Far-right influencer Nick Fuentes is making a staggering fortune preaching hate

Philadelphia-based CNN host Michael Smerconish has often said that as a conservative, one thing that infuriates him is white supremacists and neo-Nazis assuming that he will be sympathetic to their views. And Smerconish made it clear that he had no use for their ideology, which he considered antithetical to traditional conservatism and libertarianism.

But in 2026, white nationalist Nick Fuentes has a substantial following within the far-right MAGA movement. And according to the Washington Post, his political operation is bringing in a lot more money than many of his critics assume.

Post reporters Drew Harwell and Jeremy B. Merrill, in an article published on April 20, explain, "Since the start of last year through the end of last month, roughly 11,000 donors have sent Fuentes nearly $900,000 in superchats, a Washington Post analysis found. The Post analyzed more than 1400 hours of Fuentes' streams, using artificial intelligence to tally the donations, which flicker on screen in real time."

The Post reporters stress that although some online platforms shun Fuentes, he isn't going away.

"Fuentes, 27, has been kicked off most mainstream social networks because of his viral provocations and extreme bigotry," according to Harwell and Merrill. "He has said that Adolf Hitler is 'awesome,' that most Black people should be imprisoned, that 'organized Jewry' has corrupted society and that women should be locked in 'breeding gulags' and serve only as 'mothers, whores or nuns.' But he has become an increasingly influential and disruptive force in the American conservative movement, thanks to a shadow economy of loyalists who cut and promote viral clips from his hours-long streams in pursuit of their own online clout."

The Post reporters add, "Through his superchats, Fuentes has funneled that attention into a lucrative financial engine fueled by the handouts of hardcore fans. He said he also makes money selling swastika-imprinted t-shirts and $100-a-month subscriptions to a private chatroom, where he talks with devotees…. Fuentes' superchat revenue throws a spotlight on the crisis now engulfing the American right, where some leaders fear a new blitz of agenda-setting online firebrands will alienate more moderate voters or empower a platform of racist and misogynistic rule."

Much of Fuentes' support is coming from small donors, Harwell and Merrill report — and those donations are adding up.

Megan Squire, a researcher for the Southern Poverty Law Center, told the Post, "Donating a superchat is the new showing up to a (Ku Klux) Klan meeting. It's a community builder, it shows you're involved, and it's a financial form of keyboard warrior-ing — a thing you can do for the cause."