The Rise of Nick Fuentes

Art Credit: Mai Preisser

The rise of far-right political activist and influencer Nick Fuentes reflects growing fractures within the MAGA movement and the Republican Party. With the recent platforming of Nick Fuentes, he and his movement have caught the eye of many spectators in the current political sphere. This has helped elevate Fuentes’s visibility despite his history of antisemitism, white nationalism, and disagreement with the Republican Party.

Nick Fuentes has drawn many young and radical voters toward his ideology, as Fuentes envisions a different future for the conservative party, one centered on a prosperous nation founded on the principles of nationalism, Christianity, and traditional values. This growing influence has positioned Fuentes as a prominent figure heading into the 2028 election. With so much increasing momentum, Fuentes’s movement has the potential to cause shifts in the primaries or even future campaigns. U.S. political parties must respond to this rise in political extremism and confront their failures. 

Nick Fuentes is a 27-year-old white-supremacist who displays heavy involvement in the America First movement and is widely regarded as a leading figure in the Groyper movement. Fuentes is of Mexican descent, was raised Roman Catholic and attended Boston University. He had gained traction in the influencer world by the Trump’s first term, posting on Facebook that a “tidal wave of white identity is coming,” shortly after neo-Nazi plowed a car into a crowd of counter-protesters, attending the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia with hundreds chanting  “Jews will not replace us.” Nick Fuentes hosts a show  on Rumble, where the influencer wears a suit and tie and monologues or rants about current social and political issues, obtaining millions of views per episode. He has built a coalition of followers known as “Groypers”, a bigoted group who have presented themselves as the “lingua franca of the young, ascendant right” and one of the biggest "political fandoms” there is. The “Groypers” demonstrate to defend “traditional American and Christian values”. The Groyper image and term, which originate from a smug-looking green cartoon frog derived from Pepe the Frog, reflect the movement’s appeal to a younger audience, serving as a mascot, or rather, an online calling card for Fuentes’ followers. Though they display trollish tendencies, it is an organized movement, as they rail against pornography, the so-called feminization of America, and the passive nature of mainstream Christianity. The movement opposes immigration, women’s equality, and LGBTQ+ rights, and continuously mocks the Republican Party. Fuentes has promoted antisemitism by questioning the Holocaust, and his rhetoric towards the elites alleges that Jewish people secretly control the media, finance, and government. Fuentes has even gone out to display admiration for Adolf Hitler. 

Though he still doesn’t see himself as a white-supremacist, but rather a “Christian conservative,” Fuentes believes in “great replacement” conspiracies about Jews and the idea that nonwhite immigrants are eroding Western civilization. During an appearance on Alex Jones’s InfoWars in May 2021, Fuentes argued that America would cease to exist as a Christian nation if it were to “lose its white demographic core” and its “faith in Jesus Christ.” His most vital belief is his commitment to an America First ideology, as he once stated“we want this century to be the most Christian century in the history of planet Earth,” suggesting he believes in Christianity being America's religion. The America First movement has origins in the nationalism of the 1940s, as cultural icon  and famous aviator Charles Lindbergh blamed the British, the Jews and the Roosevelt Administration for drawing the United States into World War II. America First has evolved into a movement that seeks to foster American values centered on a white, Christian nation.

 However, there is huge contradiction within the Groyper movement, as many involved are of Latino descent. Many accounts in the movement identify as ‘Hispanic Groyper,’ ‘Venezuelan American Groyper,’ and ‘Latino Zoomer.’ The Groyper and American First movement obtain such a diverse audience as many demographics harbor racist attitudes about black people and negative views of Jews, making it not difficult for individuals to show support for Fuentes’s hate speech. The multiracialism of the Groypers displays an unfortunate illusion of optimism: if racists can see past their differences to advocate a common cause, it could shift voter dynamics during elections.

Despite being banned from most major platforms, Nick Fuentes' resurgence back to the public eye was nonetheless granted as X CEO, Elon Musk  reinstated his account, providing a crucial network for his following. In late 2025, Fuentes was propelled into a wider audience as former Fox host Tucker Carlson platformed him to discuss controversial topics within the GOP. Topics arose about Jewish populations living in America, with specific reference made to the conservative-media figure Mark Levin and the right-wing megadonor Miriam Adelson. Fuentes has described “Zionist Jews” as enemies of the conservative movement, claiming that their loyalties lie with Israel rather than the United States. He stated, “They have this international community across borders, extremely organized, that is putting the interests of themselves before the interests of their home country.” He further elaborated, “As far as the Jews are concerned, you cannot actually divorce Israel and the neocons and all those things that you talk about from Jewishness: ethnicity, religion, identity.” With 7 million views on youtube and 18 million views on X, this interview has become the center of MAGA's debate over Israel. President Donald Trump was even questioned about the interview, but declined to criticize Carlson’s decision to have Fuentes platformed. The interview caused a collision on the right, as mainstream Republicans have denounced Fuentes and Carlson for giving him a platform. Conservative commentator Rod Dreher warned that the GOP has a neo-Nazi problem. Dreher stated between 30% and 40% of Republican staffers in Washington under the age of 30 are “Groypers.” The influential Heritage Foundation solicited a range of opinions on the president's “defense” of Carlson’s interview with Fuentes. The president of the foundation, Kevin Roberts describes Carlson’s critics as a “venomous coalition” of “the globalist class,” leading to mass resignations at the Heritage Foundation.

The interview has not been the only thing to split the MAGA movement, as Trump's consistent failures on immigration, the Epstein client list,  and the U.S relations with the state of Israel are the roots of the divide.  Among the younger generation (Generation Z & Millennials), there has been a rapid increase in self-described independents, as Trump's first year in his second term had come to a close. The controversy surrounding the Epstein files has weakened trust in the Trump administration. The release of the 3 million Jeffrey Epstein documents has the potential to expose a hidden network of elite corruption and pedophilia, yet it has failed to seriously implicate President Trump. The dispute within the MAGA movement over the release of documents stems from Trump's troubling association with Epstein, particularly since Trump’s name appears numerous times in the documents, and there has been a perceived lack of urgency to publicly address this issue.

President Donald Trump’s mass deportation promise has worried the Republican Party. The aggressive approach to deportation policies could negatively impact the GOP’s odds in the coming 2026 primariesP. Lawmakers, candidates, strategists and White House advisors warned that the arrests of U.S. citizens and clashes between protesters and federal officials could cost them the House. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) stated “If we don’t change our approach, it will have a negative effect on the midterms, for sure.” 49 percent of Americans believe the administration campaign is  too aggressive, including 1 in 5 voters who backed the implementation. The GOP is losing support with key demographics such as moderate Republicans, independents, Latinos and young voters who aided Trump’s victory in 2024. Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) summarizes this problem by saying that “one thing is the gardeners, another thing is the gangsters. One thing is the cooks, the other thing is the coyotes.”.

In regards to the U.S relations with Israel; the Republican Party and Democratic Party see eye-to-eye on their affiliations and alliance with Israel, but currently the right is fighting about whether Washington's unconditional support for Israel truly serves American interests. It is the biggest factor shaping the American right as many individuals seek justice in the Middle Eastern Region towards Israeli occupation in Gaza and parts of the West Bank. A large portion of the MAGA movement is driven by Christian nationalism, which remains closely tied to to the pro-Israel establishment. Prominent figures such as Mike Johnson and Lindsey Graham view the alliance with Israel as a sacred cause. Mike Johnson has stated that “the Bible is clear: Judea and Samaria are the Land of Israel. I do not understand why we debate this anew every single day,” suggesting he believes that Israel’s survival is central to both Christian prophecy and the preservation of Western civilization. In contrast, conservative research centre Manhattan Institute concluded that 17% of the Republican Party falls into what the poll defines as “anti-Jewish Republicans,” who are young males that are likely college-educated. According to the March 2025 Pew Survey, 50 percent of Republicans have negative views of Israel, a 15 point shift since 2022.  The recent shift in the Republican Party’s stance toward Israel reflects the influence of the America First movement, particularly as prominent Republican figures have begun to acknowledge that Israel is committing acts of genocide and contributing to starvation in Gaza. The War on Gaza has caused humanitarian outrage throughout all sectors of the American political spectrum and internationally. The America First movement views Israel as a onesided allience to whom we send billions of dollars to fund a genocide, believing American moral credibilitycrumbles with hypocrisy as it sends funding to Ukraine. The struggle between MAGA and the America First movement on this issue could force reconstruction of foreign policy for the Republican Party. Fuentes has not been afraid to criticize the Republican establishment or President Trump. On March 3, amid the U.S/Israel conflict with Iran, Fuentes publicly expressed frustration and betrayal, arguing that Donald Trump has become an “errand boy” for Israel and calling for a "shut down" of the administration by voting for the Democratic party in the upcoming midterm elections. 

Fuentes believes Trump is a sellout who has been bought by the oligarchy. He states “Trump 2.0 has been a disappointment in literally every way” and that Trump is “incompetent, corrupt, and compromised.” Fuentes says that“[his] problem with Trump isn’t that he’s Hitler — [his] problem with Trump is that he is not Hitler”. He has also criticized Vice President Vance for his marriage with Usha Vance, a Hindu Indian American. Fuentes has mocked the marriage by calling it “race mixing,” and has even commented on Vance’s physical appearance by stating that the VP as a corporate stooge and “a fat, gay race traitor.” J.D Vance has spoken out on Fuentes' statements by retorting that he could “eat shit.” Though it seems minor, this altercation invokes the idea that Vance is alienated among young Fuentes supporters who can potentially secure his GOP presidential nomination in 2028. Fuente’s followers see Vance as illegitimate because of his interracial marriage and ties to Big Tech. Though Vance has dominated the straw poll for the 2028 GOP nomination, winning 84% of the vote, Fuentes has threatened political action. Fuentes believes that he is the only one willing to put America first, and seeks to hold Vance’s presidential nomination in 2028 in a “Groyper squeeze.” He states that “if Vance condemns the Groypers, [they] are deploying to Iowa,” and “[he is] going to move to Iowa and New Hampshire and Nevada and South Carolina and one primary after the next.” 

As of 2026, he surpassed over a million followers, attracting new followers to his show daily. Nick Fuentes’s role in the MAGA civil war and in mainstream politics can drastically affect the political sphere for years to come. The political extremism combined with its appeal to younger voters has the potential to reshape party identities. Referred to as “New Entrant Republicans”, who have displayed no ideological consistency, these voters hold either alt-right views or hold more progressive views on diversity, equity, inclusion programs, traditional family values, and immigration. Despite this, their ideology remains grounded to antisemitism. The changes that may come could be significant, raising questions about the party’s direction once Trump’s influence wanes, though this shift could occur sooner rather than later. Reflecting on the treatment he has faced over the years, Fuentes stated, “Now that everyone agrees with me, I will graciously forgive them for being so hostile.”