Tucker Carlson’s easygoing Oct. 27 interview with Nick Fuentes, a popular young racist and antisemite who reveres Adolf Hitler, has forced Republicans to clarify whether they oppose all antisemitism or just antisemites on the Left.
So far, conservative and pro-family groups that claim to uphold Judeo-Christian values are sticking with Carlson.
The Heritage Foundation has been in an uproar since its president, Kevin Roberts, rushed to defend Carlson, a “close friend” of the think tank, in an Oct. 30 video. Roberts soon apologized for the video and blamed the video script, which was written by an aide, who later resigned.
When the apology failed to calm the storm, Roberts copied a page from the Trump playbook, saying he didn’t know who Fuentes was and claiming he didn’t “have time to consume a lot of news” because he consumes “a lot of sports.”
Roberts’ recent denials didn’t go over well with Jewish leader Charles Jacob, who asked, “Who could believe that the head of a think tank doesn’t think?” Jacob said Roberts is either incompetent for not knowing about Fuentes or knows and is lying about it, according to The New York Times. Jacob also resigned from a troubled Heritage task force opposing antisemitism on the Left.
In 2022, Donald Trump hosted two popular and outspoken antisemites — Fuentes and musical artist Kanye West — at his Mar-a-Lago resort. When asked then, Trump claimed he didn’t know who Fuentes was.
This past Sunday, Trump again pleaded ignorance about Fuentes and defended Carlson’s interview with him. “I don’t know much about him, but if he wants to do it, get the word out, let him,” reported the Washington Post.
Carlson’s show with Fuentes already has more than 20 million views on YouTube and X and has boosted his subscriber base.
In a Nov. 12 program from the ministry James Dobson founded after leaving Focus on the Family, host Gary Bauer said there was a need to address the rise of antisemitism “among conservatives” and “in the church.” But Bauer couldn’t bring himself to go there and instead focused on “the evil morass that the national Democratic Party currently finds itself in in tolerating a demonic anti-Jew hatred.”
“Focus on the Family has hailed Carlson as ‘the leading voice in American politics.’”
Michele Bachmann, a former U.S. congresswoman from Minnesota, used much of the 51-minute program from the James Dobson Family Institute to blame the rise in antisemitism on a “huge demographic shift” driven by Muslim immigrants who have “conquered” Minneapolis and other U.S. cities.
Bachmann said the “No. 1 reason” for rising antisemitism is “the number of Islamic citizens in the U.S.” that have been coming from “56 Islamic nations, all of them antisemitic,” and none of which “allow Christians and Jews to come into their countries.”
“Now we opened the floodgates to allowing millions of people to come into the United States who hold severe Jew-hating views,” she said. “Don’t think that hasn’t changed our politics in the U.S.”
No published research supports this assertion.
“We allow mosques and all the rest,” she continued. “They actually sound the Islamic call to prayer in Minneapolis. This is what’s done in Islamic countries. This is the first city in the U.S. to actually sound the Islamic call to prayer five times a day. You don’t want to think that your city isn’t conquered? Minneapolis is most assuredly being conquered, just as Dearborn, Mich., is being conquered.”
Bachmann repeatedly claimed the nation of Qatar is spending $200 billion in two years to “target our kids, our churches, our society to hate Jews and to embrace Islam.” She said Qatar, is “buying up universities, buying up influencers in TikTok, buying up media newsrooms.”
That claim also cannot be verified.
Throughout the interview, Bachmann equated opposition to Israel with antisemitism. She also promoted the Robertson School of Government’s Israel Institute at Regent University. The institute’s goal is “educating the next generation of Christian pro-Israel activists” and it claims to be “the only graduate-level institute for the study of the modern state of Israel at a biblically faithful Christian university in the United States.”
Carlson lost his job hosting the most popular show on Fox News in 2023 after the network paid $787.5 million to settle a defamation suit with Dominion Voting Systems, but he remains a powerful voice on the Right.
Focus on the Family has hailed Carlson as “the leading voice in American politics” and claimed he exhibits the courage — if not the evangelistic calling — of Billy Graham. Focus claimed Carlson’s departure from Fox was the result of his role on the “spiritual battle to restore our nation.”
Four days before Carlson released his interview with Fuentes, Focus on the Family hailed him as a pro-natalist in the article, “Tucker Carlson: ‘All That Matters Is Having Children.’” Carlson also has been a popular speaker at fundraising events for Focus and its aligned activist organizations in the states.
Focus also has highlighted Carlson’s growing interest in Christianity, but never has addressed his support for antisemites.
Some conservatives have called out Carlson for his support of antisemitism. Congressman Randy Fine, R-Fla., called Carlson “the most dangerous antisemite in America.” Conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro called Carlson “the most virulent super spreader of vile ideas in America.”
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Carlson defended his show with Fuentes, saying it was part of his effort to get Americans to realize the U.S. should no longer defend Israel.
“I knew what would happen,” Carlson told the Times. “I felt that, at this point in my life I can take it.”
This article was originally published in Baptist News Global.
