FILE- Nick Fuentes right-wing podcaster, center, greets supporters before speaking at a pro-Trump march, Nov. 14, 2020, in Washington. Former President Donald Trump had dinner Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022, at his Mar-a-Lago club with the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who is now known as Ye, as well as Nick Fuentes, who has used his online platform to spew antisemitic and white supremacist rhetoric. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
Good afternoon, and welcome to the inaugural edition of The Focus. I’m Ryan Denison, and I’m glad you’re here.
Today we’re covering the protests in Iran, what’s next in Venezuela, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s decision not to run for re-election, and what promises to be an amazing week of football.
Then, we’ll take a deeper look at the controversial, far right figure Nick Fuentes. We’ll discuss why he’s so popular, how he amassed such a following, and the ways in which he represents a new litmus test for conservatives.
Finally, we’ll learn about what God is doing through the “Bible Brothers” of the Premier League’s best team: Arsenal.
Let’s get started.
News worth knowing
1. Protests in Iran
Protests have broken out in more than 220 locations across Iran over the last week in response to rising inflation and the record-setting devaluation of Iran’s main currency. The rial is currently trading at roughly 1.4 million to $1 since the UN reimposed sanctions in September, and it is crippling the nation’s economy. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, posted on X that “rioters must be put in their place,” and the government has endeavored to do just that. As of this writing, at least 20 have been killed, while nearly a thousand have been arrested.
Why it matters
Iran has been in a weakened state since the 12-day war with Israel back in June that crippled its nuclear infrastructure, weapons supplies, and—perhaps most importantly—the pride of its leaders. The current regime has consistently demonstrated that it cares more about its power than its people, which raises questions about how far it will go to maintain that power. And, should the Supreme Leader lose this struggle and different leaders step in, there is no guarantee they will be any more interested in peace and stability than their predecessors.
What to watch
Last Friday, President Trump warned that if Iran “violently kills peaceful protestors,” the US “will come to their rescue.” He later added that “If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they’re going to get hit very hard by the United States.” Will Iran back down and pursue less violent means to end the protests, or will its leaders bet that Trump was bluffing? We shouldn’t have to wait long to find out.
See Jon Gambrell’s article in the Associated Press for more.
2. What’s next in Venezuela?
While deposed Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro awaits his next appearance in court, the most pressing questions revolve around what the Trump administration plans to do next. The general expectation across recent weeks, as pressure against Maduro increased, was that opposition leader María Corina Machado or Edmundo González—who most agree won the 2024 election—would be installed as the new head of the government. Instead, both appear to have been bypassed in favor of now-acting president Delcy Rodríguez, who was Vice President under Maduro.
Why it matters
Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her work in opposition to Maduro, but senior officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, argued that she lacked the support inside the country to lead. As such, backing Machado or González would have required a greater American military presence inside the country. That Trump preferred to work with holdovers from Maduro’s government rather than commit the necessary forces to secure a different leadership demonstrates the limits of how far his administration would prefer to go in accomplishing its goals for the country.
What to watch
The Senate is expected to hold a vote on Thursday to potentially block the Trump administration’s military actions in Venezuela. The vote would pass with a simple majority, and early indications are that they have the necessary support. While little is likely to change regarding Venezuela—Trump is expected to veto any bill that reaches his desk—it could impact future decisions on American military action against Colombia, Cuba, or other Central and South American nations thought to be next in line.
See Tyler Pager, Anatoly Kurmanaev, and Julian E. Barnes’s article in the New York Times for more.
3. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz drops his bid for re-election
Minnesota Governor and former Democratic VP nominee Tim Walz announced that he will no longer seek re-election for the state’s top office. Walz was favored to win before the revelations of massive fraud committed by the Somali community gained national attention. While Walz is not thought to have participated directly, the theft happened under his watch, and it looks increasingly likely that his government was, at best, willfully negligent.
Why it matters
Minnesota is not the only state where this level of fraud has occurred. A 2023 report estimated that the total amount of fraud from government assistance programs, many of which started as Covid-19 relief, likely exceeds $100 billion. While Tim Walz and his administration are making headlines today, others are likely to follow in the near future.
What to watch
In the wake of the scandal, the Trump administration announced this morning that it will freeze $10 billion in funding for child care and other aid programs in Minnesota, along with four other states where they claim similar fraud may have occurred. That money is ostensibly used to support child care for working parents and provide financial assistance to families. How long will it take for funding to resume, and what, if any, changes will need to happen first before the administration feels confident in restoring that aid?
See Isaac Saul’s article at the Tangle for more on the scandal.
4. An amazing week for football fans
On a lighter note, this week has the potential to be one of the best of the year for football fans. The College Football semifinals kick off on Thursday night with a matchup between Ole Miss and Miami before Oregon and Indiana meet on Friday. The NFL Playoffs then start with two games on Saturday, three more on Sunday, and the first-round finale between the Texans and Steelers on Monday night.
Why it matters
Football is fun, and we could all use a bit of fun right now.
What to watch
This week’s slate of games promises to be among the most unpredictable in recent memory. Many of the teams that are considered perennial contenders are already out of the running, and that’s especially the case in the NCAA, where Indiana is the only top 4 seed still playing. Will the upsets stop this weekend, or are we in for more surprises?
Now for today’s main Focus…
Who is Nick Fuentes, and why do you need to know?
Nick Fuentes represents a new dividing line on the political Right, and no one seems all that sure what to do about it.
Why it matters: Many in the Conservative movement appear to be counting on Fuentes fading into obscurity before he can cause a real rift on the political Right. However, that hope reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of how he gained popularity in the first place and why an increasing number of those disillusioned with the state of the country are gravitating toward his ideas.
The backstory: A new dividing line for Conservatives
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the January 6 riots in which the Capitol building was breached by crowds who gathered to protest the results of the 2020 presidential election. In the years since, the events of that day have often served as a litmus test of sorts among many on the political Right to determine what kind of Conservative they are. Yet, following President Trump’s re-election last November, the day is no longer getting nearly as much attention.
For his part, Trump plans to spend the day with House Republicans to discuss policy for the coming year. Conversely, Democrats gathered on the Capitol steps, but little else is likely to happen. Generally speaking, most have either moved on or given up on assigning much significance to the date.
However, just because most Conservatives are no longer as divided over January 6 does not mean those fault lines and litmus tests have gone away. Instead, they’ve just become focused on something else.
For many, that something is represented best by Nick Fuentes and others like him. And as we take a closer look at his growing influence and why so many on the Right find his message attractive, we’ll begin to see why this movement is likely to prove a far more difficult and enduring issue than the riots at the Capitol.
How he built his platform
Nick Fuentes began broadcasting his shows across social media back in 2017 and bounced around various platforms—Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch have all banned him—before finding a home at Rumble. He was also kicked off Twitter, although Elon Musk has since given him access once again.
Over the course of that time, his following grew steadily. However, it really took off in the second half of 2025, and he has one of his primary foils on the Right to thank.
Fuentes and his “Groypers”—the name his supporters have given themselves—routinely attacked Charlie Kirk and the Turning Point USA movement for years over their support of Israel. But in the months following Kirk’s assassination, Fuentes has seen his followers on X increase by more than 175,000 while his following on Rumble has grown by over 100,000.
One of the most common concerns in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder was what comes next when you kill the person trying to bring change through debate rather than extremist rhetoric or violence. For many, it would appear that the answer is Nick Fuentes.
Why is Fuentes so popular?
In recent months, Fuentes has increased his profile through long-form interviews with figures on the far right, such as Tucker Carlson and Steven Crowder, as well as more mainstream media members like Piers Morgan. The latter show was particularly indicative of the reasons why so many Conservatives are struggling to understand Fuentes and his appeal to young men.
In that interview, Morgan played clips of Fuentes stating some of his most racist, antisemitic, and misogynistic views, with the belief that they would serve as a kind of “gotcha” moment in which Fuentes would be forced to contextualize or recant what he said. Instead, Fuentes simply owned the titles, stating that he is a racist and that he does hold a view of women that the vast majority of people in the Western world would find both offensive and demeaning.
However, Fuentes didn’t go on Morgan’s show to convince the audience that they should change their views so much as to give permission to those already sympathetic to his beliefs. That is an extremely important difference, and it’s at the heart of why he’s found such an ardent following, even if his Groypers still represent a minority on the Right.
As Rod Dreher explains, many young men today simply don’t care what the rest of the culture considers to be taboo. They’re asking questions and bringing up issues that previous generations seemed unwilling to engage with, and “we don’t talk about that” is no longer considered to be a sufficient response.
Fighting the wrong battles
Another reason Fuentes has built such a strong following is that he highlights some very real and pertinent problems in the world today.
Identity politics on both the Left and the Right have created a culture in which, far too often, people are defined by their race, gender, sexual orientation, and a host of other factors long before their character and competence come into play. Moreover, it’s fair to point out the problems that have arisen from America’s immigration policies over the last few decades and to wonder just how much responsibility this nation holds for the well-being of those who live outside our borders.
In short, Fuentes tends to ask some pretty important questions, and he does so in a way that gives others the confidence to do the same.
His solutions to those problems, however, are often garbage, and he typically has little of substance to offer that would actually fix the broken parts of our culture. Despite his frequent claims to the contrary, families would not be fixed by all women leaving their jobs to become subservient housewives and mothers. Our communities would not be stronger by going back to a greater degree of segregation. And “organized Jewry” is not at the heart of our cultural and international problems.
Yet, by posing the questions and offering shallow solutions in a way that makes himself a more tempting target than his ideas, the latter often go unaddressed. As a result, those who want to agree with him are given enough room to do so while the rest of the world stands back and wonders why he won’t go away.
Unfortunately, this temptation to critique the messenger rather than the message is hardly limited to the realm of politics, and that’s especially true when they’re pointing out a problem we’d rather ignore.
Spiritual application: Learning to accept accountability
Throughout the Bible, we find a clear pattern that when the Lord sends his prophets with a message outlining Israel’s sin and the various ways in which God’s people have rejected his commands, the most common response is to blame the prophet.
Jeremiah, for example, was thrown into a well to starve (Jeremiah 38). Elijah was forced to flee into the wilderness to escape the wrath of Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kings 19). And Jesus goes so far as to call the religious leaders a “brood of vipers” who have continued the sins of their ancestors by shedding the blood of the prophets (Matthew 23).
In each instance, it was easier to condemn the messenger than to refute the message, and when we take the same approach today, it can do immense damage to our walk with the Lord.
Being convicted of our sins is never enjoyable, but such accountability is supposed to be a crucial part of our relationships with other believers and of the Holy Spirit’s impact in our lives. While Scripture warns against the kind of judgment that would hold others to a higher standard than we hold ourselves (Matthew 7:1–5), Jesus commands us to rebuke the sins we see in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ (Luke 17:3).
Whether you are the one receiving or giving that rebuke, it’s often an uncomfortable process. However, God loves us too much to let us continue living a life that he can’t bless, and he’s willing to make us uncomfortable or even angry if that’s what it takes to help us reach the place where we can finally recognize and repent of the sins in our lives.
So the next time you come face-to-face with your sin, take a moment to ask the Holy Spirit to help you discern whether the message is true and, if it is, to accept it and make whatever changes are necessary to get back into a right relationship with the Lord.
I promise that it will be worth it in the end.
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The “Bible Brothers” of soccer
I married into a soccer family, but I still don’t understand all that much about the sport. However, I’ll be following the Champions and Premier League-leading Arsenal a bit more closely for the rest of this season. Dubbed the “Bible Brothers,” nearly half of the team meets to pray and share Bible verses with one another before games, with Jurrien Timber—nicknamed “Pastor Timber” by fans—often leading the way. The team’s coach said of the players’ outspoken faith, “I love it because I think that connects them more . . . I think it’s phenomenal.”
Kingdom impact:
It’s easy to grow cynical when you see athletes point at the sky after they score or thank God in a post-game interview. However, stories like this remind us that, at least sometimes, those expressions of faith are genuine and can serve as a powerful example to fans who look up to these players. Will you join me in praying that the Lord helps the Bible Brothers continue to walk closely with him and that others will take notice in ways that expand God’s kingdom?
Evangelical Focus has more on the story.
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