Nick Fuentes

Nicholas Joseph Fuentes was born on August 18, 1998, in Illinois, to William and Lauren () Fuentes. He has a twin sister, Melissa. Fuentes has described his ancestry as Italian, Irish and Mexican, noting that his father is half-Mexican American. He was raised in the Roman Catholic faith. Fuentes grew up in La Grange Park, Illinois, and attended Lyons Township High School, where he served as student council president. During high school, he "strengthened his interest in politics" through speech and Model UN, a political talk show on the school's radio station WLTL, and The Nicholas J. Fuentes Show on the school's television station LTTV. In 2016, Fuentes enrolled at Boston University to study international relations and politics. He left the university after attending the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, after he received death threats, alleging that he had "received 15 death threats via email and social media in the past week". He said that he attended the rally to "protest immigration and multiculturalism", adding that he was "not a white nationalist or racist". He also stated that he did not support violence and was not armed. Fuentes earned an associate degree from the College of DuPage in 2019. ==Media career==

Fuentes launched his livestream America First with Nicholas J. Fuentes in 2017, noted for its utilization of irony and humor to appeal to younger audiences, while offering plausible deniability for more extreme statements. Fuentes stated that "irony is so important for giving a lot of cover and plausible deniability for our views", specifically citing Holocaust denial. Early broadcasts focused primarily on immigration and multiculturalism. The comments led to his departure from Right Side Broadcasting Network in August 2017, with CEO Joe Status saying that Fuentes "was just taking things a little too far into right field for us". In another episode, Fuentes implied skepticism about the six-million Jewish death toll in the Holocaust after a viewer asked, "if I take one hour to cook a batch of cookies and Cookie Monster has 15 ovens working 24 hours a day, every day for five years, how long does it take Cookie Monster to make 6 million batches of cookies." Fuentes suggested that the real number was much lower, estimating "maybe 200,000 to 300,000", and adding "six million cookies? I’m not buying it." Fuentes later said the segment was intended as a "lampoon", and he also acknowledged the Holocaust as "the systematic persecution and murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators". In November 2020, he moved his operations to an apartment in Berwyn, Illinois, while telling viewers he was broadcasting from his parents' basement. He spoke at the American Renaissance conference in April 2018 and later collaborated with Alex Jones to launch the livestreaming platform Cozy.tv in October 2021. (bottom right), and Fuentes (middle right)Beginning in late 2024, Fuentes experienced a significant increase in visibility within segments of the American right. He appeared on numerous podcasts and livestreams, accumulating millions of views on platforms such as YouTube, Rumble, and Kick. During this period, he became a frequent guest on the American manosphere podcast Fresh & Fit with Myron Gaines and Walter Weekes, participated in debates hosted by streamer Adin Ross, and made regular appearances on Alex Jones's Infowars. As his profile expanded in 2025, Fuentes also appeared on more mainstream programs, including Patrick Bet-David's PBD Podcast, Bradley Martyn's Raw Talk, and the Nelk Boys' Kick stream. Fuentes has also been featured in several documentaries. In 2019, MTV included him prominently in White Supremacy Destroyed My Life, and in 2022 he appeared in Louis Theroux's BBC Two documentary Forbidden America: Extreme and Online, which examined far-right online subcultures in the US. In October 2025, Tucker Carlson interviewed Fuentes on The Tucker Carlson Show. Carlson opened the segment by acknowledging the criticism he expected to receive, remarking, "Everybody's going to be like, 'You're a Nazi, you just like Fuentes.' But then I'm like, 'I don't think Fuentes is going away.'" The interview drew condemnation from Republican officials, conservative commentators, and Jewish organizations, who argued that Carlson had provided Fuentes with an inappropriate platform. Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts defended Carlson from what he described as a "venomous coalition", while also stating that silencing Fuentes was not the solution. Roberts' remarks prompted internal backlash at Heritage, with some employees arguing that Fuentes's views were not worthy of debate. Roberts later clarified that Fuentes was "fomenting Jew hatred", calling his rhetoric immoral, un-Christian, and potentially conducive to violence. Following the controversy, Heritage announced staff reassignments. Writing in The Atlantic, Ali Breland argued that the Carlson interview reflected the growing normalization of Fuentes's views among some supporters of the Make America Great Again movement and highlighted broader conservative divisions over antisemitism. On December 8, 2025, Piers Morgan interviewed Fuentes on Piers Morgan Uncensored. == Influence ==

According to a 2026 analysis by The Washington Post using an AI-assisted review of livestream data, "roughly 11,000 donors have sent Fuentes nearly $900,000" since early 2025. He has said that he "makes money selling swastika-imprinted T-shirts and $100-a-month subscriptions to a private chatroom". During one stream, Fuentes responded to a supporter by saying, "we’re an invisible empire", describing building "a cadre of professionals, money people, bureaucrats", who support him "quietly, ideologically, loyally". He has said that he wants his movement "to be underground". The Post analysis further reported that 550 individuals, or 5 percent of his donors, contributed "$407,000, or 46 percent, of his donations". In November 2025, following Fuentes's interview with Tucker Carlson, New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg wrote that Fuentes appeared to be gaining influence. Conservative writer Rod Dreher similarly reported that a source in Washington, D.C., claimed that "something like 30-40% of staffers" under the age of 30 working for Republican Party officials or affiliated institutions were Groypers, though other observers have disputed this characterization. Anthropologist Sharon Moses has noted that Fuentes has emerged as a prominent white nationalist figure despite being part Hispanic, adding that he "resigns himself that his father is half Mexican but prefers to not acknowledge it as a meaningful aspect of his identity". According to Moses, Fuentes's beliefs are "rooted in a white God, white value system, and that his own skin is white". == Political activities ==

Groyper Wars Groyper War 1 By 2019, America First had developed a dedicated online following whose members refer to themselves as "Groypers", consisting primarily of young, internet-based activists associated with alt-right politics. During the 2019 "Groyper War", Fuentes organized supporters to confront conservative speakers at events hosted by Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and similar groups. Groypers posed pointed questions on immigration, US support for Israel, and cultural issues, often disrupting events in the process. Fuentes repeatedly criticized TPUSA and its founder, Charlie Kirk, accusing them of betraying Trump's agenda by supporting mass legal immigration, foreign aid to Israel, and LGBTQ inclusion. Fuentes described the campaign as a grassroots effort to combat alleged ideological inconsistencies within mainstream conservative politics; in response, several Republican politicians and conservative commentators publicly distanced themselves from Fuentes, saying his views were extreme and outside the conservative mainstream. One of the most widely reported incidents occurred at a book-tour event for Donald Trump Jr., where Groypers shouted down the speakers until the event ended early. In December 2019, Fuentes confronted American political commentator Ben Shapiro outside a TPUSA event in West Palm Beach, Florida, who declined to engage after Fuentes questioned him about a speech he had delivered at Stanford University criticizing him and the Groyper movement. He directed his followers to make their demands trend on X and Truth Social and urged them to withhold their votes and protest Trump rallies in battleground states. Fuentes 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. Vance said Fuentes was a "total loser" and the campaign would not listen to him. In July 2025, Fuentes criticized Trump after his refusal to release the Epstein files, as he called him a "scam artist", also stating that the "liberals were right" and "we are going to look back on the MAGA movement as the biggest scam in history". In March 2026, Fuentes expressed frustration on Trump's apparent "Golden Age", saying that "the tariffs were refunded, the deportations were stopped" and the administration had accomplished little except for embezzling money, going to war with Iran, and burying the Epstein files. Fuentes then urged his base to "not vote in the midterms, and if you do, vote Democrat". January 6 Capitol Attack . At a pro-Trump demonstration in Washington, D.C., in December 2020, he led a crowd in chanting "Destroy the GOP" and encouraged attendees to sit out the Senate special runoff election in Georgia. In February 2021, house delegate Stacey Plaskett played this video during the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump. On December 8, 2020, Fuentes received approximately $250,000 worth of Bitcoin from a French donor who also sent funds to other far-right figures, with an apparent suicide note, though his status has not been confirmed. The FBI opened an investigation to determine whether any of the funds were used to support illegal activity, including the storming of the US Capitol; Fuentes was not charged with any crimes. On January 4, 2021, Fuentes discussing state legislators who refused to overturn the 2020 election results, saying, "What can you and I do to a state legislator—besides kill them? ... I'm not advising that, but I mean, what else can you do, right?" Media outlets reported that Fuentes was present among the crowd that breached the Capitol grounds on January 6. The Southern Poverty Law Center stated that he appeared "amidst a mob of pro-Trump insurrectionists" with an apparent "VIP badge". Although he did not enter the Capitol building, he allegedly encouraged rioters by shouting, "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!" The FBI opened an investigation into Fuentes's conduct, which was closed after five months without any charges. Deplatforming and reinstatements Fuentes has been banned from numerous social media platforms, financial services, and e-commerce providers since 2020, mostly due to actions attributed to violations of hate-speech and related content policies. In January 2020, he was the most viewed live streamer on the platform DLive; however, following the January 6 attack, DLive permanently suspended his channel. On February 14, 2020, YouTube terminated his channel entirely for repeated violations of its hate-speech policies. X indefinitely suspended Fuentes's verified account in July 2021. He had also been banned from financial and e-commerce services such as PayPal, Venmo, Patreon, Shopify, Stripe, Streamlabs, and Coinbase. Fuentes claimed that his bank account was frozen, he was placed on a federal no-fly list, and Airbnb, Facebook, and Instagram also banned him, describing this as "overt political persecution". Gettr banned use of the word groyper on the platform. On January 25, 2023, his verified X account was briefly reinstated and banned after he praised Adolf Hitler and the Unabomber, also saying "Jews run the news." In May 2024, Elon Musk reinstated his account, adding, "I cannot claim to be a defender of free speech, but then permanently ban someone who hasn't violated the law." The ADL condemned this decision, to which Musk addressed the backlash by stating, "It is better to have anti whatever out in the open to be rebutted than to grow simmering in the darkness." Since his return, Fuentes has amassed over one million followers. After Fuentes's bans from DLive and YouTube, America First moved to streaming on Rumble; this led to a growth in popularity, as Tucker Carlson and Jason Whitlock saw his ability to draw an audience. America First Political Action Conference Nick Fuentes founded the America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC), a white nationalist and far-right political conference that is seen as a rival to CPAC. American political commentator Michelle Malkin, fired by the Young America's Foundation over her support for Fuentes, spoke at the first two events in February 2020 and 2021. American politicians Steve King and Paul Gosar spoke at the second AFPAC. Fuentes attempted to "start a commotion" during a CPAC event in February 2021, leading to him being barred from the Hyatt Regency Orlando. He was again removed from CPAC in July 2021 after he harassed a journalist. Fuentes hosted the third AFPAC in February 2022, with Majorie Taylor Greene attending, while Janice McGeachin and Gosar had prerecorded videos. Mitt Romney criticized the attendance of Greene, as well as others; Greene later said that she did not know who the organizers were. The event highlighted Alexander Dugin's growing influence on the American far-right, as he blamed gay-rights, liberal values, and separation of church and state for societal decline. In April 2026, The New York Times reported that Fuentes chose to discontinue AFPAC permanently due to concerns over his safety. == Political associations ==

Donald Trump According to the Anti-Defamation League, Fuentes has cited Donald Trump's candidacy and presidency as an inspiration for America First. Trump stated that West had contacted him earlier in the week to arrange a visit and that West "unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about", describing the dinner as "quick and uneventful". Trump later said that he met with West to "help a seriously troubled man... who has been decimated", also advising him to end his presidential campaign. According to Axios, a source claimed Trump "seemed very taken" with Fuentes and was impressed by his ability to recall statistics and speeches from his 2016 campaign; the source said Fuentes encouraged Trump to be more "authentic", claiming his recent 2024 campaign announcement sounded scripted. Trump reportedly responded, "You like it better when I just speak off the cuff", to which Fuentes agreed, calling him an "amazing" president when unrestrained. West later said that when he asked Trump to be his vice-presidential running mate, Trump "started basically screaming at me at the table". The meeting drew significant domestic and international attention, being condemned by commentators across the political spectrum due to Fuentes and West's antisemitic statements. The event led to rare bipartisan criticism of Trump, including from Republican congressional leaders, and raised questions about Trump's viability as a 2024 candidate. A New York Times writer described the reaction among American Jews as "what may be the most discomfiting moment in U.S. history in a half-century or more". Critics argued that Trump's failures to condemn antisemitism amounted to tacit acceptance of the guests' views. Trump defended the dinner on Truth Social, writing that West "expressed no anti-Semitism" during the meeting and that he "never met and knew nothing about" Fuentes. The Washington Post reported that Trump believed the controversy would "blow over", but reconsidered after subsequent actions by West and Fuentes. Former vice president Mike Pence said Trump should apologize and "denounce those individuals", and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the meeting a "mistake", later adding that hosting them was "not merely unacceptable, it's just wrong". On November 16, 2025, Trump commented on Tucker Carlson's interview with Fuentes, saying, "You can't tell him who to interview. If he wants to interview Nick Fuentes — I don't know much about him, but if he wants to do it — get the word out. People have to decide." Kanye West Involvement in the 2024 presidential campaign , on July 19, 2020 In late 2022, Fuentes switched from supporting Donald Trump to promoting Kanye West's presidential campaign, as well as far-right streamer Sneako. On November 28, 2022, Tim Pool interviewed West, Fuentes, and Milo Yiannopoulos about West's campaign. When Pool pressed West and Fuentes about criticism from Mike Pence regarding their dinner with Trump, both refused to apologize and walked out of the interview. In a December 2022 interview with Alex Jones, West declared that he "loves" Adolf Hitler and denied the Holocaust. Fuentes did not directly comment on West's statements but expressed agreement throughout the discussion. Days later, West and Fuentes appeared on Canadian far-right commentator Gavin McInnes's show, where they claimed Hitler's reputation had been "crafted by Jews", also adding that the US should be governed by "Christian principles" and the media should be controlled by Christians. Following controversies involving Fuentes and fellow West supporter Ali Alexander, West dismissed both Fuentes and Alexander from his campaign, with assistance from Yiannopoulos, who had rejoined the team after previously departing. 2025 single song In April 2023, during a Kick livestream hosted by Sneako and producer Digital Nas, Fuentes watched West record the 2025 single song "Heil Hitler;" Fuentes predicted the track would become the "song of the summer", saying, "Imagine 50,000 people in a stadium on their feet singing every word." In January 2026, Fuentes drew widespread attention after being filmed dancing to "Heil Hitler" at a Miami nightclub alongside Andrew Tate, Sneako, and Myron Gaines. Miami Beach mayor Steven Meiner later apologized for the incident and banned Fuentes from the venue. Ali Alexander In 2023, Fuentes and associates were involved in a scandal about Fuentes's friend, Ali Alexander. Two accusers, 17 and 15 years old, respectively, stated Alexander asked for pornographic images and encouraged sexual intercourse. 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." Fuentes denied the allegations. 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." Alexander later apologized for "any inappropriate messages sent over the years", but did not offer any specifics in regard to the allegations. ==Views==

Overview During the March 28, 2025 broadcast of America First, streamed on Rumble, Fuentes delivered a monologue in which he made a series of derogatory and inflammatory statements about multiple groups. During the segment, he said: New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg described these remarks as a distillation of his ideology, noting that his "sneering, proudly transgressive attitude has made him a hero to legions of mostly young men who resent all forms of political gatekeeping". and has also characterized the term "white supremacist" as an "anti-white slur". According to the SPLC, Fuentes has stated that the US should be a white, Christian nation, rejecting the idea of a "Judeo-Christian" country. Christian nationalism Fuentes identifies with traditionalist Catholicism, He has called for a Catholic theocracy modeled on far-right movements in countries such as Argentina and Hungary. Fuentes has said, "You're either a Catholic or you're with the Jews", and has advocated for Catholic control of government and media. He has referred to the US government as "Jewish-occupied" and has expressed support for autocracy, Catholic monarchy or dictatorship, just war theory, the Crusades, and the Inquisition, while opposing forms of democracy. He also supports and has praised the leadership of dictators, such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Antisemitism Sources widely describe Fuentes as holding antisemitic views and stated on America First, "Hitler is awesome. Hitler was right. And the Holocaust didn't happen." In an interview with Piers Morgan, he referred to Hitler as "fucking cool", and mocked a relative of a Holocaust survivor. He has claimed that "Jews stood in the way" of overturning Roe v. Wade, and argued that the Dobbs decision meant that "banning gay marriage... banning sodomy... [and] banning contraceptives" were again possible, which he described as "Taliban rule in America, in a good way". At AFPAC 2022, he delivered remarks described as "giggling praise" on Hitler. Russia and Ukraine Fuentes has expressed support for several authoritarian governments and movements that oppose US foreign policy. On March 10, 2022, he praised Vladimir Putin during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, referring to him as "czar Putin" and claiming the invasion was intended to "liberate Ukraine" from US influence, calling the US an "evil empire". He has argued that the US should withdraw its backing, stating, "We're European, they're ethnically Jewish." After the October 7 attacks, he claimed without evidence that the events were staged to justify broader military action by Israel to "destroy Iran and its proxies". Domestic policy Immigration Fuentes has consistently advocated against immigration, particularly non-white immigration, and mass migration to the US; he also wants to heavily enforce mass deportations. Fuentes has said that if he were president, he would deport "tens of millions" of immigrants, arguing that they "have to be returned because they have no legal standing here", saying that the US was not designed with a "multiracial religiously pluralistic society in mind". In response to the 2026 shooting by US Border Patrol agents of Alex Pretti in Minnesota, Fuentes told his viewers that if they want to stop immigration enforcement because of those acts, "You will lose. You have blinked." In June 2025, he boasted that "I've never seen the right wing so angry and so explicitly against mass migration", adding that they were so close "to expressing their disdain in racial terms", citing figures like Matt Walsh and Charlie Kirk. However, he has argued that Trump is not doing enough, saying that "we need more detention centers" and "we need more militarization of the cities", including bringing "in the National Guard everywhere". Fuentes does support some levels of immigration, especially from South Africa and areas of Europe. In December 2020, Fuentes reportedly had an altercation on a flight over mask mandates, as well as a possible fight with a flight attendant. By April 2021, Salon reported that Fuentes and his supporters had aligned themselves with anti-vaccine activists. That same year, he participated in an anti-vaccine event in Staten Island, stating that "they are gonna have to kill me before I get this vaccine." Criticism of JD Vance According to The New York Times, Fuentes wants to undermine the political ambitions of JD Vance; he has characterized him as a "complete fabrication" that was "created in a lab by Peter Thiel", adding that he would not support a candidate with a mixed-race family. He has also made remarks about women's role and capabilities. In a 2023 appearance on the Fresh and Fit podcast, Fuentes described women as "baby machines", asserting that this was "what their brains are about". He has said that the "optimal" age for a wife is 16, a claim he justified with the phrase "right when the milk is good". He has also argued that women should occupy a subordinate role within marriage. In an interview with Piers Morgan, Fuentes accepted Morgan’s characterization of him as a "misogynist, old dinosaur". Abortion Following the Supreme Court's 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, Fuentes praised the ruling. The phrase subsequently spread widely on TikTok, where female users reported receiving mass comments repeating it. A report by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue documented a sharp increase across social media platforms following the election, as well as instances of its appearance on school and university campuses. Sexuality Fuentes has been described by researchers as a prominent figure within the incel movement. Scholars Johnson and Kennedy-Kollar argue that he has used his platform to appeal to young men who feel socially marginalized or threatened by feminism. Fuentes has at times referred to himself as a "proud incel", though he has made contradictory statements about his own sexual behavior. He has said that sex with women is "gay" and that asexuality is the only appropriate stance for heterosexual men. He has claimed that there is an "LGBT agenda" and has described transgender people and same-sex marriage as forms of "deviancy". == Personal life ==

Fuentes has stated that he is a "proud incel", In a 2025 interview with Piers Morgan, he said that he is "attracted to women" and "isn't gay", addressing speculation about his sexuality that had circulated online. Fuentes also added, "Women are very difficult to be around. So, there's that." This referenced the pro-abortion rights slogan "my body, my choice." The account Anonymous wrote on X that "Nick Fuentes has been fully doxed and it's being shared to millions of women across every social media platform." Battery arrest On November 10, 2024, Marla Rose approached Fuentes's home in Berwyn, Illinois, and attempted to ring his doorbell. According to police reports and media accounts, Fuentes allegedly pepper-sprayed Rose, pushed her down the front steps, and took her phone, which she had been using to record the encounter. She said she was angered by Fuentes's viral post on X reading, "Your body, my choice. Forever." Fuentes was arrested on November 27, 2024, and charged with battery. The Berwyn Police Department's incident report stated that "Rose kept knocking on Fuentes’ door until he answered", leading to a heated exchange between the two. Fuentes appeared in court on December 19, 2024. Alleged assassination attempt On December 18, 2024, at approximately 11:30 p.m. CST, a man armed with a pistol and a crossbow arrived at Fuentes's home. The individual was later identified as 24-year-old John Lyons of Westchester, Illinois, who was suspected of killing a mother and her two adult children earlier that day in Mahomet, Illinois. After police responded to the scene, Lyons fled and forced his way into a neighboring residence, where he killed two dogs. He then ran into a backyard, refused police commands, and exchanged gunfire with officers before being fatally shot. Fuentes stated after the incident that, "While heartbreaking, it could have been so unimaginably worse", adding "God have mercy. Doxing is not a game." Police have not connected Lyons to the incident at Fuentes' home. The alleged assassination attempt happened the night before he was scheduled to appear in Cook County court for battery. ==References==