The insidious strategy behind Nick Fuentes’s shocking rise

Nick Fuentes in Washington, DC, on November 14, 2020. | Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via Getty Images

For the past few weeks, conservatives have been having a heated and divisive debate about antisemitism and the sorts of characters that can or cannot be part of the Republican Party. At the center of this argument is a 27-year-old white supremacist and far-right political influencer who hosts an online show called America First with Nicholas J. Fuentes.

Key takeaways

Nick Fuentes is a young white supremacist and antisemite who hosts an online show that has amassed a huge audience, mostly of young white Christian men.
Some established Republican Party figures like Tucker Carlson have courted Fuentes and given him a platform, in the hopes of attracting this audience. They see it as vital to the GOP’s future, and to their own influence within it.
Some say Fuentes has supporters within the Trump administration — but he tells his followers to hide their beliefs, so it’s difficult to know how far his reach goes.

On his show, Fuentes shares Christian nationalist, misogynistic, and antisemitic takes with hundreds of thousands of viewers. And it’s because of his audience — which has grown since the death of fellow far-right commentator Charlie Kirk — that longtime conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson decided to sit down with him for a friendly conversation.

The backlash came immediately, partially because of recent instances in which Republican officials have been associated with Nazi beliefs and symbols, including the leaked messages of young GOP leaders making jokes about gas chambers, and an American flag merged with a swastika hanging........

© Vox