I Watched 12 Hours of Nick Fuentes

"Before each episode of America First With Nicholas J. Fuentes begins, a surreal mix of images and video clips runs, like a screen saver, for an unpredictable and seemingly eternal amount of time. Gentle plains of swaying grass, trickling streams, and the show's logo flash across the screen. EDM kicks in. Psychedelic depictions of Christian imagery, including Jesus's crucifixion, come and go. So do snippets of Fuentes talking about, among other things, borders, drag queens, and his faith."

"Across five episodes of the nightly broadcast, I watched the 27-year-old white-supremacist influencer speak into a microphone for just shy of 12 hours total. The show is scheduled to air live on Rumble at 9 p.m. central time, but it rarely begins on time. Throughout the week, the opening scenes played for at least two hours every night, bouncing from clip to clip at random, before Fuentes finally got started."

"Since Fuentes appeared on Tucker Carlson's podcast at the end of October, Republican leaders have started to ask themselves just how much sway he has over the party. Fuentes has built an army of fans, who call themselves "Groypers," and his style of bigoted trolling has become the lingua franca of the young, ascendant right. Each episode I watched garnered at least 1 million views on Rumble."

The America First broadcast features a prolonged, surreal intro with pastoral scenes, EDM, and psychedelic Christian imagery interspersed with clips of Fuentes addressing borders, drag queens, and faith. A viewer spent five days watching five nightly episodes, totaling nearly 12 hours of Fuentes speaking. The show is billed as live on Rumble at 9 p.m. central but frequently delays, with opening visuals running for hours before each episode begins. Fuentes, a 27-year-old white-supremacist influencer, has amassed a devoted following called "Groypers," and his provocative trolling style has influenced younger elements of the ascendant right, drawing sizable viewership.

Read at The Atlantic