So...if you haven't heard, the GOP is in the middle of a civil war over one Nick Fuentes. Now, Nick Fuentes is an extremist, and we could even argue he's basically a nazi. if you listen to him talk on his program, he sounds like a nazi, and says disgusting things. After listening to his interview with Tucker Carlson, i do think he may be a bit more moderate than he sounds in practice, as he seems to like to be an edgy troll, but either way, throwing firebombs like he does on air, he's having a negative impact on our youth and converting them into a bunch of radicals who actually do believe crazy things.
Right now, the civil war that's being waged seems to be over Carlson platforming him at all, with the most crazy quotes being cherrypicked from it. I feel mixed. On the one hand, even though I largely support free speech, when you get as extreme and as disgusting as this guy, even I'm like "yeah there are limits", and even a lot of neocons like Ben Shapiro, is like "yeah maybe he shouldn't be on the air." However, if you actually listen to his side of the argument, things are a bit more nuanced.
So...let's really discuss this.
The making of a far right villain
Nick Fuentes actually started off not too different than me. A more bog standard conservative who was part of the libertarian movement. He's a bit younger than me, and he came of age during the 2016 election, but he was one of those edgy libertarian teens who liked Ayn Rand for a while. But 2016 kind of awakened something in him, and it shifted him toward white nationalist politics.
It really came down to this premise: demographics is destiny. Remember how the democrats, myself included, were really doing a victory lap between 2012 and 2016, going on about how the GOP would never win the electoral college again and demographics are destiny? it sank in for him too. Quite frankly, one of the talking points for the faltering of the republican coalition at the time was the fact that whites were estimated to become a minority, and that we would soon be a minority-majority nation. Now...typically, in American politics, whites vote more conservatively, they have that value system based in hard work and evangelical christianity, blah blah blah, while the dems had a more diverse coalition of minority voters. The logic was that as the silents and baby boomers started aging out and dying off, we would see massive shifts in politics that would give the dems a super majority. Ya know, like those FDR type maps I was discussing the other day. The republican coalition was aging, and the dems weren't. Now, it wasn't JUST race. I'm a white guy myself, and I shifted left too. Why? Because I realized that the republican party did nothing for me, and conservatism did nothing for me. Really, it's just an ideology geared toward the wealthy, and between the bush era and the tea party, it seemed obvious that the republican ideology was responsible for everything wrong with the country.
However, and this is my own argument...the dems blew it. Clinton got too arrogant, and gambled away the white working class in order to win over moderate suburbanites, and it led to the republicans being able to revive their coalition for a time. And...they're using the time....to go after minorities. They believe if we are allowed to become a minority-majority country, that they will lose it forever. They're not wrong, but as a progressive myself, I'm pretty much okay with conservatism dying.
Still, this has awakened a movement of white nationalism, and Nick Fuentes is at the front of that movement. He believes that we should fight to keep America white, and yeah, we're seeing a lot of this at work within the trump administration, which is why they're okay with just rounding up and deporting people. To the rest of us, this looks like Hitler crap, because let's face it, it IS hitler crap, but yeah, this is the last gasp of a dying ideology trying to go full authoritarian to stay relevant. if demographics are destiny, then their future lies on basically going full white nationalist to preserve the conservative ideology and its relevance on the national stage. Kinda scary, but it makes sense. All the more reason why we gotta beat those guys.
So...about that antisemitism
The thing that REALLY makes Nick Fuentes sound like a nazi, well, other than the glazing of authoritarian figures like Hitler, is his anti semitism. He doesnt sound full on nazi when he explains it though, given the debates we've had on the left about israel as of late, he seems like he's mostly driven by a genuine "America first" position and a dislike of the Israel lobby being this deeply involved with the US government. In a way, being progressive, I kinda cant blame him. I'm not someone who sees myself as anti semitic, I dont hate all jews or anything (although I am critical of all religions, especially Abrahamic ones), but I do dislike zionism. Zionism is basically Jewish nationalism. And it seems to have roots in the bible and the old testament, and as a former christian, let me remind you guys one of the reasons I left christianity and rejected its morality is because God basically condoned genocide in the old testament. And zionists seem to use those kinds of passages to justify their treatment of palestinians today.
And then they come over here, lobby our government, and try to manipulate our discourse, and when we push back, we're accused of being anti semitic. With me, it's like, whatever, you're an idiot. With feuntes though, it kinda turned him into what sounds like a nazi. Like, he's really obsessed with this. it was a massive part of his political development, and arguably heavily related to the start of his career. Because he was always snubbed by establishment conservatives and as he gained influence it's like they were trying to cancel him and keep him off the air. Now, if his views are as bad as they sometimes are, I cant blame the right, but given how much focus seemed to be around him not toeing the line on Israel, idk, I'm more mixed here. Because, again, not a fan of Israel itself. I dont like how much pressure they exert over our politics. And we've been dealing with this kind of hostility on the left as well, and trust me, most of us aren't nazis over here. Sure, the most extreme are accused of being anti semites, and most of us might be accused IN BAD FAITH for not toeing the line of israel, but yeah, it really seemed to go to his head where his entire career seems to be defined by his anti israel stances. For me, at the end of the day, I dont care either way. Like, I support israel IN THEORY for various reasons, but IN PRACTICE, post october 7th, I think that they really destroyed their credibility by overplaying their hand and coming off as genocidal warmongers who act in bad faith. That doesn't make me a nazi, but again, this fuentes guy is OBSESSED with the topic. And given other data points about him, it makes him sound nazi, because he talks about it WAY too much.
His extreme social conservatism
Fuentes is also known for extreme conservative positions. In this interview, he explains it.Part of it is christianity, both he and tucker carlson discussed their christian faith and social conservatism, and as a former christian myself I get where they're coming from. But feuntes, just goes extreme with it like everything else. He believes the problems with society and gender relations come from wokeism in a sense, but again, whereas I lightly criticize that stuff in practice, he just goes full on "women have too much freedom and we need to ban porn for some reason." Like, really. He just goes heavy handed with it where yeah, total christian nationalist, this one. He admitted that his "your body my choice" comment was basically trolling and he actually did face assassination attempts over it, that's scary AF. Like, again, I dont endorse the guy's comments but I dont want the guy killed, just cancelled and his views not allowed in polite society. But yeah, he does point to some of the dysfunction around gender norms and the modern asymmetry I'm often critical of, but again, whereas I LIGHTLY criticize that stuff, again, his solution is just to take away womens' freedom and basically force "the patriarchy" on them, because he just sees it as natural due to his christianity. Him and tucker also think women would be happier if christianity were forced on them, which I see as BS.
Overall discussion
And yeah, that's how the monster that is nick fuentes came to be. In a way, it kinda freaks me out. I mean, I could have just as easily became him if I swung a different way. I used to be a conservative christian and a libertarian. However, unlike him, I went hard LEFT. I abandoned and rejected christianity and conservatism and developed my own brand of humanist progressivism. But him? he just got more radical as his views developed. He got more socially conservative. He became critical of the israeli lobby to the point it's literally half of his personality. Although, to be fair, his heavy handed solutions weren't discussed. Like, that's one thing that this interview didn't go into. His solutions. And that's the scariest part of him. Because here's a few things about those solutions:
1) In order to establish and maintain a white ethnostates, you basically gotta have a lot of nazi-esque beliefs regarding deporting people and also social conservatism with the family. Basically, women pump out kids, and you got the government mass relocating POC because they're "undesireables." Which is basically what the nazis did, and what his implied beliefs lead to.
2) He basically wants to force religion on people, especially women, and to take away their freedoms. Again, this is what right wing authoritarians do.
3) Not much focus was on this, but this dude is known to admire authoritarian strong men. Franco, Mussolini, Hitler, hell, in this interview, he was saying he was a fan of Stalin. Like wtf? And this is an area of his politics Tucker just failed to focus on.
And you know what? This stuff? This is important, because what's scariest about Nick Fuentes isn't necessarily his origin story. Like, in some ways, Carlson's interview made him seem a lot more normal, and as a former conservative, I can kinda understand how he got where he is. BUT, there is one thing that I had that he never did, and that was RESTRAINT. I guess this is because I'm older, I was a pre 2016 conservative and even a pre tea party one when I was one. I genuinely believed in limited government. I didnt like the idea of using the state to force morality on people, and even if i had nominal pro life and anti gay positions endemic of the 2000s era conservative zeitgeist at the time, in the 2010s when the GOP tried to push that stuff, I quickly abandoned them. It wasnt just the small government stuff that did it, it was also political science teaching me the basics of public policy and how these ideas just...don't work. And they DONT work. Ya know? At least not if you dont want an authoritarian state. This guy has a real fricking authoritarian streak in him that's scary. he has no restraints, and he likes these strong men types who basically abuse power to accomplish their goals, and create all kinds of negative externalities in doing so.
That's what separates a lot of conservatives from a lot of the alt right. The reagan conservatives genuinely believed in small or limited government. The modern GOP just doesnt have that. They're perfectly willing to go full fascist to defend their ideas and force them on us, and that's what's really missing here from this whole conversation. And that's what makes Fuentes more like a nazi than a traditional conservative. And I can understand why the rest of the right hates him for it. While I dont deny his claims that the Israel lobby probably had a lot to do with trying to suppress him, the fact that his response is basically to develop views that are akin to literal fascism is a problem. And I kinda can't help but agree with the likes of Ben Shapiro and others who basically are trying to deplatform the guy as a result. Because let's face it, as much as Carlson humanized him here, he's still a fricking nut in practice.
So yeah. That's my final takeaway from this. While this interview did a good job humanizing his positions and giving him the ability to actually defend what he believes, the darkest parts were largely glossed over and yeah, more emphasis should be given to what this guy is actually proposing. Because it's nuts, and i kinda cant blame the rest of the conservative movement for wanting nothing to do with this guy.
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