"I really like this guy. He gets me."
Guess who came to dinner
A notorious anti-Semite dined with the former president this weekend. And Republicans are shocked, shocked to learn that he brought another one with him.
"This is a f---ing nightmare," one longtime Trump adviser complained to NBC News.
But weāve been here before, havenāt we? Except that having a chatty lovefest with the Holocaust denying neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes does seem a bit next level, no?
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Fuentesās presence at the ex-presidentās dinner table tends to distract from what should have been the mind-bending weirdness of the whole thing: Trumpās decision to have dinner with Kanye West, who is clearly going through a mental meltdown of some sort.
It got worse, however, because it was Westās idea to bring along the prominent white supremacist, who passed whatever sort of vetting they use at the super-mega-secure president-in-exile retreat.
But it takes only about 10 seconds on Google to find out that Nick Fuentes is not your garden variety MAGA bigot. As his Wikipedia page helpfully notes, he is an unabashed white supremacist Groyper who ādenies the Holocaustā and āself-identifies as a member of the incel movement, as a supporter of authoritarian government, and as a Catholic integralist and Christian nationalist.ā
In April, Fuentes appeared to urge mainstream Republicans to champion an antisemitic focus on āJewish control,ā tweeting, āThe next big frontier for populist and conservative inc [sic; this is the America First term for establishment GOPers] to coopt [sic] is discussing Jewish Power. Somehow I donāt think theyāll broach that one!ā
On a livestream episodeā¦ [he] compared Jews burnt in concentration camps to cookies in an oven.
Hereās the guy who had dinner with the former ā and perhaps future ā president of the United States at Mar-a-Lago.
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Outside of the MAGAverse, Fuentes may not be a household name. But he is far from an obscure figure. āPeople in the GOP have noticed,ā tweeted CBSās Robert Costa. āFuentes is not someone who has slipped under the radar. If you follow the base, you canāt somehow not see it, just like you canāt pretend groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers arenāt gaining ground in these same online spaces, too.ā
In 2020, Fuentes founded the America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) to serve as a counterweight to CPAC. In 2021, speakers included Michelle Malkin and Steve King, and this year the group featured Paul Gosar and rising GOP star Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was introduced by Fuentes after he declared: āCan we give a round of applause for Russia!ā and leading chants of āPutin! Putin ! Putin!ā
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So how did Nickās dinner with Trump go?
There were reports that Trump starting yelling at Kanye West after Ye suggested that Trump run as his vice presidential running mate. Trump also reportedly began insulting his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian. So a good time was not, apparently, had by all.
But TFG seemed to get along perfectly well with his neo-Nazi guest.
Trump at one point turned to Ye and said, "I really like this guy. He gets me," according to the source.
"There was a lot of fawning back and forth," the source added.
By his own account, Fuentes laid it on thick:
I said, āMr. President,ā I said, āyou are one of the greatest Americans that has ever lived. I campaigned for you and in 2016 I was there at stop the steal in Harrisburg. Lansing, Atlanta, D.C., Phoenix.ā
I said, āand I love you. And I supported you for all these years, you know,ā and I thought that was important because he really has been a hero of mine and he has been he has been the guy for the last six years.
West confirmed the mutual admiration. āTrump is really impressed with Nick Fuentes and Nick Fuentes, unlike so many of the lawyers and so many people that he was left with on his 2020 campaign, heās actually a loyalist,ā he said.
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Afterward, Trump insisted that he had no idea who Fuentes was, but notably has refrained from criticizing him in any way. Via the Guardian:
Donald Trump repeatedly refused to disavow the outspoken antisemite and white supremacist Nick Fuentes after they spoke over dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort, rejecting the advice from advisers over fears he might alienate a section of his base, two people familiar with the situation said.ā
The former US president was urged publicly and privately to denounce Fuentes in the aftermath of the dinner, which included the performer Ye, previously known as Kanye West, who has also recently been propagating antisemitic remarks.
But Trump eschewed making outright disavowals of Fuentes, the people said, and none of the statements from the campaign or on his Truth Social account included criticism of Fuentes, despite efforts from advisers who reached Trump over the Thanksgiving holiday.
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For those of you keeping track, this is yet another replay of Trumpās winking denial of his long-standing and mutually beneficial alliance with bigots and conspiracists ranging from the KKKās David Duke, and the āvery fine peopleā of Charlottesville, to QAnon and the Proud Boys. He denies knowing who they are, even as he gives them oxygen and encouragement; and tacitly acknowledges his reliance on the openly racist and anti-Semitic troll base.
Meanwhile, the hate is normalized and mainstreamed.
And for most Republicans this is baked in the cake. They accepted all of this years ago. So todayās silence (with extremely rare exceptions) should come as a surprise to precisely no one.
Think of it as the muscle memory of cowardice. Hereās what I wrote last year:
Four years ago, after former President Donald Trump referred to some of the participants in the deadly rally as āvery fine people,ā Republicans had a chance to make it clear where they stood.
Torch-carrying bigots chanted, āJews will not replace us!ā An avowed neo-Nazi drove his car into counterprotesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.
It was an easy call for a normal political party.
Republicans could have issued a historic denunciation of bigotry.
They could have denounced anti-Semitism.
They could have announced that there was no place for white nationalists in the party.
They could have drawn a bright, red line against political violence ā and attempts to normalize violence.
Instead, for the most part, Republicans either looked the other way, kept quiet or went along with Trumpās gaslighting denials that he had, in fact, said what he said.
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BONUS: The Kanye-Trump bromance appears to have a rough patch. Here is Yeās new campaign manager, Milo Yiannopoulos (I kid you not) denouncing Trump for āputting Jewish interests first.ā
There is an upshot to all this. Trump brought together Democrats like myself who never for a second thought I'd be breaking bread metaphorically with Bill Kristol and Charlie Sykes, let alone subscribing. The Bulwark has become my political Xanax, and this morning is no exception.
Sometimes I think Iām going to scream if I read one more unattributed quote from some Trump āadvisorā who supposedly counseled him not to meet with some awful person, as if thatās really not who Trump is. These advisors seem to want people to believe that they are somehow honorable and that Trump is not a racist or anti-Semite or authoritarian but that he just ends up consorting with these people by accident. Oh please. These people are enablers. They are as guilty of trying to destroy our democracy as Trump is.