Despite placing third in the Florida gubernatorial primary, James Fishback has remained a fixture on the online discourse. He has a younger audience because he presents himself as one who speaks for the young men of America. However, the substance of Fishback has never matched the rhetoric, and Fishback lacks a sustained record on any issue.
At 31, Fishback has a career wrought with questionable behavior in the finance industry. His multiple anti-woke ETFs ultimately failed to launch, and he failed to maneuver his way into a Federal Reserve board seat in 2025. His political campaign had an eloquent beginning before devolving into internet edgelord behavior, ultimately resulting in an 11% performance. The worst of his antics being a slanderous accusation that Byron Donalds was under federal investigation for alleged sex trafficking, something the DOJ quickly denied. On October 28th, Fishback publicly recanted that “terrible mistake.” While he claims he was not advised to do so by lawyers, Florida defamation law requires that the plaintiff notify the defendant prior to initiating a legal suit, so his public apology mitigates the legal risks he was likely facing. Simply stated, the apology prevents him from being sued.
This makes Fishback a peculiar choice to speak at a College Republicans event at Liberty University of all places. Fishback has made overtures towards the Angie Nixon Senate campaign in Florida, claiming that they were appealing to the same economic populism that Trump won on in 2016, which Angie Nixon only won her primary against Trump Impeachment 1.0 whistleblower Alex Vindman because of diverse voter demographics, not her message. Theoretically, College Republicans are supposed to support the GOP, especially during an election season. Liberty University is the most prominent evangelical college in America.
Fishback’s speech consisted of five truths which included Christ is King, Abortion is the Holocaust, Israel is Not Our Greatest Ally, and Epstein Didn’t Kill Himself. The event was framed as a celebration of free speech and the free exchange of ideas. After the event, Fishback took questions, one of which went viral.
Jesse Hughes: I’m a third year law student, so shout out to my friend. I was also the former president of this club from 22 to 24… One person that you harken to a lot in your remarks was somebody who during my time and still today I considered a great personal hero, that’d be Charlie Kirk. And I believe unequivocally that his public martyrdom, because I believe he was a Christian martyr, was the most consequential event for the right in the last probably 50 years. There’s also been a lot of disagreement over the nature of that death that we’ve seen online between those who say that it was Tyler Robinson, those who believed it was Tyler Robinson, I would count myself among those versus those who push that maybe a foreign or multiple foreign countries or Turning Point USA itself had something to do with that. When it comes to that discussion, where do you see yourself landing? Who do you believe killed Charlie Kirk?
Apart from being a law student, Jesse Hughes is a husband who also does a podcast on the side. He is very much high human capital while being a Christian patriot.
Fishback Answers: I believe that the attempt by the President of the United States to rush this trial as he called for over the weekend that this trial is taking way too long in his words and has to get rammed through, that is wrong. We need to know the truth. And I’ll tell you right now, I don’t know the truth, but I think they’re hiding something. And I don’t know what that is. That’s for a court of law to determine. I do not think we are being told the full story. If it is Tyler Robinson, what were his true motivations? Everyone’s has the presumption of innocence right now. But when I hear anyone in any party, Democrat or Republican, trying to speed up a trial, that concerns me. And I want us all to get to the truth. You are absolutely right. He was a Christian martyr. The thing that he often always said is that he wanted to be remembered for what he did for Christ. And that’s what we’ll all remember and honor him for.
Trump’s desire for a speedy trial after a year is a non sequitur to the claim that Tyler Robinson killed Kirk. Rather than answer the question, Fishback’s answer mirrors Tucker Carlson, where he leaves the door open to Candace Owens conspiracies without giving an answer, which, when confronted by Andrew Wilson, she really had no arguments other than moving the goalposts. He contends that the full truth is unknown but fails to explain what truth is being hidden. In deferring to the legal process to determine the truth, one could follow up by asking whether he would believe the validity of a guilty verdict given that he is accusing Trump of trying to ram through a trial.
All of this is evidence of audience capture. Since he caters to a lot of idiots on the internet, he cannot answer a simple question directly because that would alienate him from a portion of his audience. It is also the reason he emphasizes Epstein in 2026, which has become a leftist talking point being used in campaign ads. Whereas the online Right has an overinflated sense of what was actually in the Epstein files, the Left has used this as a cudgel, which begs the question of why someone speaking at a College Republicans event makes Epstein a crucial truth in 2026. If Liberty University is going to have a College Republicans club, that club should not have someone who publicly attacks Trump, who is the head of the GOP, at one of their events going into an election.
