Nixon Goes Viral
The Richard Nixon Foundation is attempting to reshape the perception of the 37th President of the United States by rebranding its social media accounts. Cinematic edits featuring clips of Nixon set to rap music from artists like Drake and Biggie Smalls have become increasingly prevalent. The retro-styled videos feature Nixon speeches and appearances which paint him as a strong and dominant leader. The Instagram account has almost doubled its following since last year, standing now at 113,000 followers.
The Nixon foundation has even dropped merchandise including tote bags which say “Pretty girls for Nixon” and “Nixonmaxxing” hats that have repeatedly sold out. The hashtag “Nixonmaxxing” can be seen on many of the posts and is a play on the social media “looksmaxxing” trend (when influencers try to “max” their “looks” by improving their appearance).
However, the silent majority that Nixon started to mobilize in his term may be slowly coming back.
Two main questions come to mind considering the new hype around the former president. Is interest in Nixon truly genuine, or is it just a silly trend? Also, why are young conservatives admiring Nixon, considering the bad press he received post Watergate?
Behind the funny memes, there appears to be some genuine interest and admiration of Nixon’s political savvy. This is an interesting development considering Nixon did not adhere to a clear cut-and-dry conservative model compared to other Republican administrations. Nixon could side with either party in domestic debates. Sometimes he favored government interventionist policies over conservative small government ideals, such as the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, which gave the federal government control of privately held anti-pollution efforts. Rather than attention on domestic policy, Nixon focused on being a foreign policy warrior. One of his crowning foreign policy achievements was opening diplomatic relations to China in 1972.
Additionally, as a young Congressman Nixon was undeniably essential to defeating Alger Hiss in the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1940s. After President Truman dismissed Hiss’s convincing testimony, it was Nixon’s persistence that convicted Hiss to prison time for spreading Marxist ideology in America. This aggressive anti-communist attitude of Nixon is likely one of the draws pulling young conservatives back towards him, and has inspired a shift to a new Republican identity.
Watergate, one of the biggest political scandals of the 20th century, is not necessarily a disqualification for Nixon’s newest admirers. One instagram comment reads, “Gen Z will undo decades of anti-Nixon propaganda.” Many articles and movies have slandered Nixon’s name and legacy, yet many Gen-Z conservatives see the former president as a victim of the deep state.
Vice President JD Vance has argued the scandal that forced Nixon from office would be waved away in contemporary politics. “If Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be, like, a twelve-hour news story,” Vance stated in a speech at the Nixon Presidential Library in June 2026. Vance went on to say the new hype around Nixon is a deserved “cultural renaissance” for the president who was unfairly bashed after the DNC break in.
Political commentators such as Michael Knowles and Christopher Rufo have shared similar sentiments. Rufo, who created a video titled “Nixon Forever,” argued Nixon’s presidency was an essential start to a conservative counter-revolution against subversive Marxist organizations and the federal bureaucracy in the 1970s. However, because of the Watergate scandal, Nixon was never able to fully achieve this counter-revolution. Rufo goes on to say that he “still holds the key to understanding America’s ongoing cultural revolution and how to defeat it. The first step is for conservatives to revive the silent majority that established a political basis for Nixon’s counter-revolution.”
Watching an instagram edit or buying a hat does not necessarily demonstrate agreement with Nixon’s politics. Many viewers are enjoying ironic internet subculture, not championing 1970s policy achievements.
However, the silent majority that Nixon started to mobilize in his term may be slowly coming back. Although today the country faces different political issues, Nixon’s advice to Henry Kissinger still rings true for young conservatives. “Never forget: The press is the enemy. The establishment is the enemy. The professors are the enemy.… Write that on a blackboard 100 times and never forget it.”
READ MORE from Caroline Petersen:
Anti-ICE Extremist Sets Fire to Federal NYC Building
Andrew Burnham Is the New UK Prime Minister
Congressional Candidate Upham Arrested After Calling Trump the ‘Antichrist’