The Principles of America First | Nick Fuentes' Movement Explained
Who are the Groypers and what they stand for?
There is a considerable amount of attention surrounding Nick Fuentes and the America First “Groyper” movement he founded and leads. This attention is converted into a negative media noise that is powered by controversial quotes, drama and rumors involving Nick Fuentes personally, thereby predisposing the audience to a preconceived negative reception. This habit of the media is highly reminiscent of their initial treatment of Donald Trump’s rise to power. Ironically, in both of these cases the amount of loyal followers of both figureheads multiplied in a dialectic motion in which internal charisma was negating the prejudices of the external audience.
It is because of this noise, ordinary people find themselves confused over what the movement stands for besides “edgy” jokes, opposition to America’s dominant political elites and assumptions (especially Zionism), and advocation of White and Christian nationalism. They cannot form a coherent framework out of which all of these sentiments arise and as a consequence fail to properly understand the movement. It is precisely for that reason that I have decided to embark upon an endeavor of raising the political literacy rate of the reader while becoming the first man to properly lay out the principles of the movement so that no person who has left reading this article is left confused as to what Nick Fuentes and his movement “America First” stands for.
I will not discuss the limitations, optics, or my personal objections to the movement, as doing so would make the article unnecessarily long and detract from its original purpose, which is to present the movement’s founding tenets in the most fair way possible, thereby counter-balancing the prevailing mainstream media narratives surrounding it. Of course, I would love to also conduct a sociological study of the movement’s driving social landscape and demographics, but such an endeavor can only come to fruition once the uniting center of gravity of the movement is properly understood in its ideological aspect.
The Founding Principles of America First
Throughout his career, Nick Fuentes frequently changed the focus of his concentration from one topic to another, but the core principles that fueled his rhetoric remained consistent and unwavering. In the low-quality picture above, you can get the gist of those principles which, when combined, form what I refer to as The Trinity - a series of three fundamental tenets that every member of the movement must accept in order to be considered America First / A Groyper.
The principles forming the Trinity are listed below in a ranked order, from most important to least important.
America First (Loyalty to America only)
Christian Futurism (Christ is King)
Demographic Realism
The priority of each principle is not stable across time, and I do expect the rank order to constantly re-shuffle depending on political circumstances. Initially, demographic realism held the highest priority in the Trinity, while dual loyalty ranked lowest, leading to Groypers forming alliances with Zionists such as Laura Loomer and tolerating Trump's pro-Israel stance, although being opposed to it in-principle. Presently, the current political climate has led the movement to abandon its previous stance in favor of forming pragmatic alliances with leftist anti-Zionist and multi-racial elements that also happen to share the principles of America First (for as long as these elements are willing to tolerate Groyper’s demand for a White-Conservative majority nation governed by Christian principles).
It is unclear for how long such alliance will last, but once wars involving Israel will come to an end, the mobilization against dual-loyalty and Zionist influence will subside and the main priority of the Trinity will most likely shift to Christian Futurism and the broader social-conservative agenda. Below, I will embark on a detailed exploration of the Trinity, ensuring that each one of its components is thoroughly examined and explained (the components are not in a ranked order).
America First (Loyalty to America only):
America First is both a foreign and a domestic policy prescription which argues that the central focus of American policy must relate to the wellbeing of Americans as opposed to the wellbeing of non-Americans and that Americans must have no loyalty to any other entity besides the United States. This culminates into a fierce opposition to liberal internationalism and Zionism (and the Jewish community more broadly) as well as any other position that disregards the interests of Americans in favor of the interests of an outside element.
This however does not mean that America First advocates for the isolation of the United States from global affairs. Quite to the contrary, America must dominate the world, but only when it is governed by proper principles. To quote Nick Fuentes:
I want America to be a global hegemon. America should dominate the world. You know… People say: “ohhh, America has these military bases and aircraft carriers everywhere..” That’s awesome! And we should! And we should own the stars, we should own everything, we should plant our flag everywhere and control everything. But not now! Not, when the government is gay! Then it’s just gay hegemony. Then it’s like gay, BLM, Jewish hegemony. I don’t want America to plant a Jewish flag everywhere. I want America to plant a Catholic flag everywhere… My ideal is America is a Catholic nation, and we’re doing cultural and real imperialism on the world but it’s Catholic and not gay and trans and Black and Jewish.
For as long as America’s foreign policy is guided by values foreign to America First, Groypers will tactically support states that also find themselves in opposition to America’s governing ideology such as Russia, China, Palestine & Lebanon, Iran and other nations & movements.
The second component of America First pertains to domestic affairs. The primary targets are the ADL, AIPAC, and RJC—Jewish interest groups that pressure American companies, bureaucrats, and representatives to act in favor of Jewish and Israeli interests, often at the expense of broader American interests. The secondary target is the mainstream and establishment Right, which has been influenced by pro-Israel, pro-Jewish, and pro-interventionist narratives. This influence shifts their focus from domestic issues to foreign affairs as well as results in enacting laws that forbid the criticism of Israel or provide Jews with institutional advantages. Examples include lifting visa requirements for Israelis, establishing a “Jewish history month” at the height of the Gaza war, threatening the international court of justice and other legal and humanitarian organizations with reprisal over finding Israel guilty of extermination of Gazans, using the government force against pro-Palestinian protestors (but not against BLM), and implementing affirmative action policies for Jews under the wide applause of the Right establishment which otherwise stands against affirmative action. The Groypers perceive this as a betrayal by Republicans who in theory supposed to represent all Americans equally just as they must treat all non-American nations with equal indifference, but end up treating Jews as first class citizens inside of America while the Jewish ethnostate of Israel as the only state to whom international law must not apply. America-First aims to remedy that.
Sticking up to America First principles predictably leads to the accusations of antisemitism in general and led to expulsion of Nick Fuentes from the Daily Wire over questioning the benefits of the US-Israel alliance in particular. It made Nick Fuentes a persona non-grata by the Conservative establishment at large, however according to public polling, most Americans oppose the sell of weapons to Israel, while the younger generation of Americans is either ambivalent towards Israel (as in the case of Republicans) or overwhelmingly stands with Palestine or even Hamas (as in the case with Democrats).
Below are a few indicators as to why the social message of Groyperism is highly resonant with the younger demographics, but is completely discordant with the older more traditional American demographics at least in relation to the Jewish Question and Israel.
A Harvard poll asking Americans whether Jews as a class are oppressors broken down by age.
More data, but this time on other aspects of the demographic base of Nick Fuentes’ followers:
Dissatisfaction with Democracy (by age)
More internet usage, correlates with right-wing political views
Percentage of people saying it is essential to live in Democracy broken down by a year of birth
Christian Futurism | Christ is King
The second unchanging principle of the Trinity is what I term as Christian Futurism. It can properly be understood as a fusion of Christianity and post-modernity. This amalgamation generates an aesthetically pleasing form where Christ’s message is imposed on the world via post-modern media, diverging from the more traditional methods of ethics and organization.
The truth is that America First is not a Conservative movement, although it subscribes to many values that are also not alien to Conservatives more broadly, the rhetoric of Nick Fuentes does not speak for a return of a specific time or place in America’s history. It speaks for a radically new vision for the future of America. It wants to reinvent and transform America’s national identity away from an identity centered around a fusion of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture and universalist liberal principles, towards a synthesis of Christian (Catholic) Futurism that is primarily upheld by Whites-Ethnics and their allies.
Nick Fuentes, a Chicago native himself, like many Americans, descends from Ellis Island immigrants who have come to dominate and replace America's WASP core demographic in every major city. This heritage has shaped his experience aligning it with new local White-Ethnic standards that emphasize adopting fast-paced diverse lifestyles, commerce and education, charisma and strong social ties, and collectivism over individualism. This differs from the traditional American WASP demographic, which prizes individualism, land ownership, prudentialism, and embraces a typically more tranquil lifestyle.
In line of these fundamental differences, Nick Fuentes’ message radically contrasts with the traditional American Right dominated by Protestants, Jews and Libertarians who all put emphasis on individualism, Zionism and secularism. America First, negates all of these principles, as it embraces their opposites. Collectivism over individualism, anti-Zionism over Zionism and Christian (Catholic) Nationalism over state secularism.
Intellectually, Nick Fuentes is most closely related to another Ellis Islander Catholic politician - Pat Buchanan, a person famous for getting to the second place in the Republican National Primaries of 1992, while being ideologically committed to a policy of economic and social collectivism and radical opposition to Zionism, for which he was excommunicated from the American Right by William F. Buckley a year earlier. Curiously, Pat Buchanan, never went so far as to advocate for Christian Nationalism, and nor was he as charismatic and steadfast in his delivery as Nick Fuentes, whose vision is the (Catholic) Christianization of the American Right, positioning himself also against Protestants and Pagans in addition to the Jewish and secular elements within the Right.
So what does Christian Futurism mean in practice?
First and foremost, it means that Jesus Christ is the King and the head overseer of the American state, acting both as a moral teacher and as a source of political authority. He stands at the front of America’s national identity triumphing both race, class, personal convictions and interests. All Americans must bow down before Him and can only acquire power through Him.
It stands for a vision of America in which the government is exclusively run by Christians (most of whom are Catholic), while non-Christians although being accepted by the state and given full rights, are forbidden from acquiring any government positions. These positions are solely filled by Christians, with Catholics setting the primary standard.
It stands for a vision in which Christian morality on question of homosexuality, abortions, IVF and patriarchal family structure is loudly triumphant in America.
It stands for a vision in which there is order in the country, manifesting itself in a socially-conservative setting, the police and a more authoritarian form of government headed by an American Caesar.
It stands for a vision in which the American economic and social landscape are collectivized and overseen by a Christian Nationalist state, reflecting similar dynamics seen at the height of the FDR administration.
When combined together, these five principles coalesce into a futuristic vision of development for both the American Right as well as the nation more broadly, paving a path never explored before.
Demographic Realism
The final core principle of the Trinity is Demographic Realism. It can be divided into two mutually supporting dimensions, Biorealism and White Identitarianism.
The definition of Biorealism is that human behavior, culture and institutions are a reflection of the biological sum of the individuals that comprise them. It emerged out of race-realism but grew to encompass other biological group markers such as: gender (sex), sexual orientation, gender identity, mental condition and class. Stated differently, Biorealism is first and foremost a lens by which one interprets worldly phenomena, and secondary a tool of social optimization, in which social engineering is done in accordance not with social constructivist assumptions but biological realities. Practically, it means an end to all amount of social programs that aim to reduce social discrepancies between identifiable groups which emerged as a result of innate biological differences, but it could also mean a version of social planning by which people with good biological attributes are artificially elevated into positions of power.
The second aspect of Demographic Realism is White Identitarianism. It is a variant of White Identity Politics, which posits that Whites constitute a distinct biological and social group possessing legitimate shared racial interests which must be safeguarded and acted upon, on a national, cultural and institutional levels. In contrast to White Nationalism (another manifestation of White Identity Politics), White Identitarianism does not seek to establish a nation designated exclusively for Whites. Nevertheless, this distinction does not imply that White Identitarianism condones the ongoing policies contributing to White dispossession, resulting in a significant reduction of the White population from 90% in 1940 to a striking 60% today. It does not care if the people who came to replace Whites as the leading American race agree with them on politics, or are “based” in any other way. In light of these realities, White Identitarians make a series of demands that are listed below:
Abolition of Affirmative Action and DEI programs that legally mandate anti-White discrimination.
Reform the immigration system so that Whites receive preferences in immigration.
Deportation of all illegal aliens in the country.
Reverse the policy of White replacement, until Whites become a comfortable and unchanging 80%+ overwhelming majority of the US population.
A cultural revolution must occur by which Whites must realize their collective racial identity and interests.
Certainly, there may be additional demands championed by White Identitarians within the America First movement, but the five demands listed above are the ones that the vast majority of its members support without compromise.
America First As A New Force Within The Right
Upon observing the attendees at America First rallies and conferences, a distinct profile of a typical follower emerges that differentiates itself from the typical profiles of other political movements. This feature is age, for almost the totality of American First followers happens to be under the age of 25, highlighting its youthful appeal.
The movement entirely consists of people who were not convinced by the prevailing Rightist and Conservative forms and discourses of the older generation, highlighting a major generational divide. Be it on the question of laissez-faire, Zionism or individualism - it instinctively perceives the old Conservative elite of America as either being controlled opposition, too soft, or entirely devoid of any coherent principles, unlike America Firsters whose principles remain the same they were at inception. It correctly identifies the political left as uncompromising and loud and attributes their political success precisely to these qualities, that America First attempts to mirror and perfect.
Besides rhetoric, it is mostly pronounced in action. The movement is highly proficient with social-media, generating a strong web of committed followers who use the platform to spread their message as well as generate public pressure in order to coerce the platform’s owner Elon Musk into advancing their agenda, which has been overwhelmingly successful. While the initial 2023 #BanTheADL campaign organized by Keith Woods has failed to reach its stated goal, it had succeeded in mobilizing all major Conservative figures to join on the bandwagon, despite associations with antisemitism, a newer 2024 campaign of ditching the Israeli AU10TIX cybersecurity company from Twitter/X for its associations with Israeli internal security services has turned out to be a full blown success.
Twitter/X became the platform that Groypers converted into an odeum for themselves, where due to their sheer power of active aggregation they manage to generate discourses and constantly remain in the trends, even though numerically they are much smaller than the mainstream rightist forces. Nonetheless, facts speak numbers when the AFPAC IV, managed to outrank Turning Point USA (a rightist political organization that kicked Nick Fuentes from their rank) in popularity despite being denied the option to host an event by the venue at the last moment.
This was achieved thanks to large public figures that function to advance the agenda of the America First movement among whom are: Andrew Tate with 9.5 million followers, Candace Owens with 5.1 million followers, Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis with 1.2 million followers, Censored Man with 1 million followers, Alex Jones with 2.4 million followers (part of the AF network, but does not fully commit to the ideology), Sneako with 800,000 followers, Jake Shields with 700,000 followers, Lauren Chen with 600,000 followers, I, Hypocrite with 500,000 followers, and many others.
At the same time America Firsts’ success is not limited just to Twitter/X. For instance, on Rumble, Nick Fuentes’ show ranked second most watched show covering the US presidential debates as well as the movement possesses an online streaming platforming of its own (cozy.tv), a news company (afpost.news) and extensive contacts with many top influential people among whom are Kanye “Ye” West and perhaps Donald Trump with whom Nick Fuentes dined once for which Trump received an relentless media backlash.
If we want to further analyze the success of America First movement, a proper sociological study must be conducted in order to determine the core demographic of the movement and its potential converts. For now, best thing I have are good guesses, which may or may not precisely correspond with reality.
Although a significant portion of the movement's success can be credited to Nick Fuentes' persona, characterized by his rigid intellect, charisma, and articulate delivery, which ultimately led to a substantial following and valuable connections, the main factor contributing to the movement's success is the demand for it to exist from the grassroots level. The movement is first and foremost a reaction to a series of systemic failures manifesting within the political Right combined with a demand for a positive non-Conservative rightist vision of development being articulated properly. Such a demand works under the guide of integration through differentiation, in which differentiated wants - weather it be dual loyalty, Christian nationalism, White identity politics or the corruption of the American ruling / Conservative political class in general, are attracting in many recruits who initially agree with one or two of these stances, but learn to embrace all of them as they become further integrated into the informational space generated by Groypers. Once that happens, a recruit is turned into a Groyper who proceeds to spread the message independently and with little ideological deviation which is deeply uncharacteristic of Rightist movements at large who usually happen to be “Big Tents”.
The movement also clearly differs from Right Wing Progressivism of my making and nothing that is written in this article should be construed as representative of RWP. America First and RWP are two different movements with some overlap, given both political ideologies are united in diagnosing the primary issues with the contemporary right wing political establishment as well as position themselves as non-Conservative. The main difference is that America First presents an authoritarian response to systemic failures of the Rightist political establishment while RWP presents a neo-democratic (market) response.
Initially, my motivation for writing this article stemmed out of a desire to understand the force constituting America First. However, I observed that despite a general unspoken consensus on the movement's constitution, there was no definitive documentation that future generations could refer to. The article is my attempt to fix that.
Whatever one may think of America first, it must be taken seriously for its arguments resonate with an increasing amount of people, while the conventional Conservative messaging does not, leading to Charlie Kirk and others attempting to co-opt some of the messaging of America First in order to retain control of the progressively radicalizing younger demographic.
Eventually one may expect Nick Fuentes or another figure within the movement to overtake the rightist establishment, and when it happens it is likely that both forces within the right will be moderately ideologically converged.
The irony of this story is that, Nick Fuentes started off as a Zionist but was expelled from the Conservative movement for questioning America’s gain of continued subsidization of the Jewish state of Israel. For him it did not make sense ideologically that a nationalist movement concerning with putting America’s interests first, would consistently subordinate these interests to a Jewish ethnostate, even though morally and ideologically the American establishment is supposed to be opposed to ethnostates and theocracies. This represents a point of cognitive dissonance or a point of bifurcation of consciousness that once discovered must be addressed in one way or another. Certain Conservative figures like to double down and lose audience while others like Candice Owens after being fired by the Daily Wire over criticism of Israel appears to go even further than Nick Fuentes while retaining and multiplying her audience.
The plain truth is that ideas are upheld by power and the moment powerful people begin to advance a particular idea, it proceeds to spread no matter how absurd or reprehensible it sounded a few years ago. But this goes both ways, as powerful people begin to question established ideas, society gradually comes to acknowledge the absurdity and offensiveness of these notions that were once widely accepted. We know the examples from history, and we will see many more again, as Nick Fuentes had observed in his rally, “they can kick me out of Turning Point USA for a thousand years, my ideas and my followers are already inside the building”.