The America First Political Action Conference Is Courting Republicans Towards Extremism

White nationalist activists and their sympathizers in far right today American politics will gather this week for a conference to showcase the number of their movements and their successes in garnering Republican influence amid post-Capitol riots.

The America’s First Political Action Conference headlined and organized by white nationalist activist Nicholas Fuentes and took its name from the merger of the Fuentes’ America first podcasts and events it is designed to draw crowds from: The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Congressman Paul Gosar of Arizona open for Fuentes at last year’s AFPAC conference and was continue to take root for young white ethnic people. Arizona Senator Wendy Rogers, popular with Trump and other nationwide 2020 election deniers, also Sung Fuentes’ praise online. Both Arizona politicians are scheduled to appear at AFPAC this weekend, in addition to former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Iowa congressman Steve King, both known for harboring abnormal devilish anti-immigrant attitudes. Arizona gubernatorial candidate endorsed by Trump, Kari Lake is advertised as a speaker on a promotional iteration of the event, even though she was negative that she plans to attend. (Fuentes interpreted the confusion as more of a scheduling conflict than an ideological conflict, writing to his Telegram followers, “Just a misunderstanding. Decline. her, we support her.”)

Photo by Stephanie Keith / Getty Images

There was a time when the association with Fuentes and the radicalism and naked hatred of his army was a mark of death about the mainstream careers of conservative political figures, and rightfully so. Although Fuentes often refuse considers himself a white nationalist; he espouses ideological verbatim in public regular and specific. Fuentes also frequently proclaimed anti-Semitism beliefs; he joined Holocaust denialism and once accused Far-right commentator Matt Walsh is a “stupid racial traitor” because Walsh, who is white, works for a shop run by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who is Jewish. Fuentes is a top character in 2020 the “Stop Stealing” election denial movement and the result summons by the House Committee investigating the Capitol riots. At last year’s AFPAC, Fuentes praised the deadly attack and told crowd at his conference that “we need a little more of that energy in the future.”

Longtime conservative columnist Michelle Malkin torpedo her fame among mainstream conservatives in 2019 after she decided to commit herself to Fuentes and the movement he leads. (Fuentes followers refer to Malkin as their “mother.”) sever its ties with social media personality Ashley St. Clair after she appeared in photographs alongside Fuentes and other radical figures. And CPAC organizers, who rarely select their attendees, banned Fuentes from attending events of previous years.

But that righteous stigma has slowly faded against Fuentes and his movement, thanks in no small part to the valid tokens that elected officials like Gosar and Rogers lent him. The media such as Fox News and commenters like Glenn Greenwald also extended varying degrees of sympathy towards Fuentes in the last year. There has clearly been a lack of interest in condemning or correcting those who effectively fired Fuentes into part of the post-Capitol riot-conservative landscape. After attending last year’s AFPAC conference, Gosar showed up to a panel at CPAC the next morning, undisturbed by the CPAC organizers or other conference speakers. This indifference allowed Fuentes to expand his tent to include more far-right figures.

Research analyst Ben Lorber of the Association for Political Studies says he finds the trend worrisome because “it signals to a broad group of right-wing leaders that skin nationalists white, and the ideas they represent, are becoming acceptable for inclusion in conservative coalitions and discourse.”

“Over the last year, this trend is said to have elevated Fuentes’ profile in conservative circles and cemented his status as the standard-bearer for white nationalism in the post-Trump era, and it has encouraged many of his Groyper followers to find ways to penetrate deeper into different corners of the MAGA ecosystem, from QAnon and anti-vaccination movements to election campaigns and more, “Lorber said.

Stephanie Keith / Getty Images

This year’s conference will also host an expanded rogues gallery featuring disgraced extremist movement figures and far-right media figures. Gavin McInnes, the Canadian media personality who founded the violent group Proud Boys, is new to this year’s list. Also Milo Yiannopolous, who fell from his one-time throne in the conservative media after an audio clip surfaced in which he appeared to defend pedophilia. Longtime publishers writing about white nationalism Jared Taylor and Peter Brimelow was announced to attend this year’s conference, as was Andrew Torba, who runs the far-right social networking site Gab. Other notable guests will include malicious far-right conspiracy theorists like Stew Peters and Patrick Howleyanti-Muslim activist Laura Loomerand the right remote podcasts Vincent James Foxx and Jesse Lee Peterson.

Hannah Gais, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said that Fuentes’ close proximity to marginalized politicians like Gosar and Rogers “has demonstrated to other segments of the right that the your movement deserves their support”, even if the speakers did not always support Fuentes’s agenda as a whole.

“He has shown that he can attract the attention of the powerful, and that kind of approach is more appealing to far-right figures on the fringes,” Gais said. “Fuentes’ goal is to turn the GOP into a ‘real reactionary party.’ It is a goal he shares with many far-right extremists who come to AFPAC, regardless of their ideological differences.”

It is for that same reason that Fuentes and his guests will convene the third year of his conference centered around CPAC in Orlando, Florida. CPAC regularly attracts and engages large groups of young conservatives from around the country, providing them with opportunities to network and find work. Fuentes’ apparent strategy was to cast off a large number of those young faces to his burgeoning hate movement in hopes of propelling the conservative movement more broadly towards an unjustly far-right bias. household.

That strategy, which began after the 2017 right-wing Solidarity rally in Charlottesville, attended by several AFPAC speakers including Fuentes, has accelerated in efforts since the Capitol riots marked the strength of the anti-popular movement. rebellious owner in the conservative background. Earlier this month, that bump was reinforced in the Republican National Committee’s filing when declare riot “legitimate political discourse.” For Fuentes and his AFPAC allies, the sea change represents an opportunity to reach beyond the acceptance they seek.

“These numbers show that the growth of the far-right, anti-democratic faction in the Republican Party after January 6 is an opportunity to promote their own reactionary agendas that continue to become mainstream. religion,” Gais said.

Without positive feedback, that strategy may work. As the lines between mainstream conservative politics and once taboo far-right ideologies blur, figures like Fuentes are capitalizing on the moment.

AFPAC has two mystery speakers listed on its roster. Last year, the unannounced speaker of the event was Gosar. If the event is anything like last year, we could see more famous names endorsing the racist hate movement.

The time has passed for the top ranks in the Republican Party to speak out and take action against those who enable the likes of Fuentes in their ranks. If the Ancient Party chooses to remain silent when politicians like Gosar lend the keys to extremists to exert influence, they may never get it back.