Groypers at the Gates: The Catholic Fascist Turn in the MAGA Right
Nick Fuentes’s Groyper movement — rooted in reactionary Catholicism — is fracturing conservatives and igniting an civil war over Israel, race, and religion. The GOP only has themselves to blame.
Dear friends—
I don’t say this lightly: today’s essay may be the most urgent I’ve written in Letters from Leo.
Across the American right, something is happening that should shake Catholics — and anyone who believes in democracy — to their core. A fascist youth movement, led by a self-described Catholic nationalist who praises Hitler and blames Jews for the death of Christ, is no longer a fringe curiosity. It is now, undeniably, a rising center of gravity in conservative politics.
His name is Nick Fuentes. And if you’ve never heard of him, you soon will.
Last week, Fuentes appeared for a two-hour interview with Tucker Carlson — one of the most influential voices in the country. Days later, a Heritage Foundation staffer publicly questioned why his organization’s leadership was defending the decision to platform Fuentes.
The answer gets to the heart of this newsletter’s mission: to call out what CS Lewis once called “the quiet habits of evil in respectable clothing.”
In today’s essay, we follow Fuentes’s path from alt-right agitator to heir apparent of the post-Charlie Kirk right. We explore his theological war on Vatican II, his embrace of Spanish-style Catholic fascism, and the dangerous alliance he’s forging among disillusioned young men, anti-Israel hardliners, and Christian nationalists. And we ask: What does it mean when “Christ is King” becomes a battle cry not for peace, but for power?
This isn’t just about one man. It’s about a movement. It’s about what happens when a generation raised on memes and moral confusion is handed rosaries — and a roadmap to authoritarianism.
And it’s about the test this poses for Vice President JD Vance, who is widely expected to run for president in 2028. As this essay argues, there is no path to the White House that does not run through the perilous terrain Fuentes now occupies.
Like all of our deep-dive reporting, today’s piece is grounded in history, theology, and the lived reality of the Church in public life. It’s longform, and it’s meant to last. Because of that, this essay is only available in full to paid subscribers.
If you believe in this work, I hope you’ll consider subscribing and sharing it.
We are not called to look away. We are called to see clearly.
Thank you for walking this road with me.
Last week, something once unthinkable happened on the American right: Tucker Carlson aired a friendly two-hour interview with Nick Fuentes, a 27-year-old Catholic nationalist who praises Hitler.
Carlson smiled and nodded as Fuentes railed about “organized Jewry in America” and the need for a Christian nation, pushing back only gently on Fuentes’s blanket smears of “the Jews.”
This amiable podcast chat shook many conservatives (especially Jewish ones) who assumed a Holocaust denier like Fuentes was beyond the pale.
Ben Shapiro — a prominent Orthodox Jewish pundit — blasted Carlson as “the most virulent super-spreader of vile ideas in America” for giving Fuentes a platform.
Yet others on the right cheered. The president of the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, even defended Carlson, scolding a “venomous coalition” of critics for trying to “cancel” a fellow conservative.
In my view, this moment — the mainstreaming of Fuentes and what he represents – may be the most important political development in America today. It reveals a dangerous fracturing of the conservative movement over faith, bigotry, and loyalty to Israel, one that politicians like JD Vance will have to navigate if they hope to lead the GOP in 2028.
What is Groyperism, and why is it so tied up with Catholicism?
Fuentes is the self-styled general of the “Groyper Army,” a legion of mostly young, white male ultra-nationalists who came of age online.
The term “Groyper” comes from an offshoot of the Pepe the Frog meme — fitting for an internet-fueled subculture.
Fuentes’s ideology is unabashedly fascistic and proudly “Catholic.”
