In November 2022, Fuentes and the American rapper Kanye West had a private dinner with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. The meeting was broadly condemned by American political commentators, with The New York Times describing it as "what may be the most discomfiting moment in U.S. history in a half-century or more" for American Jews.[6] In August 2024, Nick Fuentes launched "Groyper War 2", a "digital war" against Trump's presidential campaign involving memes, trolls, and protests to push for more extreme right-wing positions, unsuccessful demands to fire advisors Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, and withholding votes, crediting his efforts for Trump's rehiring of Corey Lewandowski while drawing concerns over potential election interference blueprints due to lax platform enforcement.[17][18] In 2025, Fuentes said Trump was a "scam artist" due to his comments about the Epstein files.[19][8]
Fuentes has been involved in a number of controversial events. Fuentes attended the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, and was also an attendee and speaker at events preceding the January 6 United States Capitol attack. Fuentes faced widespread deplatforming from major social media, streaming, and financial services between 2020 and 2023, primarily for violating hate speech policies and inciting violence. In 2023, Fuentes was criticized for allegedly covering for a friend's sexual misconduct with underage boys, reportedly pressuring an accuser to apologize. In November 2024, after his home was doxed, he was arrested for battery for pepper-spraying and pushing an activist, taking her phone. In December 2024, Fuentes survived an apparent assassination attempt at his home by a 24-year-old, who was killed by police after a shootout.
Various sources have reported that his parents share Fuentes' racist views.[27] The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) noted that his parents initially encouraged him to pursue conventional paths like employment or college, but he agreed to spend one year living with them while beginning his media career with the promise to abandon it if it failed.[20] He studied international relations and politics during his freshman year at Boston University.[28] Fuentes dropped out in 2017 after completing his freshman year.[26][11]
Career
Early activities
Fuentes began commentating on politics through a local radio and TV station hosted by his high school, where he espoused mainstream conservative views.[29][30]
He co-hosted the Nationalist Review podcast with another white nationalist, James Allsup, until January 2018. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, "the two had a public falling out with each host accusing the other of laziness, impropriety and a variety of petty slights".[31] According to the SPLC, Fuentes spoke at the American Renaissance conference in April 2018.[32]
He began hosting the episodic live stream America First with Nicholas J. Fuentes, in 2017 during his freshman year at Boston University.[33][34][35]America First is characterized by Fuentes' frequent use of jokes and irony to appeal to Generation Z while providing plausible deniability for his often extreme views.[36] According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Fuentes cites the candidacy and presidency of Donald Trump as an inspiration for America First.[11]
The SPLC stated that Fuentes initially live-streamed from the basement of his parents' home, a setting central to his public persona as a NEET (not in employment, education, or training) or a disconnected youth. He relocated his livestreaming operations from his parents' basement to an apartment in Berwyn, Illinois, in November 2020. Despite telling viewers he was still working from his parents’ home, police records and neighbor accounts suggest he operated from the Berwyn property. His father frequently oversaw renovations at the complex, particularly on the second floor, where Fuentes established a new podcasting studio.[20]
He denounced multiculturalism and stated that the white identity had been marginalized. However, he said he was not racist and supported nonviolence. Fuentes attended the Unite the Right rally, and he said he neither support Nazism nor the man who drove into the crowd, but believes the violence from counter-protesters spurred violence in return. Fuentes was proud to attend Unite the Right, but dropped out of Boston University after receiving death threats over his media persona, statements, and attendance of the rally. A former mentor of his stated that the response to his involvement with Unite the Right helped to raise his media presence.[26]
During a show in April 2017, Fuentes "argued the First Amendment was not written for Muslims or immigrants".[26] He further stated "Who runs the media? Globalists. Time to kill the globalists" and "I want people that run CNN to be arrested and deported or hanged because this is deliberate."[37][26] The publisher of the show at the time, Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN), issued an apology, calling the comments "unacceptable" and "inappropriate".[37] Following these and other comments, as well as publicity over his attendance at the Unite the Right rally, he left RSBN in August 2017.[38][39] According to the SPLC, Fuentes claimed, in February 2022, that he was fired by RSBN CEO Joe Seales.[32]
By 2019, the show had attracted a cult following, which Fuentes refers to as the "Groypers" or the "Groyper Army". The movement consists of primarily young, online activists known for their white nationalist, Christian nationalist, and alt-right views. Fuentes has encouraged the use of jokes and irony among white nationalist groups, stating that it "is so important for giving a lot of cover and plausible deniability for our views".[32]
Groyper War
Fuentes has organized the Groypers to challenge mainstream conservative figures, notably during the 2019 "Groyper Wars", where they disrupted events hosted by Turning Point USA and others with provocative questions on immigration, Israel, and cultural issues. Fuentes has repeatedly criticized Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and its founder, Charlie Kirk, accusing them of betraying Donald Trump by advocating in favor of mass legal immigration, support for foreign aid for Israel, and queer issues.[40]
Throughout October and November 2019, his supporters were present at many of Kirk's public speaking events, which featured guest speakers including Donald Trump Jr., Lara Trump, and Kimberly Guilfoyle.[40] These campaigns frequently involved asking questions that prompted viewers to look up far-right and antisemitic conspiracy theories and hoaxes online.[41] Fuentes has characterized the campaign as a grassroots effort to expose TPUSA as ideologically inconsistent with the ideology espoused by Donald Trump and other right-wing populists. As a result of this campaign, some right-wing mainstream politicians and pundits disavowed Fuentes, characterizing his beliefs as extreme and out of touch with mainstream conservatism.[42]
In December 2019, Fuentes confronted conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro outside a TPUSA event in West Palm Beach, Florida. Shapiro was walking with his wife and young children when Fuentes asked why he had delivered a speech at Stanford University criticizing him.[23]
Groyper War 2
In August 2024, Fuentes began a "digital war" against Trump's presidential campaign, which he dubbed "Groyper War 2", referencing his followers' activities in 2019.[43] In response to Trump's poor polling, Fuentes began calling on his followers to "bring the energy with memes, edits, replies, and trolls" aimed at pressuring Trump's campaign to adopt further-right positions on race and immigration, as well as urging Trump to fire his campaign advisors Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles.[44] In addition to directing his followers to make their demands trend on X (formerly Twitter) and Truth Social, Fuentes threatened to "escalate pressure in the real world", urging followers to withhold their votes and protest Trump rallies in battleground states.[43]
Shortly after initiating this effort, Fuentes took credit for Trump's rehiring of Corey Lewandowski as a senior campaign advisor. An anonymous source cited by The Washington Post claimed that Fuentes was making it "far more difficult for Trump" to make changes to his campaign "if it looks like he's responding to the groypers".[43]
Fuentes hosted his second annual AFPAC event in February 2021, speaking alongside Malkin and the politicians Steve King and Paul Gosar.[47] Later that month, he was barred from the Hyatt Regency Orlando, where he attempted to "start a commotion" on the CPAC floor.[50] Fuentes was again removed from CPAC in July 2021 for harassing a journalist.[51][52] At an event held across the street, he said that now that he is banned from Twitter, "I have nothing to lose. This is going to be the most racist, sexist, antisemitic, Holocaust-denying speech in all of Dallas this weekend."[51]
In June 2022, Tess Owen, a reporter for Vice, wrote that Fuentes "has positioned himself as the kingpin of the ultranationalist youth movement".[5]
On May 2, 2024, Elon Musk said that he would reinstate Fuentes' X (formerly Twitter) account "provided he does not violate the law, and let him be crushed by the comments and Community Notes". Musk stated, "I cannot claim to be a defender of free speech, but then permanently ban someone who hasn't violated the law, no matter how much I disagree with what they say." Musk addressed backlash by those who expressed concerns about platforming Fuentes' ideas by stating, "It is better to have anti whatever out in the open to be rebutted than to grow simmering in the darkness."[59][60][61] Upon X's announcement, the Anti-Defamation League issued a statement condemning Fuentes. Fuentes' account was reinstated on May 3, 2024.[62]
Fuentes has stated that his goal is to turn the Republican Party into "a truly reactionary party".[32] He hopes to have the alt-right displace conservatism and the GOP, criticizing mainstream conservative groups and claiming that "Christian Republican voters get screwed over" because "the GOP is run by Jews, atheists, and homosexuals".[11][32]
Fuentes has spoken positively of "a tidal wave of white identity" following his attendance at the 2017 Charlottesville Unite the Right rally and sees America's "white demographic core" as central to the country's identity.[32][63][26] Despite promoting white supremacist beliefs, such as the white genocide conspiracy theory, Fuentes has claimed that he is not a white supremacist, calling the term an "anti-white slur".[11] Fuentes wants the United States to be a white, Christian country and has specified that it is not a "Judeo-Christian" country.[32] On Fuentes' America First podcast, Fuentes stated: "Jews are running society, women need to shut the fuck up, Blacks need to be imprisoned for the most part, and we would live in paradise; it's that simple". Continuing, Fuentes says, "But the older I get, the more I realize it is really this simple. We need white men in charge of everything again".[64]
Antisemitism
Fuentes holds antisemitic views[12][13] and denies the Holocaust.[15] He has also promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories against Jews and called for a "holy war" against them.[12][65] In January 2019, Fuentes aired a monologue in which he implied he questions the death toll of six million Jews in the Holocaust. Fuentes later disputed that he had ever denied the Holocaust, calling his monologue a "lampoon".[23]NPR cites this as an example of Fuentes' use of irony to avoid consequences for his words, citing a 2020 video where Fuentes said, "Irony is so important for giving a lot of cover and plausible deniability for our views", specifically regarding Holocaust denial.[36] Fuentes frequently praises Adolf Hitler.[66] During his speech at AFPAC 2022, Fuentes bestowed "giggling praise" on Hitler.[56]
During the AFPAC speech in which he praised Hitler, Fuentes said that the media had been comparing Vladimir Putin to Hitler "as if that wasn't a good thing".[56] Fuentes also asked the audience, "Can we get a round of applause for Russia?" which was followed by roaring applause and chants of "Putin! Putin!"[53] On March 10, 2022, Fuentes praised "czar Putin" for the Russian invasion of Ukraine,[69] which he claimed was to "liberate Ukraine from the Great Satan and from the evil empire in the world, which is the United States".[54]
China
Fuentes would support a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, saying in 2022, "I want China to take back Taiwan, I want Russia to take back Ukraine, if for no other reason than it’s time for America to be humiliated."[69]
Israel
Fuentes is a vocal critic of Israel.[70] He stated that the United States should withdraw support for Israel because, "We're European, they're ethnically Jewish".[71] He claimed that the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, was "staged" to "justify Israel’s unfolding war to destroy Iran and its proxies".[72]
Taliban
Fuentes has praised the conservative religious aspect of Islamist Taliban governance.[73][74][75][76][77] He has been described as having "disdain" for Muslims, but he states that his goal is "Catholic Taliban rule" in the United States.[78] After the Afghan government fell to the Taliban while American forces were withdrawing in August 2021, Fuentes posted on the Telegram messaging service, "The Taliban is a conservative, religious force, the US is godless and liberal. The defeat of the US government in Afghanistan is unequivocally a positive development."[76]
He has spoken out against the "LGBT agenda",[81] and has described transgender people and same-sex marriage as "deviancy".[1] He said that "Jews stood in the way" of overturning Roe v. Wade, and that the Dobbs decision meant that "banning gay marriage is back on the menu, banning sodomy is back on the menu, banning contraceptives is back on the menu, and basically we're having something like Taliban rule in America, in a good way".[82][77]
Misogyny
In a documentary for the BBC broadcast in 2022, Fuentes told the British journalist Louis Theroux that he believes it would be better if women did not have the right to vote.[83] In July 2023, appearing on the Fresh and Fit Podcast, Fuentes stated that women were "baby machines" because "that's what their brains are about".[84] He has stated that the optimal age for a wife is 16, which he states is "right when the milk is good".[78]
Fuentes identifies as an incel (or "involuntary celibate"), although some of his supporters have criticized him for being a "voluntary celibate" after he admitted that he kissed a girl while he was in high school.[85][86] He has described himself as the "straightest guy" and attempted to defend himself as an incel by claiming that "the only really straight heterosexual position is to be an asexual incel", as "having sex with women is gay ... What's gayer than being like, 'I need cuddles. I need kisses ... I need to spend time with a woman.'"[87][88][89]
In November 2024, after Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Fuentes mocked supporters of reproductive rights, tweeting, "Your body, my choice. Forever" (a brash spin on the freedom of choice slogan "My body, my choice").[91] The phrase became popular on TikTok,[92] where female users reported that accounts were commenting "your body, my choice" en masse on their posts. On November 8, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue published a report detailing the exponential increase of the phrase's usage on X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, Facebook, and Reddit on the day after the 2024 elections. They also noted instances of its usage offline, specifically on high school and college campuses.[93]
On November 22, 2022, Donald Trump hosted Fuentes and Kanye West for a dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. The meeting was at West's request. West said that Trump was "really impressed with Nick Fuentes".[94] Trump released a statement saying that after contacting him earlier in the week to arrange the visit, West "unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about", with whom Trump dined, and that "the dinner was quick and uneventful".[95]
Trump further elaborated several days later that he met with West to "help a seriously troubled man, who just happens to be black... who has been decimated in his business and virtually everything else".[94] Trump also acknowledged advising West to drop out of the race.[94]
Members of the meeting gave contradictory accounts[96] of what occurred.[97] According to Axios:[98]
...a source stated that Trump "seemed very taken" by Fuentes and "impressed that the 24-year-old was able to rattle off statistics and recall speeches dating back to his 2016 campaign."
Paraphrasing the conversation, the source said Fuentes told the president he preferred him to be "authentic", and that Trump seemed scripted and unlike himself during his recent 2024 campaign announcement speech. Trump responded, "You like it better when I just speak off the cuff," the source said. Fuentes replied that he did, calling Trump an "amazing" president when he was unrestrained. "There was a lot of fawning back and forth," the source added.[98]
West also stated that after asking Trump to be his vice-presidential candidate, Trump "started basically screaming at me at the table telling me I was going to lose—I mean has that ever worked for anyone in history. I'm like hold on, hold on, hold on, Trump, you're talking to Ye."[99]
The meeting received significant attention and comment from domestic and international political figures.[100][6][101][102] The nature of the event—in which a former president hosted guests with open antisemitic beliefs—was considered "unprecedented"[103] in the modern era and garnered intense bipartisan criticism of Trump, with Republican leaders in the U.S. Congress making a rare rebuke of Trump.[104] The scandal raised questions over Trump's tenability as a candidate in the 2024 election.[105][106][107][108] Among American Jews, the ensuing discussion was described by a New York Times writer as "what may be the most discomfiting moment in U.S. history in a half-century or more".[109] Commentators and politicians argued Trump's failure to condemn antisemitism and racism from the guests was an implicit acceptance of their beliefs.[110]
Trump defended the dinner in a Truth Social post, writing about West: "we got along great, he expressed no anti-Semitism, & I appreciated all of the nice things he said about me on 'Tucker Carlson'" and "why wouldn't I agree to meet?", and that he "never met and knew nothing about" Fuentes.[111] According to The Washington Post, Trump initially believed that the events of the evening would "blow over". However by December 1, the actions of West and Fuentes after the dinner had changed his mind.[112]
Mike Pence, the former U.S. vice president who served during Trump's first presidency, stated: "I think he should apologize for it, and he should denounce those individuals and their hateful rhetoric without qualification."[113]Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu labeled the meeting a "mistake".[102] In a follow-up interview, Netanyahu stated: "...on Kanye West and that other unacceptable guest [Nick Fuentes], I think it's not merely unacceptable, it's just wrong. And I hope he sees his way to staying out of it and condemning it."[114]
Later views
Mother Jones stated, Fuentes was increasingly critical of Trump in 2024.[18] On August 9, 2024, he posted on X that he had "declared a new Groyper War against the 2024 Trump campaign", as "his campaign has been hijacked by the same consultants, lobbyists, & donors that he defeated in 2016, and they're blowing it", and was "headed for a catastrophic loss".[115] He said he would not vote for Trump and his running mate, JD Vance. He questioned whether Vance would "support white identity", since Vance's wife is of Indian heritage.[116][117]
Fuentes began calling for his followers to "bring the energy with memes, edits, replies, and trolls" aimed at pressuring the Trump campaign to adopt further-right positions on race and immigration, as well as urging Donald Trump to fire his campaign advisors, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles.[118] In addition to directing his followers to make their demands trend on Twitter and Truth Social, Fuentes threatened to "escalate pressure in the real world", urging followers to withhold their votes and protest Trump rallies in battleground states.[30]
In November, Fuentes criticized Trump supporters for dressing in garbage bags after a rally where Donald Trump climbed into a garbage truck in response to President Joe Biden's remarks about his followers. He described this as a moment of realization that "Trumpism was a cult", illustrating the "slavish devotion" of its supporters, who would "just eat up anything". He stated, "That was the moment when I realized it has gone too far, it is Frankenstein's monster, we've created a golem", and characterized Trumpism as "a giant cult-like scam".[119]
He doubled down on his negative opinion on Trump in 2025, insulting Trump shortly after both his refusal to release the Epstein files and his implied disdain for supporters of his that called for the release of said files, before stating that the "liberals were right", and that "when we look back on the history of populism in America, we are going to look back on the MAGA movement as the biggest scam in history".[120]
Legal issues and controversies
In 2022, Fuentes was caught on video hurling a drink at customers during an altercation at a Hollywood, California, In-N-Out Burger, after diners confronted him and threw ketchup cups in his direction.[121]
Battery arrest
On November 10, 2024, Marla Rose, an activist from the city, approached his home and attempted to ring his doorbell. Allegedly, Fuentes pepper-sprayed Rose before pushing her down his front steps and taking her phone, which she was using to film the interaction.[122] Following this incident, Fuentes was arrested on November 27 and charged with battery; he appeared in court on December 19.[123][124]
Deplatforming
In January 2020, Fuentes was the most-viewed live streamer on the DLive platform.[125][126][125] Following the January 6 United States Capitol attack, his DLive channel was permanently suspended.[127][128]
In January 2020, Fuentes' YouTube channel was demonetized, and one of his videos was removed by YouTube as a violation of their hate speech policies. Fuentes had previously been banned from Twitch and from Reddit.[129][130] On February 14, 2020, his YouTube channel was terminated for violating policies on hate speech.[131]
Twitter was among the last mainstream social media sites to ban Fuentes, indefinitely suspending his verified account in July 2021.[132][133][134] He has also been banned from financial and e-commerce services, including PayPal, Venmo, Patreon, Shopify, Stripe, Streamlabs, and Coinbase.[30] On January 25, 2023, his verified Twitter account was briefly reinstated. According to Hannah Gais, a senior researcher at the Southern Poverty Law Center, he immediately praised Adolf Hitler and the Unabomber and declared, "Jews run the news". Twitter banned him again the next day.[135]
According to ABC News in March 2021, Fuentes had been suspended from "almost all" social media platforms.[136] Fuentes claimed that his bank account had been frozen, that he had been placed on a federal no-fly list,[137] and that he had been banned from Airbnb, Facebook, and Instagram. Fuentes described these actions as "overt political persecution".[11]
Fuentes collaborated with Alex Jones to launch his own live-streaming platform, Cozy.tv, in October 2021.[32][30]
In December 2021, the social media platform Gettr permanently suspended Fuentes. The site received backlash from Fuentes' fanbase as well as from the Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers, who wrote, "What is the point of a free-speech alternative to Twitter... that doesn't even honor free speech?"[138] Gettr subsequently banned all use of the word groyper on the platform.[139]
Fuentes was among a group of far-right activists and groups who received large donations in bitcoin from a French donor on December 8, 2020. Fuentes received 13.5 bitcoin (approximately $681,750 at the time), which was by far the largest share. The donor also posted an apparent suicide note, according to blockchain analysis group Chainalysis. The donor's status has not yet been confirmed.[144][145][146][147] The FBI began an investigation as to whether any of this money went toward the financing of illegal acts, such as the storming of the U.S. Capitol.[148]
On December 12, 2020, at a rally the day after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Texas v. Pennsylvania, Fuentes spoke to a crowd of supporters at Freedom Plaza, stating, "It is us and our ancestors that created everything good that you see in this country. All these people that have taken over our country—we do not need them. ... It is the American people, and our leader, Donald Trump, against everybody else in this country and this world... Our Founding Fathers would get in the streets, and they would take this country back by force if necessary. And that is what we must be prepared to do."[149]
On January 4, 2021, two days before the storming of the U.S. Capitol, Fuentes discussed killing state legislators who were unwilling to overturn the results of the 2020 election, saying, "What can you and I do to a state legislator—besides kill them? We should not do that. I'm not advising that, but I mean, what else can you do, right?"[141][140][128][150]
According to several media outlets, Fuentes was part of the mob that attacked the Capitol.[151][152] The Southern Poverty Law Center reported that Fuentes was "visible in both livestreams and images amidst a mob of pro-Trump insurrectionists...wearing what appears to be a VIP badge".[153] Although he did not enter the building, he allegedly shouted encouragement for the rioters to "Keep moving towards the Capitol – it appears we are taking the Capitol back! ... Break down the barriers and disregard the police. The Capitol belongs to us!"[154][153][11] Fuentes himself admitted being present during the attack but denied criminal conduct, describing rumors that an unidentified figure seen inside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office was him as "fake news".[155]
In 2023, Fuentes and associates were "embroiled in a scandal" about Fuentes' friend, Ali Alexander. Two accusers, seventeen and fifteen years old, respectively, stated Alexander asked for pornographic images and encouraged sexual intercourse.[157] One accuser said he believed Fuentes was "100 percent aware" of the alleged situation, yet did not intervene at the time. The other accuser said, "Nick personally asked me to apologize to Ali for supposedly faking the messages."[157] Fuentes denied the allegations.[157] U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene requested an FBI investigation, stating, "This is disgusting textbook predation of underage boys. And Nick Fuentes was in on it."[157][158][159]Milo Yiannopoulos, a "one-time Alexander ally", alleged he sent a text to Fuentes in January 2022, which read, "Alexander wants to come to your events to have sex with underage boys. Snap out of it."[157][160][161]
Alexander later apologized.[157][161][162] He also said he was targeted by "fake accusers or literal honey pots eager to frame me",[161] and that some of the claims were "defamatory and false".[162] He further stated "nothing unlawful has occurred".[161]
Doxxing and alleged murder attempt
In November 2024, the address of Fuentes' Berwyn, Illinois, home was doxed on Twitter in response to Fuentes mocking abortion advocates in his tweet "Your body, my choice".[163]
A photo of the shooter, 24-year-old John Lyons, outside Fuentes' home
On December 18, 2024, at 11:30 P.M. (CST), a man armed with a pistol and a crossbow showed up at his home.[164] The man, identified as 24-year-old John Lyons of Westchester, was suspected of killing a mother and her two adult children[165][166] in Mahomet earlier in the day. After police arrived, Lyons fled, forcing his way into Fuentes' neighbor's residence, where he killed two dogs. Lyons then fled into a backyard, where he refused police commands and exchanged gunfire with them before being fatally shot.[167][168][169] Fuentes made a statement on his X account, writing, "Last night an armed killer made an attempt on my life at my home, which was recently doxed on this platform". He also wrote, "The gunman carried a pistol, crossbow, and incendiary devices. I believe he intended to kill me. He is now dead. I am okay!"[164]
Media coverage
In 2022, BBC Two produced a docuseries episode by Louis Theroux, Forbidden America: Extreme and Online, in which Fuentes is prominently featured as part of an exploration of the American far-right online subculture.[170]
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