Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy warned of right-wing influencer Nick Fuentes’s growing influence on the Republican Party on Wednesday, urging a united front to combat his “Groyper” movement.
In an op-ed for the New York Times, Ramaswamy drew direct parallels with the rise of the identitarian Groyper movement on the right and the rise of “wokeness” on the Left. He said the two phenomena were the same and that Republicans and Democrats could unite against the right flank of the Republican Party.
In the op-ed, Ramaswamy said there were two competing visions of the United States on the Right, one identitarian and one credal, and that they were “incompatible.”
“Americanness isn’t a scalar quality that varies based on your ancestry,” he wrote, laying out his own vision of American identity. “It’s binary: Either you’re an American or you’re not. You are an American if you believe in the rule of law, in freedom of conscience and freedom of expression, in colorblind meritocracy, in the U.S. Constitution, in the American dream, and if you are a citizen who swears exclusive allegiance to our nation.”
He dismissed the assertion that one’s ancestry stretching back to the founding of the country had any impact on Americanness. Though the embrace of an American identity at least partially based on heritage has gained widespread traction on the Right, including among people and groups hostile to Fuentes and his movement, Ramaswamy said the view was popularized by the movement.
“This view is now popularized by the Groyper right, a rapidly ascendant online movement that argues for the creation of a white-centric identity,” Ramaswamy wrote. “This is a predictable response — one that I anticipated in my 2022 book, ‘Nation of Victims’ — to anti-white discrimination over the last half-decade, and it is no longer just a fringe viewpoint.”
He complained that its growing influence was seen by growing attacks against him on social media, often involving anti-Indian slurs such as “Jeet” and “street s***ter.”
The gubernatorial candidate criticized those on the right who were hesitant about going after Fuentes and the Groypers.
“But as one of the most vocal opponents of left-wing identity politics, I now see real reluctance from my former anti-woke peers to criticize the new identity politics on the right,” he wrote, warning that a lack of confrontation could cause an implosion on the Right similar to that experienced by the Left in 2024.
To explain the rise of Fuentes’s influence, Ramaswamy laid the blame on “their rising sense of economic insecurity conspires with pent-up psychosocial angst.”
“Depression and anxiety are more prevalent among members of Gen Z than in prior American generations,” he wrote. “In the absence of a shared national identity, they’re turning to tribalism and victimhood instead — Groyperism on the right, Zohran Mamdani-infused socialism on the left.”
To combat “Groyperism” and the left’s growing identitarian movement, Ramaswamy urged economic solutions, suggesting that artificial intelligence could allow every legally born American to receive an “American dream birthright,” or $10,000 invested in the S&P 500.
This would turn every young American into a millionaire by age 60, he claimed, addressing the root causes of ideological extremism. He also pushed for a national project to help unite different Americans.
“Perhaps it’s establishing a base on the moon to achieve nuclear fusion in a way that powers the creation of artificial intelligence without negative externalities and constraints on Earth; perhaps it’s something else of similar scale and ambition,” Ramaswamy wrote. “Such a project could serve as a much-needed catalyst to revive high-quality math and science education in America — by elevating standards in public schools, expanding educational choice and much more.”
The ideology of the Groypers is simply adherence to Fuentes’s beliefs, beliefs that have shifted significantly since his growth in popularity in 2017. Fuentes went from a devoted supporter of Trump to a vociferous critic, criticism that has reached its zenith this year. Though he has painted this growing criticism as principled opposition to Trump falling short of his expectations, it also coincides with the president disavowing him after rapper Kanye West, also known as Ye, brought him along to a dinner with him at Mar-a-Lago.
Though Fuentes’s beliefs have shifted wildly over the years, among the few constants have been his virulent denunciation of what he calls “Jewish power,” praise for Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, questioning or downplaying the Holocaust, and criticism of Israel. Though he has advocated the need to keep the U.S. majority white, he has also recently pushed back against criticism of Muslim immigrants and shown a willingness to ally with nonwhites when opposing Israel and so-called “Jewish power.”
Part of Fuentes’s appeal is his reliance on humor and sarcasm, blurring the line between jokes and expressions about his actual beliefs. This has given him a shield when confronted on his inflammatory statements about Jews, praise of Hitler, and questioning the Holocaust.
NICK FUENTES IS A PORTENT OF WHERE CONSERVATISM IS HEADING
While reaching the peak of his influence in 2025, his growth in popularity has also invited unprecedented pushback. Different factions of the online right constantly battle with him and his supporters over a litany of issues, including Trump, immigration, identity, strategy, and more.
Fuentes’s penchant to make enemies from nearly all his former political allies also serves as a check on his influence.