In a Nov. 8, 2021 livestream, white nationalist Nick Fuentes weighed in on the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse — who killed two people and wounded a third during racial justice protests in Kenosha, WI last summer. Rittenhouse, who insists he acted in self-defense, has been lionized by right-wing commentators and white supremacist groups.
Fuentes told viewers that a guilty verdict would mean that white Americans no longer have “institutional support” and have become “second-class citizens.” He also defended the violent white supremacists who organized and attended the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally, and made antisemitic references to the “synagogue of Satan.”
Early in the livestream Fuentes introduced the topics he would be discussing — including the Rittenhouse trial and a recent climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Of the latter topic, Fuentes said that there had not been a “whole lotta coverage” from his “usual sources” like Revolver.News — founded by white nationalist Darren Beattie — and the Neo-Nazi blog The Daily Stormer.
Fuentes singled out a speech given at the conference by former president Barack Obama, whose message to climate activists was to “stay angry” and “keep pushing harder and harder for more.”
After reading from a BBC article about Obama’s speech, Fuentes said that “we have to have the same approach.” He condemned Republican critics of the Jan. 6 insurrection as “fags and homos,” and said that leaders of the GOP — which he said should be the “vehicle for white grievance and white resentment” — should encourage white people to get angry.
“This isn’t a joke. This is real,” he continued. “You know, we’re being screwed out of our civilizational inheritance. We’re being discriminated against. We’re being taught to hate ourselves. Our children are being targeted. Our way of life and our country is being stolen. We’re going to be killed soon.”
Fuentes compared scenes of Trump dancing at his own rallies with the rhetoric used at the climate conference, where activists are told to “get angry,” “vote like your life depends on it,” and “channel that into activism.” “We’ve gotta take the same approach,” he concluded.
Toward the end of the livestream Fuentes finally discussed the Rittenhouse case, and claimed the only reason the killer would be found guilty would be if the jury bowed to political pressure. He also suggested that a guilty verdict would mean there is “no justice in the country,” and that white people have become second-class citizens.
“And a lot of people still have some sense of like ‘Well, at least we’ve got the cops. And at least we have the courts,’ meaning the criminal justice [system],” he said. “And if this guy doesn’t get acquitted that just goes to show there’s no institutional backing. We are officially second-class citizens. We’re officially untouchables as white people.”
He also said that a guilty verdict would demonstrate that the “justice system is working against us,” but added that this is “already true” — and cited the prosecution of violent Neo-Nazis.
“If you’re being conservative and if you’re being honest, you would say that’s already the case, because it’s happened enough times between — who was the one at Charlottesville? The name escapes me right now. James Fields is it? Is that the name? Yeah. James Fields, and the Rise Above Movement, and the Proud Boys, and even the ongoing Charlottesville lawsuit right now.”
James Fields rammed his Dodge Challenger into a crowd of antiracist protesters at the white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 35 others. Fields was convicted on state charges — first degree murder, hit and run, and eight counts of malicious wounding — and sentenced to life plus 419 years in prison.
In July 2019 Fields received an additional life sentence after pleading guilty to 29 federal hate crimes charges.
In 2018, eight members of the Rise Above Movement — a violent, white supremacist street gang known for brawling with antifascist demonstrators — were charged with violations of the Anti-Riot Act over their actions in Charlottesville, VA and southern California. The charges against three RAM members were tossed out by a federal judge in 2019, but reinstated by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals a year later.
In addition, multiple white supremacist figures and organizations are on trial for their role in organizing the violent “Unite the Right” rally. Relying on the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, the plaintiffs in Sines v. Kessler allege that the rally organizers participated in a conspiracy to commit racially-motivated violence on Aug. 11 and 12, 2017.
The trial began on Oct. 25, 2021 and is expected to last until last until Nov. 19, 2021.
Fuentes, who attended the “Unite the Right” rally, told viewers that the rally organizers are “being held accountable essentially for exercising their First Amendment rights.” He added that he dislikes the rally organizers “on a personal level” and said the event was “managed horribly,” but ultimately blamed the “C’ville police” and mayor for the violence that took place.
And he blamed Jewish people for violating his rights, but mocked the idea of suing anyone in retaliation.
“I hear that all the time. I tell people I’m on a federal no-fly list and they say ‘You should sue!’ Sue who?” he asked. “The Jews? Sue what? The deep state? Yeah lemmie file a complaint at the synagogue of Satan. Lemmie go file a complaint at the fucking Third Temple. Lemmie go file a complaint at 1 World Trade Center and the monument to their Satanic sacrifice.”