Image of Fuentes and Carlson across from eachother

Molly Butler / Media Matters

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Conservative voices are sounding the alarm about the growing influence of Nick Fuentes and groypers

Written by Sophie Lawton

Research contributions from Gideon Taaffe & Reed McMaster

Published

As the struggle over the future of the MAGA movement continues, many conservative figures are warning about the spread of antisemitism taking over the right through infiltration by “groypers” — followers of Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist and antisemitic far-right podcaster who has previously claimed “there's groypers in every department, every agency” of the government.    

Tucker Carlson’s friendly October 27 interview of Fuentes elicited backlash from right-wing pundits, who called it “sick” and “simply despicable.” Similarly, many conservative voices condemned Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts for his October 30 video defending Carlson from backlash for the Fuentes interview. Now, more are expressing concern at the rise of antisemitism and white nationalist views on the right and what this means for conservatives and the MAGA movement, with one right-wing figure writing, “The Groyper thing is real. It is not a fringe movement, in that it really has infiltrated young conservative Washington networks to a significant degree.”

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  • Following Carlson’s interview with Fuentes, some conservative figures have voiced concerns about the groyper movement’s rise within the Republican Party

    • In a piece titled “The New Right’s New Antisemites,” The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board wrote, “An old political poison is growing on the new right, led by podcasters and internet opportunists who are preoccupied with the Jews. It is spreading wider and faster than we thought, and it has even found an apologist in Kevin Roberts, president of the venerable Heritage Foundation.” The piece also warned, “If conservatives—and Republicans—don’t call out this poison in their own ranks before it corrupts more young minds, the right and America are entering dangerous territory.” [The Wall Street Journal, 11/2/25; Media Matters, 4/6/16]
    • Conservative writer Rod Dreher shared in a Substack post “I am told by someone in a position to know that something like 30 to 40 percent of DC GOP staffers under the age of 30 are Groypers” and warned that “a conservative movement unwilling to or incapable of” confronting the groyper movement “is not one worth saving.” In a later Substack post Dreher described a “rich and vigorous” sit down meeting with Vice President JD Vance and Hungarian President Victor Orban. Dreher wrote that before Orban arrived, he shared with Vance his “views about the threat that Nick Fuentes and Groyperism pose to the country, to the GOP, and to him personally. He listened to what I had to say.” Dreher later added: “The Groyper thing is real. It is not a fringe movement, in that it really has infiltrated young conservative Washington networks to a significant degree.” [Substack, Rod Dreher’s Diary, 10/31/25, 11/10/25]
    • The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro dedicated an episode of his podcast to speaking about Nick Fuentes and the “splinter faction” Fuentes is leading to split the Republican Party. Shapiro claimed “Tucker Carlson last week was aided, abetted, celebrated for normalizing Nazism within the Republican Party by the mainstay organization of the traditional right, The Heritage Foundation.” In the same episode, Shapiro said, “We need strong leaders in the conservative movement willing to speak out against the moral rot that threatens our future.” [The Daily Wire, The Ben Shapiro Show, 11/3/25, 11/3/25]
    • During a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit, Fox host Mark Levin said, “We'll damn well cancel Hitler admirers, Stalin admirers, and Jew haters.” Seemingly referencing Carlson’s interview with Fuentes, Levin declared, “You don’t get to claim you’re MAGA and America First when you’re lining up with the Marxists and the Islamists and Hamas and the terrorists. That’s not America First. That’s sick!” [Newsmax, 11/3/25]
    • Newsmax host Greg Kelly said, “I don't know what the hell is going on. Look at this headline from The Wall Street Journal: ‘The MAGA Right's Antisemitism Problem.’ That doesn't sound like MAGA to me. We support Israel. … There's no place for racism or antisemitism in MAGA.” [Newsmax, Greg Kelly Reports, 11/3/25]
    • Rudy Giuliani appeared on Newsmax’s Finnerty to discuss Carlson’s interview with Fuentes: “I mean, what are you trying to do here? The Republican Party is ascendant, and you want to put the poison pill of antisemitism into the Republican Party after all the good work the president has done?” [Newsmax, Finnerty, 11/3/25]
    • Conservative podcaster Jillian Michaels claimed “you are handing this win to the left” by platforming Fuentes. Michaels, who recently signed to Fox Corp.’s Red Seat Ventures, said, “I'm so disappointed that the right is doing this. This is my shot across the bow: Do not normalize this behavior. This needs to be isolated, marginalized, and condemned — period, end of story.” [Red Seat Ventures, Keeping it Real, 10/31/25; Variety, 11/6/25]
    • Conservative radio host Erick Erickson wrote in a piece for The Free Press, “When leaders like J.D. Vance and Kevin Roberts excuse Tucker Carlson’s embrace of extremists, they’re not defending the conservative movement—they’re burning it to the ground.” [The Free Press, 10/31/25]
    • Conservative commentator David Limbaugh: “We have to address this and purge the toxin from MAGA. Not through censorship, but through exposing it vigorously, aggressively and antagonistically.” [Twitter/X, 11/2/25]
    • While speaking about Fuentes, Dinesh D’Souza said the conversation is “about who are we as America first, who are we as MAGA,” and claimed the groypers in the MAGA movement are “like taking a white sheet and pouring all this dirt on it and then going, yeah, we all stand for this. … It's kind of defiled.” [The Dinesh D’Souza Podcast, 11/7/25]
    • Right-wing commentator James Lindsey: “The current ‘we need the Nazi voting bloc’ debate is the dumbest debate since men are women, and it's just as organized against us.” [Twitter/X, 11/4/25]
    • Director of the Utah Reagan Caucus Justin Stapley: “The Groyper movement has quietly infiltrated the Republican Party and Republican adjacent networks. This is no joke. Young Republican groups, TPUSA, think tanks, staff on the hill...these ideas, sentiments, and prejudices are literally everywhere now.” [Twitter/X, 11/3/25]
    • Conservative professor Robert P. George: “The white supremacists, the antisemites, the eugenicists, the bigots, must not be welcomed into our movement or treated as normal or acceptable.” In the same post, George wrote that white supremacists and other extremists “are seeking acceptance in the conservative movement and its institutions, and they do so with the ultimate objective of transforming them by undermining that commitment.” [Twitter/X, 11/1/25] 
    • Right-wing author Joel Richardson wrote, “The American conservative movement is splitting in two right in front of us: On one side are those who stand for the Constitution, Reagan, Rush Limbaugh, and true MAGA: faith, freedom, and America First vs. those drawn to Alex Jones, Hitler, Fuentes, and Tucker, trading principle for rage.” He added, “One side seeks to preserve, the other to undermine and destroy. Choose wisely.” [Twitter/X, 11/2/25; Media Matters, 2/17/11]
    • In a podcast published by the conservative think-tank The Claremont Institute, Claremont's Spencer Klavan stated “My suspicion is that Fuentes has enough pull and cachet, and his people have enough pull and cachet, that they could plausibly influence the future trajectory of the MAGA movement.” Klavan went on to warn “it is to nobody's advantage that Fuentes and his following come to define or exert a major influence upon MAGA, JD Vance, Donald Trump, etcetera” because “that would not win us any elections just at a raw kind of numbers level.” [The Claremont Institute, The Roundtable, 11/6/25]

  • In past years, Nick Fuentes and groypers have been blacklisted from some conservative events and mainstream organizations for their extreme antisemitic views.

    • Fuentes and other groypers were removed from the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference, with Republican National Committee head Ronna McDaniel stating, “White supremacy, neo-Nazism, hate speech and bigotry are disgusting and do not have a home in the Republican Party.” [Rolling Stone, 2/26/25]
    • Fuentes was also removed from the 2023 conference, and CPAC Chair Matt Schlapp commented that “his hateful racist rhetoric and actions are not consistent with the mission of CPAC.” [Twitter/X, 3/3/23]
    • Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA revoked an invitation from a known groyper to the group’s Student Action Summit in 2021. [Salon, 7/17/21]
    • Turning Point also cut ties with an affiliated influencer, Ashley St. Clair, after she was photographed with Fuentes in 2019. [Right Wing Watch, 9/30/19]