[4][5] He stated in a speech at the Heritage Foundation that he did not come from an educated family, noting that his parents were "both Depression era kids who dropped out of high school".

[16] During the 2016 presidential campaign, Nichols argued that conservatives should vote for Hillary Clinton, whom he detested, because Trump was "too mentally unstable" to serve as commander-in-chief.

[18] Following the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United States, Nichols announced on October 7, 2018, that he would leave the Republican Party to become an independent.

He claimed that Senator Susan Collins's "yes" vote on the confirmation convinced him that the Republican Party exists solely to exercise raw political power.

He said that with the exception of Senators Chris Coons, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Amy Klobuchar, the behavior of the members of the Democratic Party during the Kavanaugh hearings was "detestable.

"[19] In an opinion column published in 2019, Nichols cited the Mueller Report to argue that Trump failed in his role as a citizen and then as commander-in-chief, by not doing more to prevent and punish the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

[20] In April 2022, Nichols was quoted regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, stating: "If Putin's goal was to cement his grip on power by making Russia hated for decades to come, well, congratulations, I guess.

[25] Nichols had a brief cameo role on the HBO television series Succession, appearing as right-wing political commentator Ben Stove in the episode entitled "America Decides.