In addition to highlighting antisemitism that some on the right have attempted to ignore, former President Donald Trump's meeting with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes may have hindered the mainstream influence of Christian nationalism.
Trump met with Ye and Fuentes, a white supremacist and Christian nationalist known for sharing racist and antisemitic views, at Mar-a-Lago on Nov. 22. The former president later denied knowing anything about Fuentes, but weeks before the meeting Ye had also received criticism for his own antisemitic comments, including saying he was going to go "death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE."
Ye's antisemitism persisted, encouraged by the attention the meeting with Trump received. The rapper joined Fuentes on Alex Jones's Infowars show on Dec. 1, when he glorified Adolf Hitler and dismissed the Holocaust, Business Insider India reported.
Some conservatives and Christian nationalists have been forced to face a side of the movement they had preferred to deny because of Ye's work with Fuentes, meetings with Trump, and the way in which he has previously been embraced by others on the right, including Tucker Carlson of Fox News and GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee.
Christian nationalism is essentially the idea that Christianity and the US are intrinsically linked and that religion should have a privileged position in American society.
Further study has revealed strong links between Trump supporters and proponents of Christian nationalism, antisemitism, and QAnon. Additionally, the founder of Gab, Andrew Torba, issued a how-to manual on Christian nationalism in September that was rife with antisemitism.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia publicly denounced Fuentes despite the fact that she herself has been accused of antisemitism and even attended an event with him earlier this year, highlighting the division among Christian nationalists about Jews.
The fact that Greene rejected Fuentes was particularly noteworthy because it made her face a side of Christian nationalism she had previously refused to accept.
But Fuentes and Ye, empowered by a high-profile meeting with the former president, have made those connections much harder to ignore and could help deter conservative Christians who may otherwise have been intrigued by the movement.
Christian nationalism as a concept is still in historical decline, but if more far-right figures continue to highlight its worst aspects, it may endanger its current resurgence and influence in mainstream politics.
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