The Mainstreaming of
Extremism
This is how the normalization of hatred works. Not with a
bang, but with a shrug.
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Over the Thanksgiving
holiday, I was privileged to be able to travel to Europe with my family. We
spent a few days in Amsterdam and I fell in love with the canals, the delicious
food, and the kind people. Of course, we visited the Van Gogh Museum and I marveled
at being able to see priceless works of art within just feet of where I stood
and to learn about the amazing life of an artist whose genius was only realized
after his death.
But the most powerful
and memorable moment was when we visited the Anne Frank House. I thought it was
important for my 11-year-old daughter to witness first-hand what another little
girl, very close to her own age, experienced at the hands of the Nazis. To feel
the cramped conditions of that Secret Annex, to listen to the voice of Anne’s
father, Otto Frank, as he explained the crushing darkness of losing his entire
family. To re-live the life of a brave little girl who may have passed 761 days
in near-silence, but whose written words fought loudly to be heard for decades
after her death.
Anne Frank’s life is one
of the clearest moral markers in modern history. A young girl who was just 13
years old when she was forced into hiding because hate became law. A child
whose voice survived when she tragically didn’t. Her diary is a testament to
what happens when bigotry stops being fringe and becomes policy. Anne’s life is
a reminder that the worst chapters of history begin not with gas chambers, but
with rhetoric, with excuses, and with normalization.
And that is exactly why
the current platforming and soft-pedaling of a white nationalist like Nick
Fuentes by major conservative media figures should set off alarms for anyone
paying attention.
Anne Frank was born in
1929 in Germany, a country sliding into authoritarianism. When the Nazi Regime
made antisemitism an organizing principle of its government, her family fled to
Amsterdam. For a few brief years, they thought they had dodged the extremism.
But hate doesn’t respect borders, and by May of 1940, the Nazis had invaded the
Netherlands and imported their ideology into the region.
By 1942, the signs were
unmistakable: Jews were banned from public life, forced out of schools,
stripped of all of their rights, and increasingly “othered”. When a deportation
notice arrived for Anne’s sister, Margot, the entire family went into hiding in
the Secret Annex behind Otto Frank’s company. Eight people shared just a few
cramped rooms. They lived under constant threat, dependent on the courage of
others, their own discipline, and the sheer will to survive the Nazi occupation
of Amsterdam.
Anne wrote in her diary
because it was the only freedom she had left. She dreamt of becoming a
journalist one day. Her diary captured not only the daily strain and stress of
hiding, but the rapid moral decay outside of the walls of their self-imposed
prison. She documented the kind of danger that grows slowly at first: a society
that accepts hate as a political identity that then becomes a government that
codifies bigotry into laws.
The Secret Annex was
discovered in August 1944 after informants tipped off the Nazis. This was just
two months after the successful landing by Allied Forces at Normandy. I visited
those incredible beaches last year; if only the soldiers that fell that day
knew the desperate hope those trapped under the rule of the Nazis had for their
success – as captured in Anne’s diary.
Anne and her sister were
first sent to Auschwitz, but then the two were transferred to another Nazi
concentration camp, Bergen-Belsen, in 1945. Bergen-Belsen would be their death
beds. Otto Frank was the sole survivor of the Frank family, and he published
her diary because he understood its purpose: to warn the world of the dangers
of looking away, or even worse, collaborating or sympathizing. And today, we
need that warning more than ever.
Let’s be clear: Nick
Fuentes is not a “provocateur.” He is not “edgy.” He is not “contrarian.”
Fuentes is a 27-year old, self-professed white supremacist, misogynist,
Holocaust denier, anti-Semite, and a man who openly praises the ideology that
murdered Anne Frank and millions of others deemed inferior. His beliefs are not
ambiguous; they are explicit embraced and proudly broadcast. Fuentes posts
conspiracy theories on social media like “white genocide and Jewish subversion”
to his more than 1 million followers on the cesspool of X.
Fuentes has said that
Hitler was “really fucking cool” and has denied that the Holocaust ever
happened. But, in the same breath, he has compared the genocide of millions of
Jews in concentration camps to the baking of cookies. And for years, even the
farthest right corners of conservative media kept him at arm’s length. But now,
the wall has cracked and those cracks are fracturing fast directly from the
top. In recent months, public figures like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly have
treated Fuentes not as a toxic, far-right extremist, but as someone whose
presence is negotiable under the guise of “public debate.”
Sidenote: I’m often asked where I go to do research for my reporting. One of
the main research tools I use is called Ground News. Ground News shows me how
stories are being covered from different political perspectives, and it
highlights “blindspots” where only left-wing or right-wing media is covering a
story.
Ground News has been a great sponsor of my YouTube channel, and they’re
now sponsoring this post as well. I worked out a deal with them: if you go
to ground.news/phang, you can get 40% off Ground
News’ top-tier Vantage plan, which gives you unlimited access to all the
research tools I use.
Ground News is
subscriber-funded, so they don’t rely on ads that could introduce bias. By
subscribing, you support both our channel and their independent team working to
keep the media transparent.
Now back to where I left
off.
Just last month, Carlson
and Fuentes hung out like old buddies on Carlson’s podcast for more than 2
hours. That interview has now been viewed by more than 6.5 million people and
counting on YouTube. Carlson’s idea- and image-laundering of Fuentes included
portraying him as being just another voice that deserves to be heard because
the world couldn’t possibly cancel Fuentes for having a different point of
view. Just like the canonization of Charlie Kirk and the reframing of many of
his odious ideas as being acceptable in the arena of “political debate,” the
negative reactions to Nick Fuentes’ even more odious views are now being framed
as “overblown” by folks like Tucker Carlson.
Kelly herself
entertained conversations with Carlson and Ben Shapiro that treat Fuentes’
extremism as a potentially political inconvenience rather than a moral
disqualifier. Her recent defense of Carlson’s sit-down with Fuentes, as well as
her defense of Fuentes’ right to say extremist things because of “open
dialogue,” veer dangerously into the land of normalizing anti-Semitism and
hate. Fuentes, who would once have been radioactive, is being publicly shuffled
toward respectability, all with the help of Carlson and Kelly, who provide the
permission structure for people not only to listen to Fuentes, but to consider
his raging anti-Semitism to be some version of legitimate policy.
And don’t forget about
Convicted Felon Donald Trump’s infamous 2022 dinner at Mar-a-Lago with not only
Nick Fuentes, but Kanye West, both of whom are in a race to the bottom of the
barrel when it comes to who can be the most anti-Semitic. Trump breaking bread
with Fuentes and West is yet another example of the normalization of hatred.
So this isn’t about one
pundit or one interview. It’s about the signal being sent to the millions of
viewers and followers of Carlson and Kelly. When major conservative voices
minimize Fuentes’ disgusting ideology, they shift the boundary of what counts as
acceptable. They turn Holocaust denial into a topic of conversation instead of
a red line that must never be crossed. They turn antisemitism and white
supremacy into a matter of opinion instead of a proven existential threat.
Extremism doesn’t rise
because zealots get louder. It rises because powerful people who moonlight as
thought leaders decide to play footsies with dangerous ideas. Because
gatekeepers stop guarding the gate and the people with platforms act as if
their responsibility is optional.
Anne Frank’s story is
often wrapped in sentimentality, but the reality of her murder is harsher. Anne
Frank didn’t die because her world was filled with monsters. She died because
enough ordinary people decided that the monsters weren’t their problem. They
looked away. They adjusted their discomfort in ways that allowed the
unacceptable to become the normal.
Today’s political
climate may not be 1930s Europe, but it’s getting damn close because some of
the mechanics are becoming disturbingly familiar: the conspiracy theories, the
dehumanizing language, the minimization of hate as “just politics.” The
elevation of extremists as if they deserve to be taken seriously assisted by a
far-right media ecosystem willing to normalize bigotry because it drives
engagement and subscribers and followers.
There is a direct line
between dismissing extremist rhetoric and emboldening extremist behavior. Nick
Fuentes knows this and his supporters know this. And the public figures who
treat him as a political curiosity should know it, too.
The rise of Nick Fuentes
tells us something troubling about where the American Right is heading. When
someone who denies the Holocaust and praises Hitler is treated as someone worth
platforming versus unequivocally condemning, the line between mainstream
conservatism and white supremacist ideology becomes dangerously thin, if not
erased. The responsibility to draw that line clearly and forcefully belongs to
everyone with a platform, especially those whose voices shape public opinion.
Anne Frank wrote that
she believed people were “really good at heart.” She wrote it at a time when
there was zero evidence of decency left for that kind of optimism. It wasn’t
naïveté on her part; it was a clear challenge to us all. If Anne’s story teaches
us anything, it’s that we don’t get to be passive bystanders to the
normalization of hate. We don’t get to treat extremism as a ratings
opportunity. And we don’t get to forget what happens when society decides that
the worst ideas deserve a seat at the table.
History has already
shown us where this road ends.
