The recent spate of criticism aimed at Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign from various Right-wing influencers, coupled with the public clash between J.D. Vance and white nationalist Nick Fuentes, has exposed growing tensions within the younger, more ideologically extreme fringes of the American Right. These conflicts reveal a widening rift between the established MAGA movement and a subset of extremely online conservatives who are pushing for even more hardline positions on issues like populist nationalism, non-interventionist foreign policy, and cultural identity.

Fuentes, a far-Right commentator known for his racist and antisemitic views, recently launched what he dubbed “Groyper War II” against the Trump campaign. “We support Trump, but his campaign has been hijacked by the same consultants, lobbyists, & donors that he defeated in 2016, and they’re blowing it,” Fuentes wrote on X. “Without serious changes we are headed for a catastrophic loss.”

This declaration of war came on the heels of Fuentes’s attack on J.D. Vance, Trump’s running mate, over Vance’s marriage to an Indian-American woman. “Who is this guy, really?” Fuentes asked. “Do we really expect that the guy who has an Indian wife and named their kid Vivek is going to support white identity?”

Vance, for his part, firmly disavowed Fuentes in a recent appearance on “Face the Nation” on CBS News. “Look, I think the guy’s a total loser. Certainly, I disavow him,” Vance stated. “But if you ask me what I care more about, is it a person attacking me personally, or is it government policy that discriminates based on race? That’s what I really worry about.” He also defended Trump’s past interactions with Fuentes, stating, “The one thing I like about Donald Trump is he actually will talk to anybody, but just because you talk to somebody doesn’t mean you endorse their views.”

This public spat exemplifies the tightrope Republican leaders must walk between courting younger, online-savvy supporters and distancing themselves from the most extreme elements. Vance, though relatively young and internet-fluent himself, clearly isn’t radical enough for a subset of the “based”, extremely online Right that demands more explicit nationalism and isolationist foreign policy.

The incident also spotlights Trump’s own complicated relationship with far-Right figures like Fuentes. The former President faced widespread criticism in 2022 for dining with Fuentes and Kanye West at Mar-a-Lago, though he claimed to know nothing about Fuentes beforehand. Now Fuentes is turning on Trump, arguing his campaign has been “hijacked” by establishment forces.

This revolt, it seems, isn’t limited to Fuentes. In a recent X post, he listed several Right-wing influencers who have criticised the Trump campaign, including Tim Pool, Laura Loomer, Ashley St Clair, Sneako, Candace Owens, Jon Zherka, and Myron Gaines: “Everyone agrees the campaign is in trouble.”

Notwithstanding its influence on X, it’s unclear how large or influential this faction truly is offline. Milo Yiannopoulos, a former alt-Right figure now feuding with Fuentes, recently mocked the size of Fuentes’s events. Left-wing outlets like The New Republic and even this Reuters “special report” from June claiming the Proud Boys are “back to help Trump,” meanwhile, may exaggerate the growth of these fringe movements, perpetuating them as political boogeymen rather than accurately assessing their true reach.

The issue divergence between the online Right and ordinary swing voters is telling: while Fuentes and his ilk obsess over non-starters like the race of Vance’s wife and other concerns of white identity politics, polling consistently shows that most swing voters are far more interested in bread-and-butter issues like consumer prices and inflation.

These conflicting priorities — arguably irreconcilable — are a real danger to the GOP as the presidential election approaches. The hope is clearly that this will all blow over by November, but Trump has already dipped in the polls and further internecine feuding could prove a recipe for disaster.

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Oliver Bateman is a historian and journalist based in Pittsburgh. He blogs, vlogs, and podcasts at his Substack, Oliver Bateman Does the Work

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