On November 22, 2022 — one week after announcing his presidential campaign — Donald Trump sat down for dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Kanye West (who was in the middle of his own antisemitism controversy) and Nick Fuentes. Fuentes is a 24-year-old media figure who has denied the Holocaust, praised Hitler, promoted white supremacy, and built a following among the far right’s youngest and most extreme elements. He attended the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in 2017. His views are not ambiguous.
The Dinner
The dinner lasted approximately three hours at a table in the Mar-a-Lago dining room. Kanye West had arrived with Fuentes as his guest. Trump’s post-dinner account — given after backlash erupted — was that he had agreed to have dinner with Kanye, who “unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about.” He said he had never met Fuentes and didn’t know who he was.
The dinner lasted three hours. Trump reportedly praised Fuentes, telling people after the meeting that Fuentes was impressive and “gets me.” Three hours is a long time to spend with someone you don’t know and whose views you find objectionable.
Fuentes has said: “All I want is a total Aryan victory.” He has praised Hitler and downplayed the Holocaust. He has called for a “Catholic Taliban” to run America. He leads the “America First” or “Groyper” movement. He was at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. He has been banned from every mainstream social media platform. None of this is hidden information. A Google search takes three seconds.
The Response
Trump never explicitly condemned Fuentes. His statement said he didn’t know who Fuentes was, not that he rejected Fuentes’s views. When pressed, Trump said “I didn’t know him” and deflected to his support for Israel. Some Republican leaders — including Mitch McConnell and Chris Christie — condemned the dinner. Most stayed silent. Mike Pence said Trump should “apologize.” Trump did not apologize.
Bottom Line
A declared presidential candidate had a three-hour dinner with a documented white supremacist and Holocaust denier. He said he didn’t know who the man was. He never condemned the man’s views. His party mostly looked away. And three years later, the man who sat at that table is the President of the United States. The dinner isn’t an outlier. It’s a data point in a pattern that starts with “very fine people on both sides” in 2017 and runs through the Puerto Rico “garbage” rally in 2024. The company you keep is a choice. Three hours is not an accident.
Sources
- Associated Press: Trump dinner with Fuentes and Kanye West, November 2022.
- New York Times: Dinner details and Republican response.
- ADL: Nick Fuentes profile and extremist background.