It Came From the Basement: How Nick Fuentes groomed a new generation of racist hate.

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(Mother Jones) Eight months before the white nationalist figure Nicholas J. Fuentes ignited a political firestorm by dining with Kanye West and Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, he strode out onstage to a crowd of what he claimed were 1,000 followers, chanting “America First.” Behind a podium, flanked by two American flags and one with that slogan, he hit his standard beats (the nation is in decline, Christ is king) while sprinkling in some extremely troubling riffs, like comparing Vladimir Putin to Hitler—and suggesting the similarity was a “good thing.”

This Marriott conference center worth of Groypers—which Fuentes’ fans call themselves in homage to a right-wing internet frog meme—had gathered in Orlando for the third annual America First Political Action Conference. He was serving as the warmup act for a secret guest of honor: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). She didn’t say anything too noteworthy, but her willingness to appear at an event hosted by an openly racist Holocaust denier was a massive victory for his cause. In becoming a member of Congress, Greene had helped bring institutional credibility to fringe and racist conspiracy theories. Now she was doing the same for his brand of white nationalism.

“It was a big deal for her to come out and do that,” Fuentes said, praising Greene after her keynote. “You guys know full well the risk—she put herself out on a limb tonight and we here at AFPAC are grateful.”

“At AFPAC I famously said it would be a small group of highly motivated people who would change the world,” he added. “Here in Orlando, I say we are that group of people…We are going to rule this country.”

The event’s evolution suggests he’s made progress toward that goal. The first one, in February 2020, had no politicians, instead featuring far-right commentator Michelle Malkin and Patrick Casey, a longtime member and leader of the neo-Nazi group Identity Evropa. By 2022, six Republican elected officials spoke, including Greene and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.). They appeared alongside explicit white power activists, including Vincent James, a supremacist influencer who used his speaking slot to argue that crime wouldn’t go down until even more Black Americans were in prison; Peter Brimelow, who founded the white supremacist website VDare; and Jared Taylor, founder of American Renaissance, a racist journal. ..............(more)

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/01/nick-fuentes/