Far-right influencers are standing by their man—but not his campaign.

The Washington Post on Sunday detailed how several far-right figures with large online followings—including white supremacist Nick Fuentes and activists Laura Loomer and Candace Owens—have been stirring discord by publicly criticizing the Trump campaign, arguing that he needs new leadership who will direct him to take harder-line stances on topics like race and immigration.

Fuentes dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2022 and demonstrated how much influence he gained since his beginnings as a “fringe YouTube star,” as my former colleague Ali Breland reported. Just last week, Trump’s running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) called Fuentes “a total loser.” But Fuentes posted on X earlier this month, “We support Trump, but his campaign has been hijacked by the same consultants, lobbyists, & donors that he defeated in 2016, and they’re blowing it. Without serious changes we are headed for a catastrophic loss.”

Fuentes, who has more than 390,000 followers on X, has made racist attacks against Vance’s Indian-American wife, Usha, and pilloried Vance for his past criticism of Trump. He has also slammed the Trump campaign for disavowing Project 2025—though probably to Fuentes’s delight, the links between the former president and Project 2025 are deep and likely durable. He called for the campaign to get rid of chief strategist Chris LaCivita and senior adviser Susie Wiles. Fuentes claimed “victory” this week after the Trump campaign hired 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.

The Post reported that two days before Fuentes’s tweet, Laura Loomer, who has 1.2 million followers on the platform, said Trump surrogates looked “weak” on television, adding that the campaign “needs to change FAST because we can’t talk about a stolen election for another 4 years.” A year ago, Loomer posted a video to X with Trump from his Bedminster golf club in which he called her “very special” and said he appreciated her support.

Then there’s Candace Owens, who has 5.4 million followers on X and who Trump previously hosted at the White House. She said on her podcast this week, “I’m just not sure who is driving the MAGA bus anymore.”

His most extreme supporters are joined by top Republicans who also think Trump needs to change his strategy—but their prescription differs. Former UN Ambassador and one-time aspiring Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley and former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway are among the top Republicans who have said Trump should refrain from launching ad hominem personal attacks and focus more on Harris’s policy positions. On Meet the Press on Sunday, even Trump acolyte Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), said, “Every day we’re not talking about her policy choices…is a good day for her and a bad day for us.”

But both the far-right activists and top Republicans might take some comfort from Trump’s list of extremist priorities should he be reelected. The former president has pledged to carry out mass deportations, for example, and recently signaled his openness to banning medication abortion—though his campaign subsequently denied it. And this week, Trump’s campaign account on X generated controversy after it posted a photo of Black men on a street with the caption, “Your neighborhood under Kamala.”

In much the same way that the GOP has not softened its stance on abortion—despite what they may try to make you believe—Trump has not really softened at all. The problem for his supporters is that Americans—even including those who are advising him—just seem less and less interested in his hard-line policy positions.

As the Post reports:

Some campaign officials previously argued that the far-right influencers offer value by amplifying political messages to their audiences. But the more overt recent attacks of Fuentes and his followers, who call themselves “groypers,” have become a “noisy” and counterproductive distraction to the campaign, said a person familiar with its operations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

“If anything, [Fuentes] is hurting the idea of getting fresh blood into the campaign, because it makes it far more difficult for Trump if it looks like he’s responding to the groypers,” the person said.

Asked for comment, Trump’s campaign referred to a Truth Social post on Aug. 11 in which Trump said he was “leading in almost all of the REAL polls” and that his team was “doing a great job.”

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Author: Julianne McShane

Source: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/08/nick-fuentes-candace-owens-far-right-influencers-are-turning-against-trumps-campaign/