Holiday weekend greetings.
On today’s “To the Contrary” podcast, I’m joined by Ali Breland, to talk about his new piece: “Nick Fuentes, America’s Next Top Racist” - The Atlantic [Gift link]. We discuss how Fuentes has built a devoted following, pushed the GOP further right, and influenced both rhetoric and policy despite his openly racist views.
I’ve been writing abut the Right’s descent into the fever swamps for years, and I don’t think I’m naive about the trajectory it is on. But, I confess, I still find it amazing — and deeply disturbing — that a Hitler-praising, crypto-Nazi troll has amassed a following in a movement already packed with cranks, bigots, and loons. As Breland writes, Fuentes is not your garden variety racist — he serves it up in all its vile purity.
Earlier this year, in yet another stream, Fuentes described Chicago as “n*gger hell.” He then laughed and added: “I just came up with that, just now. Isn’t that good?” Fuentes has also said that Hitler was “really fucking cool” and posited that “we need to go back to burning women alive.” (Fuentes did not respond to multiple requests for an interview.)
This is shocking rhetoric even in 2025, when the far right has embraced race science and the federal government could be mistaken for pursuing the aims of the Proud Boys. Popular MAGA figures rarely engage in Fuentes-grade bigotry. Consider Laura Loomer, the influencer and Donald Trump confidante: She has called Kamala Harris a “DEI Shaniqua” and described Indian immigrants as “third world invaders,” but even she stops short of the vile slurs and Hitler praise expressed by Fuentes.
But in the MAGA media ecosystem, “it’s working.”
Fuentes is among the most popular streamers on Rumble, a right-wing platform similar to YouTube; his videos regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. He’s gained more than 100,000 new followers on X since late June. The White House now posts on X in a gleefully cruel style that seems inspired by Fuentes’s followers, who call themselves “Groypers”—in fact, at the end of May, Trump posted a meme of himself that was first posted by a Groyper account. At least one Fuentes supporter, Paul Ingrassia, works in the administration as a liaison to the Department of Homeland Security. Ingrassia, who didn’t respond to an interview request, has also been nominated to lead the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. No matter how far Fuentes pushes his bigotry, his influence continues to rise.
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Some highlights of our conversation
The normalization of the crazy.
Fuentes and the vortex of extremism.
ICYMI…
None of these stories are parodies or internet hoaxes. This actually happened, and we should probably be paying attention even if it’s a long weekend:
“DOJ reassigned top attorneys. They quit after feeling sidelined”. — The Washington Post
Justice Department officials transferred senior attorneys to a newly created Sanctuary Cities Enforcement working group, which gave insiders the impression that it was designed to frustrate and push out lawyers not loyal to President Donald Trump. The group did menial tasks, leading all members to leave DOJ.
“SSA chief data officer resigns after filing whistleblower complaint” — CBS
Charles Borges, the chief data officer at the Social Security Administration, resigned Friday — days after filing a whistleblower complaint about Department of Government Efficiency employees at the SSA.
He said in the complaint that the DOGE employees had uploaded a copy of the entire country's Social Security information to a "vulnerable cloud environment." Borges' resignation from the SSA was confirmed by the Government Accountability Project, which is providing his legal representation.
Don Moynihan from his “Can We Still Govern” Substack.
What is happening at CDC is not a one-off.
I have studied the federal bureaucracy for a quarter century and am not aware of any comparable period in American history where so many public service professionals across different policy domains are sending out SOS signals to the public.
If you care about state capacity, the ability of government to get things done, you should be very worried.
If you are skeptical of government bureaucrats and their claims, I invite you to consider whether you would want the medical professionals at CDC or RFK Jr to treat your family if they got sick. Because right now, Trump is empowering RFK Jr to determine of your family’s health.
Sunday dogs
From my daughter’s dog-oriented Substack newsletter, out French dog, Zok is enjoying his new ball.
