Brenden Dilley, a homophobic, right-wing broadcaster, has accused fellow Donald Trump fan Nick Fuentes of backing Kamala Harris by critiquing the Trump campaign. Normally, a MAGA supporter actually criticizing Trump or his campaign might be seen as positive, but Fuentes, an extremist, has a more grotesque past than the average Fox News broadcaster or even Trump himself.
Fuentes is a white supremacist and antisemite who has openly made very vile and violent statements against Jewish people, including praising Adolf Hitler and denying the Holocaust happened. Fuentes has also expressed contempt for other groups, including women and the LGBTQ+ community.
Over the years, Fuentes has amassed a following of fellow right-wing extremists nicknamed the Groypers and has weaponized them to push his baseless conspiracy theories and horrific fantasies. This includes the “great replacement theory” and “white genocide,” which suggest things like interracial marriage, immigration, and queerness are forms of eroding America’s white population.
Fuentes recently hosted his third annual America First Political Action Conference in Orlando where attendees praised Vladimir Putin and the January 6 insurrection. Fuentes somehow landed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green as a speaker, who, while extremely right-wing, admits she was unaware of Fuente’s history upon their agreement.
So why did Fuentes call out Trump?
Fuentes actually declared “a new Groyper War against the Trump campaign” on social media platform X. This comes from Fuente’s belief that the campaign team has employed various lobbyists and donors that Trump defeated back in 2016. Fuente is convinced these people are infiltrating the Trump campaign and setting the former president up for a “catastrophic loss.” He did not attach any evidence to the post that supports these claims.
Back in 2020, The Guardian reported that Trump and Fuentes shared a dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Trump’s advisors urged him to condemn Fuentes, but Trump refused, fearing it would alienate some of his supporters. Fuentes has previously said he will not vote in the 2024 election or back the Trump campaign.
Dilley is upset and has concluded that, if he’s not supporting Trump, Fuentes must be supporting the Harris Campaign. Dilley even admits to the lack of proof behind his claim, saying, “I have no evidence to show that they’re all working together. I just know I’m not a f**king idiot who was born yesterday.”
Somehow, in Dilley’s mind, a white supremacist who openly hates women and people of color would back Harris. Fuentes’ values, while much more extreme than either presidential candidate’s, fall closer to the far right and Trump’s than Harris’.
Roping Harris into these arguments diminishes her progress in the polls. Harris’ surge could be attributed to her work on the campaign trail, including her articulate speeches, fundraising, endorsements, and future promises. Conservatives’s insistence that Harris is a “DEI hire” contains layers of sexism and racism that previous candidate Joe Biden did not face.
Trump’s record as a convicted felon, his vice president pick, and his far-right agenda alienate audiences, particularly younger voters, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and women. But again, many far-righters go through loops and bounds to create irrational theories like Dilley’s.
If this is not enough to prove Dilley’s lack of logical reasoning, the podcast host resorted to calling Fuentes a homophobic slur on his show. Dilley previously posted a YouTube video rudely asking Pennsylvania State Rep. Brian Sims to “prove his gayness.” Sims is gay and has posted multiple photos with his boyfriend on social media.
Unfortunately, we live in a world where extremists with racist and homophobic ideologies are able to amass some sort of platform on the internet. This “feud” is another example of the baseless circles people like Dilley and Fuentes argue to further their harmful agendas.
Image Courtesy of Leah Millis/REUTERS
