College Republicans of America, a national organization that claims more than 200 active chapters, has appointed a Latter-day Saint activist from Utah, 23-year-old Kai Schwemmer, as its political director.

An ever-smiling former missionary currently studying at Brigham Young University, Schwemmer believes immigration represents an existential threat to the United States and other majority-white nations.

“I believe in mass deportations, done indiscriminately, without favoritism or partiality,” he explained in a recent livestream in which he also stated his opposition to the “Islamification of America.”

“I don’t want my country to start building billions of mosques,” he said in the same video, released shortly after the announcement of his new role in early March. “I don’t want to start seeing hijabs everywhere I walk in the street.”

Schwemmer also has a history of making what some observers see as antisemitic statements. This, plus his support for conservative provocateur and white nationalist Nick Fuentes and his so-called Groyper movement, widely criticized for racism and misogyny, has even some fellow conservatives sounding the alarm about his appointment.

“[Schwemmer] is trying to clean up the Nazi Groyper image,” Joel Berry, the managing editor of the conservative satirical website The Babylon Bee, posted on social media after the announcement, “so they can infiltrate conservative institutions.”

For his part, Schwemmer has publicly rejected the Groyper label. Instead, he refers to himself as a “true conservative,” someone who, as he said in the March livestream, “will not apologize” for being Christian and white.

About College Republicans of America

Founded in 2023, the College Republicans of America, which is not sponsored by the Republican Party, casts itself as “the final destination” for a new generation of conservatives who feel unrepresented by establishment-friendly student organizations, in particular the 134-year-old College Republican National Committee, which the CRA accuses of having “fallen, sadly, into disrepair.”

The leaders of the nascent organization have defended backing Schwemmer, even against other conservatives.

When author James Lindsay, an outspoken critic of “wokism,” questioned Schwemmer’s appointment, CRA leaders accused Lindsay and other naysayers of being in league with the left.

“Over the last day I have done a lot of reflecting on my decision to appoint Kai as CRA’s political director,” CRA President Martin Bertao posted on social media shortly after the announcement. “And in that reflection I have [come] to the decision that I would like to apologize…to absolutely NOBODY. CRA will never back down to the WOKE mob!”

As political director, Schwemmer will be helping CRA-endorsed candidates win up and down the ballot and across the country.

“I will work with [chapter leaders] in figuring out which races we want to put our finger on the scale for,” he said in his March livestream, “where do we want to mobilize?”

Other key aims of the group, outlined on its site, include training and installing its own members “into government and industry” and “[changing] hearts and minds in communities long abandoned by both political parties.”

‘I know that God loves all of his children’

Schwemmer did not agree to an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune about his new role and his views. He also did not answer multiple questions about his current views of — and ties with — Fuentes, who recently argued that the United States should imprison its entire female population in “breeding gulags.”

Instead, Schwemmer offered his “testimony,” or summary of his religious convictions.

In it, he emphasized many of the basic teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including Jesus’ power to save, eternal families, faith founder Joseph Smith’s role as a prophet and the belief that this mantle now falls on church President Dallin H. Oaks.

“I know that God loves all of his children,” he wrote in a message, “that we are all made in his image.”

He also emphasized the reality of Satan’s power in “perpetuating and encouraging addiction to drugs, alcohol, pornography, sex and other vices,” explaining, “I believe that it is our duty as Latter-day Saints to prepare the earth for Christ’s millennial reign by rallying against these vices and helping to gather Israel through missionary and temple work.”

‘Very optic-friendly’

Ben Lorber, an antisemitism and white nationalism researcher at Political Research Associates, a think tank that monitors far right activity, has been cataloging the activist’s public statements across social media since 2020.

During that time, Lorber said, he’s observed a consistent thread of white supremacy in Schwemmer’s public statements, from posts glorifying “white civilization” to those lamenting its supposed decline and dilution due to immigration.

Antisemitism, too, has been a recurring theme in Schwemmer’s posts and interviews, including jokes minimizing the Holocaust, Lorber said, adding that the Utahn has appeared in videos with Fuentes, known for casting doubt on the millions of Jewish deaths that occurred during World War II.

All the while, Lorber said, Schwemmer “has always been very optic-friendly,” maintaining “a veneer of a good-natured, normal American young man.”

As one commenter wrote below an Instagram video Schwemmer posted last September arguing that ethnicity is fundamental to national identity: “Kai is the most polite white nationalist we have.”

Or, as Schwemmer likes to call himself, “chipper and jovial.”

The mission effect

Since the announcement of his appointment, Schwemmer has explained on social media that his two-year church mission in Argentina, completed a little more than a year ago, has reformed and moderated his views.

“Life is a process of growth and refinement,” he posted on social media after backlash to news of his appointment. “My comments in high school and as a teenager should not be taken to accurately reflect my views or demeanor now. I condemn all forms of hatred, including antisemitism, obviously.”

He added: “I’m not a groyper; I am simply and unapologetically an American nationalist.”

He did not explain what he meant by that term.

“In the past,” the post continued, “I’ve spoken in ways that were unnecessarily crass or demeaning. I’m conscious of that fact, and since returning from my service as a missionary, I have made adjustments to become a better disciple of Christ.”

In a post around the same time, he said he is pro-mass deportations, restricting immigration and believes “America is a Christian country.”

Ongoing antisemitism and racism

Lorber and others are not convinced by Schwemmer’s disavowal of antisemitism.

Last December, Schwemmer argued — wrongly — that the CEOs of weapons manufacturers Raytheon and Boeing are Jewish Zionists responsible for helping to shore up U.S. military support for Israel.

He also loudly criticized the University of Florida’s decision in March to close the campus’s CRA chapter after a member was allegedly pictured making a Nazi salute, calling it an example of “cancel culture.”

At the same time, he has posted on social media in support of Florida Republican candidate for governor James Fishback, a firebrand known for dropping terms like “goyslop” (used to refer to ultra-processed foods created, so the conspiracy goes, by Jewish food manufacturers to sicken white Americans and others).

Statements like these, plus Schwemmer’s links to Fuentes, prompted Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, to post on social media: “Appointing Kai Schwemmer, a longtime ally of white supremacist Nick Fuentes, as political director signals the College Republicans of America is normalizing antisemitism and white supremacy, full stop.”

Schwemmer has also argued that voters in Florida should support Fishback due to his “trustworthy physiognomy,” or facial features, arguing that his challenger Byron Donalds has a “deceitful” appearance. Donalds is Black.

And the new CRA political director recently compared the appearance of an Iranian dissident to a monkey.

Nothing animates Schwemmer more, however, than the issue of immigration, which he argues threatens to dilute the power and integrity of majority-white nations, destroying their culture and impoverishing their people.

In a YouTube debate last July and since viewed more than 15 million times, Schwemmer warned against “demographic displacement” and said he supported ending birthright citizenship.

In February, he criticized politicians like Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox for trying to quash the “heritage American” movement, a blood-and-soil approach to identifying “real” Americans that favors white Christians with U.S. ancestry going back to the colonial era or shortly after.

Less than a month later, he reshared a social media post that read: “White people are the world’s minority, and there is a genocide taking place against the indigenous people of England.”

Schwemmer and Utah politics

In Utah, Schwemmer has used his influence to boost state Rep. Trevor Lee, a Layton Republican who last session sought to pass a bill that would strip public services, including vaccines, from anyone in the country illegally. The bill, HB88, failed, despite Schwemmer’s enthusiastic support.

In the Republican race for Utah’s new 2nd Congressional District, Schwemmer has thrown his backing behind state House Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, in her challenge to unseat Rep. Blake Moore.

Schwemmer has also been part of the failed effort to collect signatures to repeal Proposition 4, Utah’s anti-gerrymandering law.

Latter-day Saints and a new brand of conservatism

Schwemmer is hardly the first Generation Z Latter-day Saint to stir controversies with his conservative, online activism.

Nick Shirley, pictured standing beside Schwemmer in a recent social media post, became a nationally recognized figure almost overnight with his videos alleging day care fraud in Minnesota’s Somali community (a state inquiry and investigations by The Minnesota Star Tribune and CBS challenged many of Shirley’s accusations).

Since then, Shirley’s following and influence have only grown.

Exactly how much momentum their strident brand of conservatism has within the Gen Z Latter-day Saint community is hard to say. Research remains scant on the issue.

The church itself appeared to have sensed an uptick in its popularity, however, nearly a decade ago, issuing a statement roundly denouncing white supremacy.

“It has been called to our attention that there are some among the various pro-white and white supremacy communities who assert that the church is neutral toward or in support of their views,” the church said on its newsroom website after the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Church leaders also condemned the “rise of antisemitism” in 2021.

In one of his most recent social posts, Schwemmer promoted an April 3 event in Salt Lake City hosted by the popular podcast “Ward Radio.” In a message, he confirmed he will be one of the event’s speakers.

“Come meet your favorite influencers,” the invitation reads, “and enjoy some live recordings and Q&As with some of your favorite names in Latter-day media!”

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