Nick Fuentes recalls old debate in which Trump allegedly claimed he’d let Republicans "crash & burn" if not chosen as presidential candidate

Nick Fuentes recalled an old debate in which U.S. President Donald Trump allegedly claimed he would let the Republican Party “crash and burn” if he wasn’t chosen as the party’s presidential nominee. Fuentes shared this recollection during his appearance on The Tucker Carlson Show on October 28, 2025.

Nick Fuentes began by recounting a dinner he had shared with POTUS and Kanye West, describing how the president engaged with everyone at the table and asked questions about who they were.

He remembered expressing his admiration for POTUS, telling him:

“You know what?…I think you’re one of the greatest living Americans. I’m a young guy — I really have nothing to say other than thank you. I have nothing but gratitude for what you’ve done for the country. It’s not my place to give you advice or correct you.”

As the conversation went on, Fuentes said that, at Kanye West’s urging, he brought up a memorable moment from the Republican presidential primary debate held on August 6, 2015, in Cleveland, Ohio, hosted by Fox News.

During that debate, moderator Bret Baier had asked candidates to raise their hands if they would refuse to pledge support to the eventual Republican nominee. Trump had famously raised his hand, hinting that he might run as an independent if he didn’t win the nomination.

“I cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it’s not me, the person that wins. If I do win — and I’m leading by quite a bit — that’s what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I’m the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent… I want to run as the Republican nominee,” Trump had said during that 2015 debate (as per CBS News)

Referring to this, Fuentes said the moment had always stood out to him because it showed Trump’s willingness to challenge the Republican establishment.

Explaining to Carlson what he’d told POTUS at the dinner, Fuentes said:

“And so I brought that up and told that story. I said, ‘I feel like what was inspiring in (20)16 was that you were willing to let the Republican establishment lose’… It showed you were serious. You were playing to win because you said, ‘I will let this Republican Party crash and burn. I want to run as the Republican, but if I can’t, I’ll run independent.’”

Nick Fuentes added that after hearing Trump’s words back then, he knew POTUS was serious, and that he was “the guy.”

Nick Fuentes explains why he backed Donald Trump over Ted Cruz and Rand Paul in 2016

Far-right commentator Nick Fuentes reflected on his early political transformation and explained why he decided to support Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election. Speaking on The Tucker Carlson Show, Fuentes said it was POTUS's stance on immigration and his defiance of the media that convinced him to shift his allegiance

Fuentes recalled that at the start of the 2016 primary race, he had aligned himself with libertarian and conservative figures like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.

He admitted to having “very negative feelings about Trump” initially. However, as the man began dominating the primaries, Fuentes said he experienced what he described as an “ideological awakening.”

“I remember the media was furious that he was winning one after the other. And I remember thinking to myself like structurally, if I’m a libertarian or a conservative and we want to change the country, we have to win elections,” Nick Fuentes said.

As he watched the primaries unfold, Nick Fuentes said he came to believe that winning elections required bypassing the media altogether.

He then recalled having a “realization” that the “media was really standing in the way” and that they “were the problem.” This, he told Carlson, made him understand that “all the conservatives and Republicans” up to a certain point were “afraid to take on the media.”

At the time, Nick Fuentes noted, POTUS's approach was different. His open hostility toward mainstream news outlets set him apart.

Though Fuentes initially disagreed with Trump’s ideology, he admired his willingness to “destroy the liberal media” and challenge what he called the media’s “monopoly on thought and opinion.”

Nick Fuentes then described this as the first major turning point in his political thinking, viewing POTUS as “a winner” who could “win for our side.” Over time, Fuentes said, his admiration deepened as Trump spoke more about immigration and border security, issues that became central to his worldview.

Fuentes explained that he saw both immigration and media control as the biggest obstacles to conservative power. While politicians like Cruz and Paul focused on constitutional or libertarian ideals, POTUS represented a more direct approach.

“But what stands in the way of political power for us? It’s the media and it’s immigration. So, I said, ‘Well, we got to get Trump to beat the media, build the wall, deport the illegals, and once we set the country straight, then we can actually have our constitutional republic back,’” Nick Fuentes explained.

He added that his “mindset” going into college was that of a “huge Trump supporter.” He even claimed that his generation, and all the 18-year-olds in 2016 who were “coming of age at that moment”, were “the first generation" that POTUS influenced.

“He was like the savior of Western civilization… like he was unstoppable, unflappable. Nobody could score points on him. He just seemed like, you know, they said you can’t stump the Trump, like he could not be stumped. And so he just had this aura of inevitability, invincibility. I loved that,” Nick Fuentes said.

At present, President Donald Trump is in Japan for the second stop on his three-country tour of Asia. After meeting with newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi earlier today, he addressed U.S. troops aboard the USS George Washington.

On the other hand, Nick Fuentes is a streamer who hosts the America First podcast on the platforms Rumble and Cozy.tv, promoting his white nationalist ideology.

Edited by Shayari Roy