Vice President JD Vance recently spoke out against his longtime adversary, Nick Fuentes, who has been targeting Vance’s family with racially charged attacks. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Vance expressed his disdain for Fuentes, using strong language to underscore his contempt. However, he stopped short of criticizing Fuentes’ followers, a group known as the ‘Groypers.’ Fuentes, a far-right influencer with a significant following among young people, has repeatedly insulted Second Lady Usha Vance because of her Indian heritage. Notably, former President Donald Trump had a controversial dinner with Fuentes and Kanye West at Mar-a-Lago in November 2022, yet he has consistently refrained from publicly denouncing Fuentes.

When asked about his stance on Fuentes, Vance unequivocally stated, “Of course I do,” when it comes to condemning him. He added, “He can eat [expletive] because anybody who goes after my family, whatever side they’re on, they’re on the opposite side of me.” Despite this, Vance hesitated to denounce Fuentes’ followers, citing unfamiliarity with them. This response came in the wake of Fuentes’ threats to unleash his supporters on Vance should he ever criticize them. “What do you mean by supporters?” Vance queried when pressed about the inclusion of Fuentes’ ‘Groyper’ followers in the Republican Party. “Well, I don’t know what that means. I think people are going to vote for us or not vote for us. I think there are certain things that we should have the moral clarity to condemn. I think Jew hatred is disgusting,” he concluded.

Fuentes, who has publicly questioned the Holocaust, has previously warned that he would interfere with Vance’s political ambitions if the Vice President denounced his supporters. Last November, Fuentes declared on his show that should Vance criticize his far-right followers while seeking the Republican nomination, he would mobilize efforts in key swing states during the 2028 GOP primary. “If Vance condemns the Groypers, we are deploying to Iowa. Raise your right hand. I swear I’m going to move to Iowa and New Hampshire and Nevada and South Carolina and one primary after the next,” Fuentes announced to his audience.

Even as Vance avoided condemning Fuentes’ supporters, the Vice President forcefully denounced Fuentes’ ideology along with all forms of antisemitism and racism. ‘Never Vance,’ Fuentes wrote on X following the release of the Vice President’s comments to the Daily Mail. ‘You shouldn’t hate people because they’re white. You shouldn’t hate people because they’re Jewish. You shouldn’t hate people because they’re black,’ Vance continued. ‘And I don’t like anybody who does that or engages in that stuff. So when you say supporters of this or that person, all I can do is say what I believe, take the moral stance and the policy stance that I believe in.’