09/16/2025
The Groyper War began in the fall of 2019 when Fuentes and his followers, known as Groypers, launched a social media campaign targeting Turning Point USA's "Culture War" college tour, led by Charlie Kirk. Motivated by the firing of a Fuentes ally and prior conflicts, Groypers disrupted college events by asking provocative questions on immigration, Israel, and LGBT rights to challenge mainstream conservative figures like Kirk, Donald Trump Jr., and Ben Shapiro, whom they labeled "Conservative Inc." for deviating from their far-right views. The campaign gained traction after a November 2019 UCLA event with Trump Jr. was cut short due to Groyper heckling, exposing divisions among conservatives. Fuentes expanded the movement with the Groyper Leadership Summit in December 2019 and the formation of America First Students in January 2020. In August 2024, Fuentes initiated "Groyper War 2", a digital war campaign pressuring Donald Trump's presidential campaign to adopt further-right stances, using memes, trolling, and threats to withhold votes.
In February 2021, the Groyper movement splintered between Fuentes and Patrick Casey over fears of infiltration by federal informants and doxing at the 2021 America First Political Action Conference, held by Fuentes. Jaden McNeil of America First Students joined in support of Fuentes's conference and accused Casey of disloyalty to Fuentes.[12][13] In May 2022, McNeil distanced himself from Fuentes in an "interpersonal clash of egos" following conflict over his former position as treasurer of Fuentes's America First Foundation.[14]
