Overview
- Tucker Carlson’s friendly interview with Nick Fuentes, an avowed antisemite and white nationalist, drew millions of views on X and YouTube, elevating Fuentes’s profile on the right.
- Heritage president Kevin Roberts posted a video rejecting calls to distance from Carlson, denouncing a “venomous coalition” and the “globalist class,” language widely criticized as echoing antisemitic tropes.
- Backlash at Heritage included staff and volunteer resignations—among them chief of staff Ryan Neuhaus—and a leaked all‑hands where Roberts apologized, admitted he hadn’t vetted the video, and said he knew little about Fuentes.
- The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board renewed its rebuke, faulting Roberts for moral evasions and noting the foundation’s antisemitism task force severed ties, while Roberts later said even friends like Carlson sometimes need challenging.
- Prominent conservatives such as Ted Cruz and Ben Shapiro condemned the normalization of antisemitic voices, while others stayed quiet, highlighting a broader GOP split with implications for Heritage’s Project 2025 influence and MAGA cohesion.