On October 14, 2025, Politico released a series of leaked text messages from the leaders of the Young Republicans. Peter Giunta, the Chair of the New York State Young Republicans, wrote: “I love Hitler.”
Giuanta is not alone when it comes to young people holding these views.
Earlier this month, Myron Gaines, the host of the popular Fresh and Fit Podcast shared the sentiment in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Yeah we like Hitler,” Gaines said. “No one gives a fuck what you woke [J]ews think anymore. Bro was a revolutionary leader and saved [G]ermany. The [J]ews declared war on Germany first.”
Gaines’ podcast, which describes itself as helping “men become better with dating/game, fitness, social media, and finances” espouses blatant antisemitism.
This summer, Gaines hosted a roundtable discussion on his podcast with a group of young Americans.
“The Jews…are stealing from the American people,” said one young woman. Another chimed in, “We got to kill the motherfuckers.”
Dan Bilzerian, a social media influencer with more than 30 million followers on Instagram who is popular among young men, has said that “Jewish supremacy is the greatest threat to the world today.” Bilzerian also questioned that 6 million were killed in the Holocaust, claiming that it was fewer than that number. Following that claim, he also said that Jewish people killed more Christians than 6 million, stating that “they basically invented genocide.”
These figures, not simply relegated to the fringes, are part of an emerging ideological shift.
The Rise of the Woke Right
The rise in figures like Gaines and Bilzerian is part of a greater trend of growing white nationalism and antisemitism on the right, a movement described by some as the woke right. The woke left, which peaked in 2020, described America as a racist country in need of change. The woke right of today agrees that America is racist—except they think that is a thing that should be celebrated.
Many young men of today, who spent their formative years during the COVID-19 pandemic, have a gloomy outlook on the future. They grew up in classrooms and other spaces where masculinity or Christianity were often framed in negative terms. They face economic uncertainty, distrust institutions and are less likely than men of previous generations to date or be in a long-term relationship.
Figures like Gaines and Bilzerian aim to fill that gap with offerings of grievance and rebellion—a sentiment which increasingly expresses itself in antisemitism. Modern problems are explained through classic antisemitic tropes. Don’t trust the government? The Jews control Congress. Does the economy feel broken? Jews control the banks. It is old school antisemitism repackaged for a new generation.
Making Hitler Cool Again
Blaming Jews for modern problems is only one step of the woke right’s plan, though. The next: make Adolf Hitler seem acceptable.
Tucker Carlson proclaimed Darryl Cooper, a podcaster, who once claimed Winston Churchill was the true villain of World War II and that the Holocaust was an accident, as “the best and most honest popular historian in the United States.” Dave Smith, a libertarian podcaster and regular on The Joe Rogan Experience, has suggested that a negotiated peace to dealing with the Nazis may have been a better solution than outright defeating them. Carlson has pondered if Europe may have been better off if Hitler had won.
The woke right seeks to justify antisemitism and obfuscate Hitler’s evil. Fascism—which Cooper has embraced—becomes palatable. From that lens, the postwar international order defined by democracy, free trade and support of NATO and Israel becomes not a foundation of postwar American and Western ideology, but something that should be dismantled.
Beyond Social Media
Some may naturally react to the rising presence of woke right figures as simply being a few loud voices or a trend confined to social media. Public polling suggests otherwise.
20% of Gen Z thinks the Holocaust was a myth. 40% of Gen Z agreed that “rule by a strong leader, where a strong leader can make decisions without interference from the legislature or from the courts” would be a good system of government.
Of the top five trending podcasts on Spotify, three are woke right: Carlson; Nick Fuentes, Holocaust denier; and Candace Owens, who claims that Nazi doctor Josef Mengele’s experiments were “bizarre propaganda” and that “Jewish people control the media.” Fuentes’ podcast has since been removed from Spotify.
The Horseshoe Theory: When Extremes Meet
The left is not immune from this thinking either. The extremes of both ideological ends are often much closer to each other than it appears to be.
Ana Kasparian, media journalist and co-host of the progressive online news programs, The Young Turks, alleged that politicians have “sold America out to [their] masters” and “our country is occupied and controlled by the Israelis.” Kasparian has also referred to Israelis as thinking they are “God’s chosen people, [but acting] like absolute demons” and suggested Israel had prior knowledge about the September 11th attacks. Kasparian, who recently appeared on Carlson’s podcast, repackages David Duke’s—the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan—“Zionist Occupied Government” myth with a progressive facade.
It can be easy to dismiss the woke right as a stew of online provocateurs and podcasters shouting into their own echo chambers. But ideas that start off as edgy or confined to TikTok can often leak into the mainstream.
The woke right pitches an ideology of empowerment for disillusioned young men, but beneath the talk of grievance and self-improvement is something deeper: hate. It’s not just a rejection of left-wing wokeness, but the ideas of reason and tolerance themselves.
Blake Fox is a member of the class of 2026 and can be reached at bfox@wesleyan.edu
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