Disillusioned by President Donald Trump, hundreds of people gathered in newly blue Texas this weekend for a far-right Christian nationalist conference to discuss a path forward to advance their agenda after major Republican defeats in the midterm elections .
Many of the attendees at the conference, entitled “Christ is King: America After Trump,” had voted for Trump in the last three elections but now no longer support him and are at odds with much of the Republican Party.
While some conservative Christians back America’s war with Iran and US support of Israel, among the far-right faction that gathered here in Irving this weekend, Trump’s decision to go to war was the ultimate act of betrayal.
Speakers at the event promoted antisemitic tropes, discussed the need for the United States to remain a majority White nation, argued Christianity should have precedence over other religions in this country, called for mass deportations, and pondered revoking the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote. Much of this was welcomed with rapturous applause and standing ovations from the overwhelmingly male audience.
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The far-right streamer Nick Fuentes , an online firebrand known for his unapologetic racist, antisemitic, and sexist takes, delivered an hourlong speech at the event’s close on Saturday.
Other speakers included the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Buckley Carlson, the brother of Tucker Carlson.
Fuentes rarely appears in public, instead electing to stream his show nightly from home and appear on other people’s podcasts, but on Saturday he spoke of the need for he and his followers, known as “groypers,” to mobilize ahead of the 2028 election.
“The midterms were a rejection of Donald Trump. They were not a rejection of Trump-ism. And this is maybe the most important point,” Fuentes said.
“100,000 groypers doesn’t flip the country 50% in favor of our ideology, but 100,000 groypers can do 100 million phone calls. They can knock on 100 million doors. We can get out there in the Iowa caucus,” Fuentes added.
It is difficult to determine how big Fuentes’ following is, but his nightly stream regularly is viewed hundreds of thousands of times, and young men who openly identify as groypers are now often seen at conservative events wearing Fuentes merchandise. Some Fuentes fans CNN spoke to at the event on Saturday had traveled across the country to see the 28-year-old streamer speak.
In 2022, Fuentes joined Trump and Kanye West (now known as “Ye”) for dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Trump later said he had no idea who Fuentes was.
This weekend’s event took place at the Irving Convention Center near Dallas and was sponsored by NXR Studios, a far-right Christian nationalist media company,
Joel Webbon, a preacher who runs NXR, delivered a speech rife with antisemitism, racism, and misogyny where he outlined his vision for a United States where White Christian men reign supreme.
“We’re done with equality,” Webbon said, despite the First Amendment to the US Constitution’s prohibition on the government favoring one religion over another. “Christianity is American. Islam is not, Hinduism is not, Judaism is not,” he proclaimed to applause.
Ten years ago, MAGA was the insurgent movement that pulled the Republican Party further to the right. The cohort who gathered in Texas this weekend believe MAGA didn’t go far-right enough, and Fuentes pointed to the recent success of democratic socialists on the left as a model for a successful insurgent movement within the post-Trump Republican Party.
“My model actually is the DSA,” Fuentes said, “It’s the Zohran Mamdanis, Abdul El-Sayeds.”
But Fuentes and company may have difficulty building a successful political coalition given the sheer number of people they hope to one day exclude from the political process.
“Every time you see a woman in leadership, I guarantee, there were at least a thousand men who were more qualified for that position than her,” Webbon said on stage, before reminding the audience he is in favor of revoking women’s right to vote.
