A more-than-two-hour interview Tucker Carlson posted on October 27 with Nick Fuentes — a far-right figure known for antisemitic rhetoric and Holocaust denial — has triggered days of condemnation and soul‑searching among Republicans, from the Republican Jewish Coalition’s gathering in Las Vegas to internal turmoil at the Heritage Foundation.
Carlson’s October 27 episode featured a largely cordial exchange in which Fuentes invoked classic antisemitic tropes about “organized Jewry in America,” and said he sees “Jewishness as the common denominator” among his adversaries on the right. Carlson, for his part, disparaged Christian Zionists as seized by a “brain virus” and said he dislikes them “more than anybody,” comments he later sought to temper. The conversation ran more than two hours. (washingtonpost.com)
Backlash on the right mounted quickly. At the Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas on Nov. 1, Sen. Lindsey Graham said he belongs to the “Hitler-sucks wing of the Republican Party,” warning that anyone running on “that weird sh—” would be routed. Students waved red signs reading “Tucker is not MAGA,” and Florida Rep. Randy Fine labeled Carlson “the most dangerous antisemite in America,” according to local and Jewish outlets and the Associated Press. Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro castigated Carlson as an “intellectual coward” for giving Fuentes a friendly platform. (thenevadaindependent.com)
The Heritage Foundation’s response intensified the controversy. On Oct. 30, Heritage president Kevin Roberts posted a video on X calling Carlson “a close friend” of the foundation, blaming a “venomous coalition” and the “globalist class” for attacks on him, and arguing that conservatives should not “cancel” Fuentes. Roberts later issued a follow‑up statement condemning Fuentes’s ideology but not Carlson. Coverage in the Washington Post and Jewish outlets corroborated Roberts’s language and the reaction it sparked. (washingtonpost.com)
Inside Heritage, Roberts faced sharp pushback. In a Nov. 5 all‑staff meeting captured on video and reported by the Washington Free Beacon — later aired on CNN — Roberts apologized for aspects of his initial video, saying, “I didn’t know much about this Fuentes guy. I still don’t,” and acknowledging he “made a mistake.” Longtime Heritage scholar Robert Rector urged drawing clear lines, recalling past conservative expulsions of David Duke and the John Birch Society: “If they’re in your movement, you look like clowns.” (freebeacon.com)
External allies also peeled away. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported an exodus from Heritage’s National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, with multiple resignations and groups suspending participation; the Coalition for Jewish Values publicly announced its resignation in a letter from Rabbi Yaakov Menken. (jta.org)
Carlson dismissed criticism of his interview style in a Nov. 7 appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show, telling her: “Do your own interview … You’re not my editor. Buzz off,” remarks widely replayed by national media. (transcripts.cnn.com)
The uproar fits a longer pattern. Former President Donald Trump dined with Fuentes and Ye (Kanye West) at Mar‑a‑Lago in November 2022, drawing bipartisan condemnation. And in October, Politico exposed leaked Young Republicans group chats in which some leaders praised Hitler and joked about gas chambers, prompting further calls within the GOP to confront extremism. (washingtonpost.com)
Amid the current debate, voices across the Jewish community have pulled in different directions: Sam Markstein of the Republican Jewish Coalition has repeatedly highlighted Trump’s pro‑Israel record, while Jewish civic leaders have warned about the “normalization” of antisemitism in politics. (These views were reported in recent coverage by Reuters, JTA and organizational statements.)
For historical context, The Nation’s Nov. 9 Time of Monsters podcast featured historian David Austin Walsh discussing how the right’s internal fissures over Zionism and antisemitism have deep roots, drawing on his book Taking America Back: The Conservative Movement and the Far Right. (thenation.com)