Thread by @P_Kallioniemi

In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an American far-right social media personality, Nicholas J. Fuentes (@NickJFuentes). He’s best-known for his white supremacist, misogynistic and antisemitic rhetoric, and for being the poster boy for the so-called incel movement.

1/17

Like so many from the white supremacist movement, Fuentes dropped out of university after his freshman year. He studied introductory international relations, which apparently made him a geopolitics expert. Nick was introduced to the white supremacist movement at an…

2/17

..early age - he took part in the infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville,Virginia. In 2017, Fuentes launched his political talk show “America First”. Initially the show was aired on Trump-aligned Right Side Broadcasting Network, but it was dropped after the rally.
3/17

Fuentes’ shows are characterized by Fuentes’ frequent use of jokes and irony to appeal to his young audience while providing plausible deniability for his extreme political views, and his fanatic troll followers are referred to as “Groypers”.

4/17

Around 2019, Fuentes and his neo-Nazi buddy Patrick Casey together with the “Groyper Army” started heckling Charlie Kirk’s pro-Trump, right-wing nonprofit Turning Point USA. Fuentes also collaborated with Republican elected officials and conservative activists in order…

5/17

…to push the Republican Party and US politics into a more hard-right, authoritarian ideological position. Nick also launched AFPAC, a political conference that brought together white nationalists and far-right figures. One of them was of course Marjorie Taylor Greene.

6/17

Fuentes’ aggressive style appeals to angry young men, and he was one of the key figures in the “Stop the Steal” movement, which claimed that Donald Trump had won the 2020 US presidential elections. He even floated the idea of killing some Republican lawmakers in retribution.
7/17

Several media outlets reported that Fuentes was part of the group that attacked the Capitol on January 6th. He allegedly shouted provocations for the rioters to “keep moving towards the Capitol” and that they were “taking the Capitol back”.

8/17

In Nov 2022, Donald Trump hosted Nick and Kanye West over dinner at Mar-a-Lago. According to a source interviewed by Axios, Trump “seemed very taken” by Nick and they added that “there was a lot of fawning back and forth.” The meeting was later widely criticized.

9/17

Over time, Fuentes has become overly critical of Trump, especially in 2024. Fuentes called for his followers to pressure Trump to adopt even more extreme positions on immigration and race, and he urged Trump to fire Susie Wiles, now his White House Chief of Staff pick.

10/17

In Nov 2024, after Trump supporters dressed in garbage bags, Fuentes commented that this characterized Trumpism as “a giant cult-like scam,” and that Trump supporters are “slavishly devoted” people who would “just eat up anything.”

11/17

When it comes to Russia and Ukraine, Nicky has clearly chosen his side: at AFPAC in 2022, he spoke highly of Putin and asked the audience, “Can we get a round of applause for Russia?” This was followed by roaring applause and “Putin!” chants.

12/17

Nick and Kanye were also Alex Jones’ guests at InfoWars, where Nick said again that he’s “very pro-Putin” and “very pro-Russia”. After this, both guests started praising Hitler. Naturally, this wasn’t the only incident where Nicky has defended the infamous Austrian painter.
13/17

Right after Russia launched their full-scale invasion against Ukraine, Fuentes praised “czar Putin” for “liberating Ukraine from the Great Satan and from the evil empire in the world, which is the United States.”

14/17

After Trump’s victory,Fuentes was again raising controversy, when he tweeted “Your body, my choice. Forever.” The phrase became extremely popular on many social media platforms,including TikTok, Facebook and Reddit. For this, Fuentes’ alleged home address was posted online.
15/17

In another incident, Nick accidentally streamed gay porn at the end of his live stream. According to him, his stream was “hacked by Jews”, calling the incident an “easily disprovable nonsense”. Whatever the truth is, we support your freedom to express your sexuality, Nicky!
16/17

Like Laura Loomer, Fuentes is a racist provocateur who’s allowed to “hang out” with the MAGA gang but doesn’t play any role in its leadership. Nick is sort of a decoy, a person who draws the attention while MAGA is planning out their future policies behind closed doors.

17/17

My book titled “Vatnik Soup - The Ultimate Guide to Russian Disinformation” has been published, you can order it here (shipping only 4,7€ until the end of 2024!):

kleart.eu/webshop/p/vatn…

Update:

https://x.com/DrewPavlou/status/1855868275474800964

More on Nicky, courtesy of @TheHoustonWade.