As the 2024 presidential race heats up, some of the far-right’s most prominent voices are beginning to turn against former president Donald Trump’s campaign, signaling a potential fracturing of his base. Key influencers, once staunch supporters, are now threatening a digital “war” against Trump’s aides, warning that his campaign is veering too far from the hard-right positions that galvanized their support. Nick Fuentes, a neo-Nazi white supremacist and podcaster, has been one of the most vocal critics. Fuentes, who dined with Trump in 2022 at Mar-a-Lago, blasted the campaign on X, claiming that Trump’s strategy was “blowing it” by not embracing more extreme views on race and immigration. His post criticizing the campaign has been viewed 2.6 million times. Laura Loomer, another far-right activist, echoed the sentiment, arguing that Trump’s “weak” surrogates have derailed his momentum and warning that his strategy needs to shift quickly. Candace Owens, another antisemitic far-right commentator with millions of followers, described the growing division within the Trump movement as a “MAGA Civil War.” While Owens stressed her support for Trump, she expressed frustration with his campaign staff, accusing them of diluting his message in a bid for mainstream appeal. These attacks from far-right influencers pose a new challenge for Trump’s campaign, which has relied heavily on online support from these figures in previous elections. Their backing helped build a groundswell of digital support in 2016 and 2020, driving Trump’s appeal with key voter groups. Now, their criticism threatens to undermine efforts to unify the Republican base ahead of the election. The far-right figures’ dissatisfaction centers on what they perceive as Trump’s shift away from the hardline stances that initially propelled him to power. They’ve been particularly critical of his campaign’s leadership, calling for the ouster of co-managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles. Despite these criticisms, many still claim to support Trump himself, with their ire aimed squarely at his staff. The discontent comes as Trump retools his campaign, including the recent rehiring of his former 2016 campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. Fuentes called this a “first victory” but warned that he and his followers would continue pressuring the campaign to adopt more extreme positions. The far-right provocateurs have vowed to ramp up their efforts, both online and at Trump rallies. Fuentes has urged his followers to escalate their tactics, using guerrilla-style methods to push the campaign further to the right. Meanwhile, the Trump campaign has tried to distance itself from the more extreme elements of its base to avoid alienating voters. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)