Nick Fuentes hosts a livestream of "America First with Nicholas J. Fuentes" on April 3, 2025. (Screenshot/Rumble)
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1. Nicholas Fuentes is a white supremacist leader, organizer and podcaster who seeks to forge a white nationalist alternative to the mainstream GOP.
Nicholas Fuentes first gained widespread notoriety in 2017 when he left Boston University after he reported receiving “threats” tied to his attendance at the white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In the aftermath of Charlottesville, Fuentes found a niche within the alt-right movement and has since become a well-known white supremacist pundit. In a May 2023 post on Telegram, Fuentes stated, “When I began my career in 2017, I was considered radioactive in the American Right for my White Identitarian, race realist, ‘Jewish aware,’ counter-Zionist, authoritarian, traditional Catholic views.” Now Fuentes has found his audience: as of March 2025, he has amassed a combined audience of approximately 724,000 followers across his social media profiles.
In 2017, Fuentes began hosting his livestream show “America First with Nicholas J. Fuentes," which attracted a cult-like following. Though Fuentes’s “America First” podcast was initially inspired by the speeches and platform of President Donald Trump, he later co-opted the term for his own purposes, after distancing himself from the GOP platform, to attract young conservatives to the America First movement. Fuentes refers to his supporters as “Groypers” or the “Groyper Army,” who see their bigoted views as necessary to preserve white, European American identity and culture. They claim that mainstream conservatives are just as responsible as liberals and the left for the ostensible destruction of white America. They see themselves — and their racist and antisemitic beliefs — as the true future of the conservative movement.
Fuentes and his followers seek to carve out a space that deliberately and publicly challenges the mainstream conservative movement while doubling down on themes central to the white supremacist movement. Fuentes and his America First adherents vocally support the closure of U.S. borders to immigrants, while opposing “liberal” values such as feminism, LGBTQ+ rights, and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies.
Fuentes and his followers angrily object to the Trump administration’s embrace of Israel, as well as mainstream conservatives’ support for “endless wars” and other issues they feel run counter to a truly “America First” agenda. In July 2024, Fuentes voiced this criticism of Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election on Telegram, saying, “If Trump isn't based on immigration, Israel, White Identity, or Christianity, then what is it all for?”
He often uses his platform to further conspiracy theories about the impending destruction of the white race, also known as “white genocide.” In June 2024, Fuentes posted on X, “These political people will say literally anything other than the actual truth. There are basically two things going on: White genocide and Jewish subversion.”
Fuentes’ X post from June 6, 2024. (Screenshot/X)
In 2020, Fuentes founded the nonprofit America First Foundation (AFF) as the financial backbone and organizing umbrella of Fuentes’s “America First” movement. According to the AFF website, its mission is to “champion the role of God in society, upholding the principles of Nationalism, Christianity, and Traditionalism.” AFF supports several of Fuentes’s ventures, including the annual America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC), rallies, film screenings, and reports.
Fuentes’s AFPAC is a political gathering for the “America First” movement that mimics the organizational style of mainstream political conferences and has previously featured elected officials, a variety of right-wing pundits, and far-right influencers. AFPAC ostensibly serves as a counterweight to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) event—which Fuentes is barred from attending—held at the same time, which is largely attended by mainstream conservative activists and elected officials. Fuentes successfully hosted three AFPAC conferences from 2020-2022.
AFPAC 2021: From left to right, Paul Gosar, Steve King, Nick Fuentes, Michelle Malkin, Jon Miller and Vincent James. (Screenshot/X)
Fuentes was set to host AFPAC IV on June 15, 2024, in Detroit, Michigan, as a counter-event to Turning Point USA’s (TPUSA) “The People’s Convention” scheduled during the same time. However, he was forced to cancel AFPAC IV after the host venue terminated their contract with Fuentes and claimed it had been misled about the nature of his event.
Fuentes continues his efforts to weaponize his loyal followers and further disrupt mainstream conservative organizing. In a February 2025 podcast episode, Fuentes told viewers that while there are no “America First” groups his followers can join he suggested that they should “infiltrate” the GOP and TPUSA to effect change from inside the establishment. A few days later, Fuentes posted on Telegram that he and his followers “cannot be married to the GOP” or ‘conservatism.’"
2. Fuentes believes that he is working to defend against “leftist” cultural changes that are destroying the “true America”: a white, Christian nation.
While Fuentes promotes white supremacist beliefs, he adamantly claims not to be a white supremacist, calling the term an “anti-white slur.” Rather, Fuentes positions himself as a “Christian conservative” who opposes societal shifts—on immigration, abortion and more—as nefarious efforts, led by the left, to fundamentally erode America’s Christian values. This cloaking of ideology is a ploy to attract mainstream support.
Fuentes attempts to mainstream his extreme ideology by aligning himself with “Christianity” and “traditional” values. He also frequently promotes Christian nationalism, as evidenced by the podcast introduction he has used since 2024, which includes an audio clip of Fuentes during his March 2023 rally speech calling on America to be a “Christian country” with a “Christian future.” In the speech, Fuentes also promotes the idea that the “true America” is a white and Christian nation, and that America’s problems can be traced to the loss of Christian values.
Fuentes also frequently makes his support known for the Traditionalist Catholic view that rejects the Nostra Aetate, the papal document that declared that modern Jews bear no guilt for the death of Christ. In a March 2024 Telegram post, Fuentes wrote that he and his followers “rightly defend the traditional Catholic view,” blaming Jews for “crucifying our Lord.”
Fuentes also rejects the mainstream Republican Party by arguing that it is absorbing cultural changes promoted by the left into its platform. Fuentes claims that the party is not doing enough to deal with demographic and cultural changes that affect the white population in the U.S.
Fuentes often pulls on themes prevalent in the white supremacist Great Replacement theory, or what Fuentes calls “Great Replacement REALITY.” This idea focuses on the belief that native white Europeans are being replaced in their own countries by non-white immigrants from Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, leading to the extinction of the white race.
During a livestream on Feb. 6, 2025, Fuentes stated his belief that white people need to “preserve their culture” and should organize to live among other white people because the U.S. has become an “alien nation.” In a December 2023 episode of his podcast, Fuentes blamed immigration for the “end of whites as a group, whites as a race. And it also spells the end of white civilization.”
Fuentes’s animosity towards liberals and the left translated from online to real-world action when he and his followers participated in the “Rally to Save America” at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Fuentes and the Groypers joined other extremists, as well as Trump supporters, to protest the Congressional certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory. While Fuentes does not appear to have physically entered the Capitol building during the storming, individuals wearing America First merchandise appeared in videos and images inside the building. Fuentes was also seen that day giving a speech near the Capitol, encouraging his followers to “keep moving towards the Capitol – it appears we are taking the Capitol back!”
Left: An America First flag inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. (Screenshot). Right: On January 6, 2021, America First supporters illegally climbed up a podium that had been set up for the 2021 Presidential Inauguration and raised an America First flag. (Screenshot)
In the years following the Capitol storming, Fuentes was a vocal advocate for blanket pardons of January 6 defendants, including violent offenders. On the fourth anniversary of the Capitol storming, Fuentes claimed it was “Patriots Day”—a term coined by Capitol stormers—and called on President Trump to pardon all “J6 prisoners.”
Nick Fuentes’s X post from January 6, 2021, featuring him taking a selfie at the U.S. Capitol during the Capitol storming. (Screenshot/X)
3. Fuentes has used his platforms to make numerous antisemitic, racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments.
Fuentes has made a number of racist, misogynistic, homophobic and antisemitic comments under the guise of being provocative and ironic. Like many other right-wing extremists, Fuentes often blankets his bigoted beliefs in sarcasm and ironic humor; he uses cartoonish memes and “just joking” banter, all while spreading white supremacist propaganda.
While Fuentes promotes “race realism,” a white supremacist belief that one’s race governs traits such as behavior and intelligence – with non-whites being inferior to whites, he often uses terms like “culture” as a substitute for more divisive terms such as “race” and promotes “American values” as a code for white culture and identity. Fuentes largely avoids blatant white supremacist language, and instead focuses on anti-establishment thinking targeting the GOP, mainstream media and “leftists.” This strategy, along with the adoption of mainstream meme culture like Pepe the Frog and engagement in online gaming culture like hosting Fortnite tournaments and livestreams, allows the America First movement to attract younger, mainstream conservatives, who are then exposed to the group’s extremist ideology.
Fuentes has commented that he does not think conservatives “go far enough” to prevent issues like “feminism, race mixing” and “homosexuality” from being promoted in American society. He has also railed against DEI policies and has celebrated President Trump’s January 2025 executive order ending federal DEI programs. Fuentes has asserted that DEI and “colorblind meritocracy” are a way to give “white peoples [sic] jobs to brown people” and is a method for “foreigners to rule us.” Fuentes has gone so far as to call for the complete eradication of the Civil Rights Act.
Fuentes’s antisemitic commentary largely focuses on themes of Jewish power and Holocaust denial. During his livestream of President Trump’s inauguration in 2025, Fuentes said he believes Jews are in the way of the “sovereignty” of the U.S., that they are the “most influential faction in our government” and that Trump is “captured by this Israel lobby.” In a March 2023 livestream episode, Fuentes stated, “I think the Holocaust is exaggerated. I don't hate Hitler. I think there's a Jewish conspiracy. I believe in race realism.” Fuentes went on to say that his belief system is the reason why he was at the Capitol storming and involved in the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville.
Fuentes has also focused on Israel. On Feb. 12, 2025, during a livestream Fuentes denied the atrocities of Hamas’ October 7th terrorist attack on Israel, including acts of rape and the murder of babies that he claimed were “all a lie” and that “none of it was real.” On the first anniversary of October 7th, Fuentes asserted on X that the attack was “staged” or used as a strategy to “justify Israel’s unfolding regional war” with Iran. Ahead of the anniversary of the attack, Fuentes also stated during a livestream that he believes Israel “allowed” and “participated” in the attack and “killed their own people.”
Nick Fuentes’s X post from October 7, 2024, suggesting the Hamas-led attack on Israel was "staged." (Screenshot/X)
Fuentes has used his various platforms to further espouse misogynistic rhetoric that often treads into more violent topics, including battery and rape. For example, in January 2025, Fuentes replied to a viewer during a livestream that he hates women and claimed that the best way to punch a woman is to “put your whole body behind it,” and followed up by saying, “That’s a joke, kidding.”
Fuentes was also a driving force behind a flurry of sexist and misogynistic rhetoric on social media following Trump’s 2024 presidential victory. This discourse gained momentum after Fuentes made an X post on November 5, 2024, saying, “Your Body, my choice. Forever” -- comments he also made during his livestream election coverage.
Nick Fuentes’s X post from November 5, 2024. (Screenshot/X)
The post, which has reached over 100 million views and 36,000 reshares on the platform, inspired his followers to amplify this rhetoric. Posts spread online by Fuentes and Groypers stated that women who received abortions would face “unspeakable consequences” and that women are trying to “destroy the world” to maintain their reproductive rights. Groypers have also expressed their support for Fuentes by using the acronym “RKD4NJF,” which stands for “rape, kill and die for Nicholas Joseph Fuentes.”
Groyper account’s misogynistic X post from November 6, 2024. (Screenshot/X)
4. Fuentes has branded himself “the most canceled man in America” in the face of wide-scale deplatforming.
Fuentes has repeatedly been suspended from several social media, video and audio sharing platforms, including YouTube, Twitter (reinstated in 2024), Reddit, TikTok, RedNote, DLive, Spotify, Venmo, Stripe, Clubhouse as well as numerous others, for violating terms of policy with his hateful, bigoted rhetoric and imagery. Fuentes has also been deplatformed from most credit card processors, which he blames Jews for, and as a result, is relegated to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin to accept donations, sell tickets to his events and merchandise.
A primary cause for Fuentes’s deplatforming was his participation in the “Rally to Save America” at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Following the Capitol storming, Fuentes claimed his bank account had been frozen, he had been placed on the federal no-fly list (he was removed over a year later), and that he had been banned from Airbnb, Facebook and Instagram. Fuentes described this as “overt political persecution.”
Fuentes has sought to capitalize on this deplatforming, describing himself as “the most canceled man in America” or “the most censored man alive,” arguing that his deplatforming proves that he “challenges the status quo of the system” by “defending American identity and protesting mass migration.”
Fuentes now primarily hosts his show on Rumble, where he regularly attracts over 100,000 viewers per podcast episode, and Cozy.tv. Cozy.tv is a live-streaming platform that Fuentes launched in October 2021 as a new way for Groypers to release extreme content on a platform shielded from deplatforming. Fuentes describes the platform as “the only site on the internet where live streamers can stream without being censored...” Various white supremacists and other extremists migrated to Cozy.tv, and the site now hosts 60 channels, including conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, GAB founder Andrew Torba, Stew Peters, and Jackson Hinkle. However, since Cozy.tv’s launch activity on the site has dwindled with a lack of posts from many of the aforementioned accounts.
5. Fuentes has been boosted by far-right and mainstream conservatives, providing him a larger platform for elevating the America First movement.
In November 2022, Fuentes attended a dinner alongside President Trump and rapper Ye (formerly Kanye West) at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. During the dinner, Fuentes voiced his admiration for Trump but expressed his disappointment with Trump’s 2024 “moderate” platform, claiming in a subsequent livestream that he believed it was a step back “in the service of Christ, in service of the truth, and the service of America.” Since then, President Trump has distanced himself from Fuentes, which has led him to morph into one of Trump’s biggest critics.
Fuentes’s continued criticism snowballed into attacks on the 2024 Trump-Vance campaign and GOP, which inspired him to launch his short-lived “Groyper War II” pressure campaign in August 2024. Fuentes and his followers said they would oppose Trump’s presidential bid until their policy demands were met, which marked a significant shift for Fuentes and the Groypers in their support for Trump. Their support became contingent on certain demands, including a 10-year total immigration moratorium, firing of campaign staffers, limitations for U.S. involvement in the Israel-Hamas war and “restraining” Israel from exerting “major influence” on American politics. Fuentes’s pressure campaign failed, and their demands were ignored. The same month the pressure campaign was launched, then-vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance said he “disavows” Fuentes and called him a “total loser.
Groyper propaganda illustrating the November 22, 2022, meeting between Fuentes, Ye and Trump.
While Fuentes’s relationship with Trump appears to be nonexistent, he still has a relationship with Ye, meeting as recently as March 2025. Historically, Fuentes and other Groypers have expressed support for Ye’s presidential bids, saying they believed he represented true Christian values. Fuentes was also involved in Ye’s 2024 and 2020 presidential campaigns.
Fuentes has been embraced by a variety of other figures on the far right, from the fringe wing of GOP figures to dedicated white supremacists. His success in attracting a sizeable attendance—as well as right-wing influencers and elected officials—to his events, like AFPAC and his 2021 Big Tech Conference in Florida, shows the rallying effect of Fuentes and the America First movement.
Fuentes’s AFPAC conferences, in particular, have historically attracted a range of media personalities and political figures, including elected officials. On February 25, 2022, in addition to white supremacists like Vincent James and Stew Peters, four elected officials – Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, former Idaho Lt. Governor Janice McGeachin, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, and Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers – were speakers. Some of the aforementioned speakers attended the previous AFPAC conference.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene speaking at the AFPAC III conference in Orlando, FL on February 5, 2022. (Screenshot)
Mainstream figures’ platforming of Fuentes represented a historical shift in the white supremacist movement, prompting, among other things, widespread media coverage of a prominent white supremacist. Ye’s support for Fuentes and President Trump’s willingness to sit down and discuss politics with a known extremist, starkly illustrate the continuing shift of the so-called Overton Window—the parameters of what is considered “normal” or “acceptable”—in American society. Fuentes will continue to use this shift to grow his racist and antisemitic following in extreme circles and, potentially, in the larger conservative movement.