Far-right pundit and white nationalist Nick Fuentes admitted on his show that "liberals were right, fundamentally" about President Donald Trump, acknowledging Trump's brand of authoritarian populism by referring to him as a "populist demagogue."
In its modern sense, a demagogue is a political agitator who seeks to advance their political goals or personal power by appealing to people’s emotions, prejudices, and hardships.
Demagogues are typically outsiders to the political mainstream, rising to power through waves of anti-establishment rhetoric. They often use harsh, inflammatory language against an identified "enemy" group and present themselves as the only solution to the nation’s problems.
Indeed, Trump has spent the last decade railing against the "liberal elites," intensified his rhetoric against immigrants and transgender people since taking office, and continued to cast himself as a victim of a "witch hunt" orchestrated by his political opposition.
And at no point does he—as protests against him and billionaire Elon Musk continue nationwide—intend to use his office to better the lives of the American people.
Fuentes appears to have caught on, saying the following on his program:
"I hate to admit it: Liberals were right, fundamentally, about Trump. Whether he has good intentions or bad intentions, whether he means well or not, some people blame his advisors. Some people blame people around him."
"Whatever you think about his culpability, he is in effect—maybe not consciously or intentionally [but] in effect—what he is, is a demagogue. What he is, is a populist demagogue."
"What liberals said about him, that he was stirring up the rubes, animating the rubes, with nativist rhetoric and ginning up rhetoric against the system to empower himself and people around him, and brought the swamp closer to his periphery in his first and second administration, willing to say or do anything?"
"Yeah, that all kind of turned out to be true. Yeah, that basically turned out to be true."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
The overall response was "Well, duh?"
Fuentes appears to have seen the light in recent months.
In November, Fuentes criticized Trump supporters for wearing garbage bags following a rally where Trump climbed into a garbage truck in response to President Joe Biden's comments about his followers.
Fuentes saw this as a turning point, calling it a clear sign that "Trumpism was a cult," highlighting the "slavish devotion" of his supporters, who would "just eat up anything."
Reflecting on the moment, he said, "That was the moment when I realized it has gone too far, it is Frankenstein's monster, we've created a golem," and described Trumpism as "a giant cult-like scam."
Fuentes also said that Trump supporters "have an endless tolerance for being humiliated, for being insulted, [and] for being betrayed."
