 26, 2026
This guy was such a jerk to Scott. He didn’t have to be so rude. He then followed up with this gem. He should apologize and make his Facebook page private. pic.twitter.com/vwzhmjLPzW
Bruner, apparently, is not a member of Thune's staff, but he did have a Sergeant at Arms role in this state convention. Perhaps the power went to his head, but you have to know people like Bruner don't operate in a vacuum.
Thanks to Presler's 2.4 million followers on the X platform alone, word traveled fast on this, and the backlash may have been more than the South Dakota GOP operatives anticipated.
Eschenbaum came back into the picture on social media and publicly tried to make things right with Presler. He explained that Bruner was "relieved of his duties" as Sergeant at Arms, and he apologized to Presler, now telling him that he should not have been denied access.
I also apologize for denying you entry. You were exactly right when you said it wasn't Senator Thune's staff that was running the event and I failed you in that decision, and I'm sorry and own it completely.
— Jim Eschenbaum 🇺🇲 (@JimEschenbaum) June 26, 2026
What Eschenbaum is doing here is taking one for the team. He's likely protecting Thune and Thune's staff from any further embarrassment. And of course, someone had to be thrown under the bus, and Bruner made that decision all too easy.
All of that said, this brings us back to why Presler was there in the first place, and why such a red state is making life so hard on a hard-core MAGA conservative like Presler. It can only be Sen. Thune and his decision to dig in on the SAVE Act. He just refuses to hear it, and the people in his immediate and extended political circles are working overtime to insulate him from "We the People."
Keep up the good work, Scott. We need more of this, not less.
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