Hate makes the right money. The left has to offer better
The right-wing content machine has been a powerful – and lucrative – force for years. There’s nothing like this on the left.
Young Republicans chat reveals racist, antisemitic messages
Politico uncovered racist, antisemitic and homophobic messages in a leaked Young Republicans Telegram chat group.
Extremists are spreading hate online – and turning a profit.
According to a Washington Post analysis, far-right content creator Nick Fuentes amassed nearly $900,000 from about 11,000 of his adoring followers from the start of 2025 through this March, with just 10 accounts sending him $77,000 through “superchats,” paid messages that appear onscreen as he’s streaming on the right-wing platform Rumble.
The 27-year-old, who has said Adolf Hitler was “cool” and myriad other repugnant things, has seen his monthly revenue grow as he has become a more prominent figure in the right-wing political movement.
Yet Fuentes isn’t the only one profiting from extremist views. There are plenty of grifters making a fortune from being bigots, thanks to crowdfunding and sites willing to platform hate. The question is what can be done to stop the proliferation of extreme right-wing views online.
Nick Fuentes and the right wing’s economics of hate
The right-wing content machine has been a powerful – and lucrative – force for years. Plenty of people are willing to throw money at their favorite influencers as a token of appreciation or to get their comment noticed.
Alex Jones, the former Infowars host who claimed the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax, listed his net worth as more than $8 million in bankruptcy filings in 2024. According to court documents, he made $165 million through the Infowars shop between September 2015 and December 2018.
Andrew Tate, the most formidable force in the manosphere, is worth roughly $13.5 million, according to assets reported when he was charged with sex trafficking crimes in Romania, and allegedly made at least $2.8 million off trafficking women and girls.
And of course, there’s still plenty of money in more traditional forms of conservative scapegoating. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, now an independent pundit, could be worth up to $370 million. Turning Point USA raised $389 million under late founder Charlie Kirk, from its creation in 2012 till his assassination in September 2025.
Other right-wing personalities have used crowdfunding sites to amass wealth after a viral moment:
- After two people died during Black Lives Matter protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, alleged shooter Kyle Rittenhouse made about $500,000 on the Christian crowdfunding website GiveSendGo.
- Jan. 6, 2021, protesters had collectively raised over $5.3 million by the end of 2024, according to The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, with the vast majority of people using GiveSendGo to crowdfund.
- Shiloh Hendrix, a Minnesota mother caught on video calling a 5-year-old Black child a racial epithet in 2025, used GiveSendGo to raise about $850,000 in the past year.
There’s nothing like this on the left. Conservatives will point to leftist Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, but to say he’s as dangerous as Fuentes is misguided. The Democratic Party needs to find ways to win over these conservatives with the type of energy that matches the right’s firebrand conservatism without trying to mimic their vitriol.
I’m not saying that Democrats need to start saying edgy things just to get attention, but it wouldn’t hurt for left-leaning content creators to add a bit of humor to their videos.
The left has to offer something better
There’s a question of how much these platforms like Rumble, GiveSendGo and Substack are making from allowing extremists to use their sites. It must be a lot for them to be willing to promote vile content on their platforms. It would be great if these businesses could find their morality and cease to allow folks like Fuentes on their platforms, but realistically, I don’t see that happening.
These platforms may be more amenable to taking a cue from Spotify, which removed dozens of episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience” in 2022 that featured the host using a racial epithet.
Later that year, Spotify put a disclaimer on podcasts that discussed COVID-19 after complaints that Rogan spread misinformation about the coronavirus. These platforms could put warning labels over videos that contain offensive or untrue statements, or remove individual videos that espouse extremist views.
Transforming Fuentes’ fanbase is a little more difficult.
It may be cynical, but I’m not surprised there are thousands of people all over the United States who are willing to send money to content creators with horrific views. There are clearly plenty of people who don’t see Fuentes’ comments as wrong, or are able to explain them away. While I don’t believe they are in the majority in this country, they are enough of a force to keep right-wing conspiracy theorists afloat.
Appealing to this group requires Democrats to stop pearl-clutching and commit to affordability issues. The left can’t ask these misguided followers to leave whatever shelter they’ve found in hate-based online communities without a real reward on the other side. Fuentes’ supporters believe that people of color are to blame for their woes, but the left can show them that Republican politicians are the ones really keeping them from financial stability.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on Bluesky: @sarapequeno.bsky.social