In a November 20 column, conservative Washington Post opinion writer Marc A. Thiessen — best known for his frequent appearances on Fox News — sounded the alarm about white nationalist Nick Fuentes’ relationship with the Republican Party and the MAGA movement. Thiessen warned Republicans that they will suffer politically if they don’t distance themselves from “overt racists” like Fuentes.Thiessen wrote, “Tucker Carlson’s effort to bring neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes into the mainstream of the conservative movement is not only morally reprehensible; it is a path to political suicide for the right. Those defending or excusing Carlson’s sane-washing of Fuentes need to ask themselves a simple question: Do they want to be a majoritarian movement or not?”But in an article published on December 13, The Atlantic’s Ali Breland laments that Fuentes is expanding, not reducing, his outreach.Fuentes has a show that airs on the far-right Rumble online. Breland spent 12 hours watching it, and one of the journalist’s takeaways is that Fuentes’ “momentum” is real.”Since Fuentes appeared on Tucker Carlson’s podcast at the end of October,” Breland explains, “Republican leaders have started to ask themselves just how much sway he has over the party. Fuentes has built an army of fans, who call themselves ‘Groypers,’ and his style of bigoted trolling has become the lingua franca of the young, ascendant right. Each episode I watched garnered at least 1 million views on Rumble. Fuentes has attracted attention for years, but as he’s quick to remind his audience, he’s operated from the fringes, pounding on the doors of mainstream conservatism and meeting fierce condemnation.”Breland adds, “Now, Fuentes has momentum — and based on what I saw, he’s laying the groundwork to go even bigger.”The Atlantic staffer notes that Fuentes show on Rumble is “at the core of his political project.””Each episode, after finishing his monologue, Fuentes begins a second segment: a mailbag-esque ‘super chat’ during which, for a minimum fee of $20, his fans can ask him questions,” Breland observes. “Fuentes’ financial situation is opaque, but he seems to bring in a significant amount of money from listener questions. I saw him receive sums as large as $1000 from a single donor, identified only by the username Zion_Don, who donated on four of the five nights I watched. In one episode, Fuentes accidentally shared his screen with the audience, revealing that he had made at least $5192 in the span of a few hours.”Breland adds, “The chat is just one of his several revenue streams. Fuentes repeatedly encouraged his audience to buy merch, including a $40 t-shirt that displays his face on the back…. Night after night, I watched Fuentes lay out his strategy for maintaining his momentum…. Fuentes has already infiltrated the right. Now, he’s trying to make his movement a permanent fixture of it.”Read Ali Breland’s full article for The Atlantic at this link (subscription required).
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