The MAGA civil war appears to be expanding. On one corner we have the avowed NeoNazi contingent led by Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes. On the other corner we have nonracist MAGAs. Thoughts USMB?
Tucker Carlson becomes litmus test in conservative civil war
Is
Tucker Carlson welcome?
That’s the question at the center of an ideological civil war roiling the political right that centers on antisemitism, Israel and just how big the conservative and MAGA “tent” is after the former Fox News host interviewed antisemitic and white nationalist commentator
Nick Fuentes last week.
And the answer has become a litmus test of sorts for conservatives.
Nowhere has been more affected by the debate over the past week than the Heritage Foundation. The leading conservative think tank’s president Kevin Roberts, who has a personal friendship with Carlson and has featured him at Heritage, made a controversial video last week asserting that Heritage would not bow to the “venomous coalition” trying to “cancel” Carlson over the interview with Fuentes, while saying that “Christians can critique the state of Israel without being antisemetic.”
Roberts went on to say in another statement and media appearances that the organization does not condone Fuentes and aims to win over disaffected young men through argument.
But uproar over the initial statement led to the reassignment and then
resignation of his chief of staff, and the
resignations of multiple members of its antisemitism task force.
Roberts said at a Wednesday staff meeting said the video defending Carlson was a mistake, that “venomous coalition” was a terrible choice of words, and there is a “limiting principle” to not canceling friends in that it’s possible to also be clear “you’re not endorsing everything they’ve said,” according to video
obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
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The debate about association with Carlson goes far beyond the Heritage Foundation. Other Republicans and conservative figures on the right are decrying Carlson as beyond the pale.
Carlson was explicitly condemned at a Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas over the weekend.
“Today, Tucker Carlson is the most dangerous antisemite in America,” Rep.
Randy Fine (R-Fla.)
argued. “He has chosen to take on the mantle of leader of a modern-day
Hitler youth; to broadcast and feature those who celebrate the Nazis, those who call for the extermination of Israel, to defend Hamas, to even criticize President Trump for stopping Iran’s nuclear ambitions.”
“Friends, make no mistake: Tucker is not MAGA,” Fine said, as young attendees at the conference held up printed signs that reinforced: “TUCKER IS NOT MAGA.”
