Overview
- Touting Carlson as a “close friend,” Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts released a video saying the group would not distance itself from him and argued that canceling Nick Fuentes is not the answer.
- Roberts said conservatives should feel no obligation to reflexively support any foreign government despite pressure from the “globalist class,” while asserting that Christians can critique Israel without being antisemitic.
- Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell publicly criticized Heritage’s position, saying conservatives should feel no obligation to carry water for antisemites, as Sen. Ted Cruz condemned Carlson’s unchallenging interview at the Republican Jewish Coalition event.
- Several Heritage staffers openly pushed back on Roberts, with research fellow Preston Brashers posting “NAZIS ARE BAD” and other colleagues amplifying internal dissent against defending Fuentes and Carlson.
- Fuentes thanked Roberts on social media for defending “open discourse,” while reports noted online speculation that Heritage had removed a Carlson reference from its website even as Roberts denied any distancing.