Nicholas J. Fuentes, the 27 year-old podcaster and activist, has become a Gen-Z icon, particularly among young white men. He first garnered attention in 2016 when he participated as a freshman in a campus debate against his progressive classmates. Since then, he has built out his influence as a podcaster and political activist, and the conservative movement has had to contend with Fuentes’ highly controversial career and provocative statements.
Fuentes founded a movement called America First, and the description on the official website states:
The America First Foundation is an organization dedicated to crafting a new vision for the American nation. We champion the role of God in society and upholding the principles of nationalism, Christianity, and traditionalism… America is under attack. Our traditions, customs, and beliefs are actively being erased by a hostile foreign elite. Our immigration system has been weaponized to replace our population with more compliant workers and voters... Most disastrously of all, foreign and immoral ideologies like zionism, nihilism, and liberal multiculturalism have embedded themselves within our society and have undermined our nation's sovereignty.
Though this may sound rather like a run-of-the-mill, conservative organization, Fuentes’ methods for achieving “America First” have raised concerns. He is known for alienating and attacking many other prominent figures in the conservative movement. For example, on June 10th, 2025, he replied to Matt Walsh on X: “You and Charlie Kirk have been gatekeepers of the establishment for the past ten years, participating in cancel culture against White Nationalists and Race Realists, and their ideas. Now that you flip flopped you expect us to trust and embrace you? You work for Ben Shapiro bro.”
He also weaponizes his fanbase, implying that he is willing to let the conservative movement burn for his and the Groypers’ sake; he has boasted about refusing to allow his followers (known as “Groypers,” which is a term stemming from an Internet meme about Pepe the Frog) to vote for those who do not make him happy. “That’s the Groyper squeeze. Now THIS is politics.”
Nick Fuentes’ ardent Groyper fanbase are known among the wider media as trolls. Groypers have historically swarmed events such as TPUSA tours, dominating the mics with provocative questions. Many have speculated that these “trolling” questions were asked to discredit the speakers at these events. A 2019 article states: “These offline trolls use the Q&A-sessions that are part of the Culture War show format to frame Charlie Kirk as a fake, 'anti-white' conservative.” Fuentes supported and egged on this “war,” and in more recent years, he instated a second “Groyper War.”
He said on X on August 13, 2024, “Going live on Rumble right now with a formal declaration of GROYPER WAR II against the GOP and presidential campaign of Donald Trump.”
Groypers have been accused of pedophilia, and Christopher Brunet recently released an article on his substack claiming to have evidence of 50 pedophile scandals connected to Nick Fuentes. Fuentes was known in the past to be close friends with alleged pedophile Ali Alexander, and Fuentes appears to have been aware of the allegations against Ali. Video clips exist which seem to show Fuentes referring to lowering the age of consent as “based,” and in one particular video he muses about the pros of a 14 year age gap. “Women don’t age like wine, they age like milk… I gotta find my 16 year-old wife, probably when I turn 30 or something…” (Granted, many of Fuentes’ statements, particularly the ones concerning rape and the age of consent, are supposedly jokes.) Pedophilia is not the only speculation made about Fuentes’ “sexuality.” A video has resurfaced in which Nick Fuentes accidentally streamed himself watching gay porn. Fuentes has claimed that this was a set-up, but the internet is flooded with accusations that Fuentes is gay.
Fuentes is on video encouraging his followers to pledge that they will “Rape, Kill, or Die for Nick Fuentes” (acronym: RKD4NJF). A quick search for “RKD4NJF” on X reveals mostly faceless Groyper profiles stanning Nick and posting multitudes of racist and sexist comments.
Nick Fuentes is probably best known for his self-processed racism and Holocaust-denier status. In a video detailing the start of Cozy.TV, Fuentes’ streaming platform, he says, “It's free speech. No censorship. We are anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-Black, antisemitic.” He is on record saying that “Hitler was right. Hitler is awesome. Holocaust didn't happen.” In 2024, he posted on X, “There is like a human centipede of toxic shitty behavior that originates with black women, is imitated by gay men, and then finally gets picked up by white women. Three of the most annoying demographics.”
There are also rumors circling that Fuentes may be a Fed. Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens have speculated in the past whether Nick Fuentes is used to discredit people by association. Some apparent proof for this theory is that Fuentes was never charged for his involvement in the January 6th “insurrection,” although he was at the protests and is on video urging people to disregard capitol police.
He claims that although he was never charged, he was still persecuted by the government for his January 6th involvement, which placed him on a no-fly list and froze his assets. However, the government claims that neither of these incidents had to do with January 6th; Fuentes was placed on the no-fly list because of comments he made on the internet threatening flight attendants, and his assets were frozen because of money laundering suspicions.
In addition, an infamous dinner was held at Mar-a-Lago in 2022 that included Donald Trump, Ye, and Fuentes, and led to Trump quickly having to do PR because of the online furor over hosting Fuentes. NBC reported that, “Trump has since said he didn’t know Fuentes or his background when they dined together, a claim Fuentes confirmed in an interview… In damage control, Trump’s campaign is now instituting new vetting procedures and gatekeeping efforts as details emerge about how Fuentes and the former president found themselves at the same table, according to two people briefed on the plans.” Milo Yannopoulos, a former colleague of Fuentes, claims that this was a set-up to entrap Trump, but Fuentes denies this. The Grayzone reports that:
Fuentes characterized the NBC report as a “typical Milo lie,” describing the dinner as a “last minute thing.” When asked whether or not he recognized that he compromised Trump by simply showing up at Mar-a-Lago, Fuentes insisted he did not believe news of their meeting “would ever get out” and that he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share a turkey dinner with his “true heroes.”
NBC reported that an advisor to Trump, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that, “The master troll [Trump] got trolled.” NBC also wrote, “And, Yiannopoulos said, he arranged the dinner ‘just to make Trump’s life miserable’ because news of the dinner would leak and Trump would mishandle it.”
Conservatives are understandably concerned about the influence Nick Fuentes holds; as his fans gain a foothold in conservative movements, people need to be aware of what Groyper culture entails and how they are affecting the future of America.
