The Third Wave of Antisemitism from Nick Fuentes
Back in August of 2017, the country was stunned when it heard reports of a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where hundreds of white nationalists gathered at the University of Virginia to protest against the removal of the statue of General Robert E. Lee. The rally raised numerous concerns, as not only did the participants chant “The Jews will not replace us, the Jews will not replace us”, they did so while showing their faces, illustrating that they were not afraid to display their convictions regardless of the social backlash they would receive. Referred to as the Unite the Right rally, the gathering caught media attention because of the poor communication and planning among law enforcement to contain violence, and the death of Heather Heyer, who was killed when a far-right extremist rammed his vehicle into counter-protestors. What some might forget is that it was also the introduction of Nick Fuentes, a prominent antisemite, who has begun to re-emerge within the far-right eco-system.
The First Wave of Antisemitism from Nick Fuentes
Reports indicate that after the Unite the Right rally, due to media attention, Nick Fuentes dropped out of Boston University during his freshman year as he had begun to receive death threats. He decided to focus on his livestream show, America First, where he promotes holocaust denialism, uses racial slurs to describe people of color, and vilifies the feminist movement as a cancer to Western values. Unlike his nemesis, Charlie Kirk, who was capable of disguising his racism and xenophobia using acceptable language among MAGA, like DEI and “wokism” to vilify Democrats, Fuentes refused to sanitize the language necessary to be accepted in the MAGA community, but this move was strategic. In order for Nick Fuentes to stand out back in 2017, he needed to position himself right from Kirk, because attacking him from the left was inundated with liberal and progressive political commentators, whereas striking from the right had less competition. However, this strategy had its setbacks as the only people willing to provide Nick Fuentes with a platform were conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones, who was beginning to deal with legal issues because of his defamation of the parents at Sandy Hook Elementary School. So, while Charlie Kirk emerged as a promising face of the MAGA movement in 2017, 2018, and 2019, Nick Fuentes’s growth was limited to the fringes, resulting in limited exposure.
The Second Wave of Antisemitism from Nick Fuentes
In 2022, Kanye West, now known as Ye, had an antisemitic outburst that caught media attention. Nick Fuentes, being the opportunist that he is, took this chance to reignite his influence by partnering up with Ye and Milo Yiannopoulos. During his second stunt, Fuentes facilitated a three-way panel discussion between himself, Ye, and Alex Jones on InfoWars. One of the memorable moments from that interview was how uncomfortable Alex Jones got when Ye started expressing his admiration for Hitler to the point that all Alex Jones could do was question whether the person he was sitting next to was actually Ye, who, during the interview, was wearing a black mask that completely covered his face and head.
However, it was Nick Fuentes’s presence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach that was the first indication of his proximity to political influence. According to Trump, he had invited Ye, who expressed support for his presidency. Unbeknownst to him, Ye had brought two guests, one of whom was Nick Fuentes. The news that an open antisemite was dining with the president brought condemnation, and quickly, Donald Trump did everything in his power to distance himself from Nick Fuentes. At some point, the relationship between Ye and Nick Fuentes dissolves, but by this point, Fuentes was already a household name, and a few political commentators were interested in understanding Nick Fuentes; one of these people was Steven Bonnell, also known as Destiny on Twitch. Destiny would later say that the reason he wanted to interview Nick Fuentes was to quell the curiosity about his ideology, and that after the interview, no one would be interested in his rhetoric other than the community he had already established. Unfortunately, this assessment was wrong.
The Third Wave of Antisemitism from Nick Fuentes
In 2024 and 2025, Nick Fuentes made several appearances on InfoWars, but this time the dynamics of the interviews had shifted as it was Nick Fuentes who was in the driver’s seat. Now it was Alex Jones who needed Nick Fuentes on his program to regain any form of relevancy. Unlike Alex Jones, who throughout Trump’s second term has had to abandon his core principles like ignoring Donald Trump’s handling of the Epstein files, Nick Fuentes was able to attack Trump because his career wasn’t dependent on MAGA, but on his stance of America First. Still, Nick Fuentes faced a significant barrier in the form of Charlie Kirk.
At this point, Charlie Kirk was one of the most influential MAGA advocates on social media, having developed his organization Turning Point USA into a political empire and played a crucial role in Trump’s 2024 presidential win, turning young voters towards conservatism. His efforts would be rewarded as Kirk would spend more time with Trump and JD Vance, solidifying his legacy within the MAGA community. This forced Nick Fuentes to remain on the fringes of neo-Nazism and conspiracism, and this placement was actually beneficial for Charlie Kirk, because it offered Kirk the ability to redirect any accusation of racism towards Nick Fuentes. Unlike Nick Fuentes, who was using the N-word to dehumanize black people, Charlie Kirk was only attacking DEI programs, so he couldn’t be racist in comparison to Fuentes.
For years, Nick Fuentes and his Groyper community heckled Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA, accusing the organization of being infiltrated by Zionists. Still, these efforts had little effect on the overall support for Charlie Kirk and his advocacy. Shockingly, on September 10th, 2025, at the age of 31, Charlie Kirk was assassinated during a college speaking tour. The news sends shocked waves to the political world, and while many mourn and others assess how a polarizing figure could be a victim of the very extremism he indirectly endorsed. There was a question being asked? Who’s going to pick up the mantle and lead the way?
Shortly after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, many right-wing political commentators announced that they would pick up where Charlie Kirk left off. One notable influencer is Brilyn Hollyhand, who was reported by the Daily Mail to charge $ 7,500 for speaking engagements. Others like Ben Shapiro and Steven Crowder expressed interest in becoming the lead advocate for freedom of speech; however, what they failed to realize was that the filter to their movement had now been destroyed, and the conspiratorial community that they nurtured since 2016 had become hungrier for more extremist content that neither Ben Shapiro nor Steven Crowder could provide.
To some degree, Charlie Kirk was the lid that kept the far-right stable but now that he has been killed, this has presented Nick Fuentes with the golden opportunity to further radicalize the new generation of conservatism, which is daunting to even imagine as Nick Fuentes is only 27-years old and has his whole life ahead of him to normalize his xenophobic, misogynistic and antisemitic ideologies. So far, Nick Fuentes has made appearances on the PBD podcast hosted by Patrick Bet-David, a prominent figure in the conservative online ecosystem, and more notably with former FOX News host Tucker Carlson, who, in the past, has spread antisemitic conspiracy theories while working on FOX, which was well documented by the New York Times. Suffice to say that while Charlie Kirk was a heinous individual who promoted bigotry, the consequences of his death have dire implications for the conservative movement and minority groups in the long term. I expect this time, Nick Fuentes is here to stay.
Can MAGA stop the rise of Nick Fuentes?
The answer is no. As mentioned earlier, since 2016, Trump and his allies have trained their base to view the world through the lenses of conspiracism. Whether it be election fraud, China sending the US a bioweapon to collapse the economy, or the LGBTQIA+ community kidnapping children to convert them into the cult of transgenderism, the MAGA movement has thrived off the idea that a sinister group of influential billionaires referred to as the Deep State are behind every social and economic disaster and now to suddenly try to stop that conspiratorial train will prove to be ineffective.
In Renee DiResta’s 2024 book, Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality, she explores how media influence has evolved and how most people now receive their news from influencers on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, rather than mainstream media. I suspect that in the years to come, Nick Fuentes will become a prominent figure within the mainstream conservative movement, and as elections begin to peak, fewer Republican politicians will be open about their support for Israel’s military conduct in Gaza, because to do otherwise would mean losing their position in power. Polling data shows a decrease in Republican voters’ favorability towards Israel, so it should not come as a surprise in 2028 if the topic of Israel becomes radioactive for GOP politicians running for the presidency.
So, while Ben Shapiro and other conservatives attempt to delegitimize Nick Fuentes and his Groyper community, we should not forget that it was these same individuals who created the ecosystem for antisemites like Nick Fuentes to thrive. As it was Ben Shapiro who gave Candace Owens the platform to spread conspiracy theories about the LGBTQIA+ community and vaccines. The same Candace Owens who now openly promotes antisemitic conspiracy theories, a rhetoric that Ben Shapiro found unacceptable, despite the other conspiracy theories that Owens spread, which targeted marginalized communities.
Following the assassination, many “what if” questions have been asked. What if Charlie Kirk had survived the gunshot to the neck? Would he have changed his stance on gun reform? Considering the direction the far right is heading, I have started asking, what if Charlie Kirk were still alive? Would anyone be reporting on Nick Fuentes at this moment? In my opinion, no.
Charlie Kirk was a man consumed by hatred who cared only about profits and gaining recognition. However, unknown to many progressives, his presence had a beneficial effect: it kept Nick Fuentes at bay. Now that he is gone, we must ask a terrifying question. Who is further to the right of Trump, and how will that movement impact marginalized communities? I can only hope that my assessment is incorrect but given how much the GOP has changed from the Bush era; I fear my insight might become a reality.
