White House officials may be eager to carry out Donald Trump’s political revenge, but there’s still one person they seem afraid of: a 27-year-old white nationalist streamer.
A New York Times profile of Nicholas Fuentes—a far-right extremist and self-proclaimed “incel”—revealed that current and former members of the Trump administration, along with outside advisers, would not comment on the extremist influencer “out of fear.”
“[Fear] of inviting online attacks from him and his zealous followers…Three of them mentioned the sudden ubiquity of Fuentes-related clips circulating in their social media feeds,” the article noted.
On paper, Fuentes, an under-six-foot college dropout, is a far cry from intimidating. But his sensationalist brand of racism, sexism, and extremism has proven opportunistic, especially at a time when far-right views are increasingly creeping into the mainstream.
Since Elon Musk reinstated his X account—previously suspended for hate speech—Fuentes has gained hundreds of thousands of followers, according to the Times. His Rumble show, America First, reportedly draws around 500,000 viewers per episode.
One post he made on Election Night, reading “Your body, my choice. Forever,” has racked up more than 100 million views.
Experts and critics alike warn that the young extremist is a terrifying—but very real—contender for the MAGA throne.
Fuentes publicly turned on Trump ahead of the 2024 election, saying the campaign had been “hijacked by the same consultants, lobbyists, and donors that he defeated in 2016.” Since then, he’s blasted the former president relentlessly. “It’s just getting embarrassing atp [at this point],” he wrote on X, reacting to a federal judge’s order to shut down the Trump-backed “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention facility in Florida.
Once allies, Trump even hosted Fuentes and Kanye West (also known as Ye), both of whom have been accused of blatant antisemitism, at Mar-a-Lago in November 2022. Trump, however, publicly distanced himself from Fuentes after a backlash.
Fuentes was also present at the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally in 2017 and incited his followers, known as “Goypers,” before and during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
