Overview
- Tensions escalated after Roberts admitted he relied on an aide’s script, said he does not follow much news, and faced internal rebukes, with trustees staying silent and the aide reassigned.
- Resignations have gutted Heritage’s antisemitism task force and extended to prominent fellows and advisers, while the Combat Antisemitism Movement suspended the organization’s participation.
- Conservative figures including Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham condemned giving Nick Fuentes a platform, as Ben Shapiro blasted Carlson and Mark Levin labeled him a “modern-day David Duke.”
- Defenders argued the backlash is a proxy attack on MAGA and urged against “cancelling” Roberts, reflecting a widening intra-right fight over standards, free speech and movement leadership.
- Carlson’s two-hour interview with Fuentes drew roughly six million views, intensifying concerns that extremist ideas are being normalized within parts of mainstream conservatism.