In the now deleted post XRepublican state Rep. Jennifer Gross released a video on June 28 featuring Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist known for his anti-Semitic views and admiration for Adolf Hitler, in which he claims that undocumented immigrants are harming the United States.
The video comes from an X account called “socks flu,” originally published May 25. It includes a clip from one of Fuentes’ livestreams. In it, he claims that “the border crisis is literally killing our country,” adding that illegal immigrants from Latin America are “bankrupting our country, killing people in our country, taking over public spaces in our most important cities. It’s an invasion.”
Gross, of West Chester, shared the video on her X account, writing in a June 28 post that it was “spot on.”
(Studies have disproved the link between higher crime rate and undocumented immigrants, in part citing the possibility of deportation. Ran Abramitzky, a researcher at Stanford University, found that since 1960, immigrants have been “60% less likely to be incarcerated (30% less than U.S.-born whites).” Immigrants also face restrictions on assistance from federal agencies. In accordance with the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, (“Non-qualified” immigrants are ineligible for federal public benefits such as Medicaid and Section 8, while “qualified” immigrants must wait five years, except for refugees and asylum seekers.)
In response to Capital Journal’s requests for comment made to Gross by phone, email, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, he did not respond.
Fuentes’ comments are as follows: closely related With “The Great Substitution Theory“a conspiracy theory that has been linked to multiple mass shootings over the last five years.
“One of the most prominent white supremacist conspiracy theories today,” said Morgan Moon, an investigative researcher at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, the replacement theory is “the belief that native-born white Europeans are being replaced in their home countries by non-white immigrants, with the end result being the extinction of the white race.” It often draws on anti-Semitic tropes, claiming that a “shadowy cabal” of Jews is orchestrating this replacement.
How did legislators react?
State Rep. Casey Weinstein, a Democrat from Hudson, condemned Gross’s actions in Facebook post June 30writing, “Nick Fuentes is an avowed white nationalist and Nazi who recently called for a ‘holy war’ against Jews,” and Gross’ decision to share his message “is disgusting and abhorrent and must be condemned.”
House Minority Leader Allison Russo responded the same day, writing:While browsing the app this morning, I found an #Ohio state legislator who proudly promotes the views of an avowed white nationalist and neo-Nazi,” to X in reference to Rep. Gross’ tweet. “I would be shocked, but this fits the brand of extremism in our state legislature. Disgusting.”
Ohio House of Representatives Speaker Jason Stephens did not respond to Capital Journal requests for comment when contacted by email, phone, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Landon Meador, the 23-year-old Democratic candidate running against Gross in District 45, posted a video on TikTok discussing the incident.She doesn’t care about you or me, she cares about profits and is MAGA-tized to the limits of what our country has to offer“, Meador said in the video. “A literal neo-Nazi, white supremacist.”
Who is Nick Fuentes?
Described as “white nationalist live streaming”by Southern Poverty Law Center, Fuentes is the host of “America first” a show broadcast live to his fans, who call themselves “Groypers.” The nickname comes from “boy”a meme popular on far-right discussion forums, which is a variation on the “Pepe the Frog” iconography often used by the alt-right.
Fuentes and his supporters first gained notoriety in 2019 by disrupting the Turning Point USA conference, criticizing the group’s founder Charlie Kirk for supporting Israel and using the event to spread the word anti semitic theory of conspiracy.
Fuentes “used to be a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, particularly his America First agenda,” Moon said. “As the agenda went on and he gained influence, he became increasingly angry and disenfranchised with the Republican Party that it is today. He believes that even people like Donald Trump weren’t necessarily doing enough to address the demographic and cultural changes that he believes are affecting the white population here in the United States.”
According to Moon, TPUSA represented on behalf of Fuentes and his supporters a “mainstream Republican Party” that was not doing enough to preserve America’s white majority.
Fuentes attended the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and wrote on Facebook that “the wave of white identity is coming.” He also promoted conspiracy theories about the theft of the 2020 presidential election. Fuentes participated in numerous “Stop theft” – ralliesand threatened violence against state legislators who failed to change the election results.
“What can you or I do to a state legislator other than kill him?” Fuentes said in a live broadcast from January 4, 2021adding: “I don’t advise it, but what else can you do, right?”
According to reports from January 6 during the attack on the United States Capitol New YorkerFuentes addressed his supporters, saying, “This is us AND our “the ancestors who created everything good that you see in this country” and “all these people who took over our country – we don’t need them.”
Fuentes called for “treacherous Jews“along with atheists and “devil worshippers” who are to be executed in live broadcast from December 8th last year he described Adolf Hitler as “really fucking cooland called for a dictatorship, saying:We need to take control of the media, take control of the government and force people to believe what we believe..”
“Their ultimate goal is to preserve what they see as the white European-American identity of the United States,” Moon explained. “They want to close the U.S. border. They oppose liberal values like feminism, gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights.”
What ties does he have to elected officials?
Despite his extremist views, Fuentes managed to establish good relationships with elected officials and political activists.
Since 2020, it has organized the America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC), which has featured speakers including: US Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona AND Marjorie Taylor Greene Georgia and Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogersall Republicans.
ON November 22, 2022former president and current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had dinner with Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago, and Fuentes attended a dinner attended by Trump and Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
“We’ve seen Fuentes embraced by a number of mainstream figures over the last few years,” Moon said. “This mainstream embrace really reflects this historic shift in the white supremacist movement, promoting, among other things, the widespread media coverage of Fuentes’ work and the groyper movement.”
Although Fuentes has managed to establish contacts with lawmakers, many of them have distanced themselves from him.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said that “I have never heard of”, Fuentes, and his views would not have been accepted if they had been expressed at Mar-a-Lago.
Similarly, Greene condemned Fuentessaying he was “worried about the children who would follow him,” and Gosar also tried to keep his distance, saying:Nick has a problem with his mouth.”
Reporting with Talking Points Memo On May 13 last year, he discovered that Gosara’s chief digital officer, Wade Searle, was a die-hard Fuentes fan.
“I think Fuentes and the role of the Groyper movement are a really interesting case study in how these extremist groups and white supremacists are able to infiltrate mainstream society to communicate their beliefs to a broader audience,” Moon said.
