Nick Fuentes, a far-right influencer who’s praised Adolf Hitler, called for a “holy war” against Jews and championed a “whites-only immigration policy” is well poised to take up the mantle of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk after his assasination in September, New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg wrote Tuesday.
Fuentes has long been a staunch critic of Kirk, particularly over his support of Israel. Goldberg called the two 'bitter enemies."
And now, in the absence of the wildly influential Kirk, a growing number of Americans appear open to turning to Fuentes as a new thought leader for the right.
“His sneering, proudly transgressive attitude has made him a hero to legions of mostly young men who resent all forms of political gatekeeping,” Goldberg wrote.
“The conservative writer Rod Dreher, a close friend of Vance, warned, ‘I am told by someone in a position to know that something like 30 to 40 percent of D.C. G.O.P. staffers under the age of 30 are [fans of Fuentes].’ The figure is impossible to check, but it captures a widespread sense that Fuentes’s politics are ascendant.”
In 2020, major social media platforms began banning and restricting Fuentes, a crackdown on right-wing extremism that accelerated in 2021 in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. After Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchased Twitter in 2022, however, Fuentes was reinstated on the platform, a decision that jumpstarted his return to the mainstream.
Fuentes would go on to assist musician Ye – formally known as Kanye West – with his 2024 presidential campaign amid the artist’s series of antisemitic statements, including lavishing praise on Hitler. Fuentes and Ye would dine with President Dondal Trump amid the controversy; in 2023, Fuentes was hosted by a major Texas conservative political action committee; and last week, Fuentes was featured on conservative commentator Tucker Carlson’s show.
It’s in the wake of Kirk’s killing, and prominent conservatives’ reaction to it, Goldberg argued, that have set the stage for Fuentes to continue to ascend the right-wing ecosystem.
“Kirk, who came of age in the pre-Trump conservative movement, was still sometimes willing to police boundaries. But in the wake of his killing, there’s surprisingly little sense on the right that that part of his legacy should be upheld,” Goldberg wrote.
“Rather, prominent voices insist that Kirk’s murder necessitates the final loosening of all remaining restraints. ‘I cannot ‘unite’ with the left because they want me dead,’ the influential podcaster Matt Walsh posted after Kirk’s death. ‘But I will unite with anyone on the right.’