Contributor: Some Trumpists object to MAGA’s white power element. Why now?
The uproar over Tucker Carlson’s interview with white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes has sparked yet another round of MAGA civil war talk.
Full disclosure: I previously worked for Carlson at the Daily Caller, so I’ve had a front-row seat for this ongoing battle for a long time now.
In case you missed the latest: Carlson invited Fuentes onto his podcast. What followed wasn’t an interview so much as a warm bubble bath of mutual validation — the kind of “conversation” that helps launder extremist ideas.
Enter Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation — once the intellectual vanguard of conservatism, now something closer to an emotional support group for people who think President Reagan was too soft. Responding to whispers that Heritage might distance itself from Carlson, Roberts rushed out a video to reassure the faithful: Heritage will have no enemies to its right.
Roberts disagreed with Fuentes (good for him) but insisted Heritage didn’t become the top conservative think tank by “canceling our own people or policing the consciences of Christians.” He also called Carlson’s critics a “venomous coalition” who “serve someone else’s agenda” — which echoes one of the oldest antisemitic tropes in the book.
And then something surprising happened: People inside Heritage actually pushed back (a brave move, given Heritage’s Orwellian “one voice” policy). Some even resigned.
The broader right-wing commentariat weighed in, too. Ben Shapiro called Carlson an “intellectual coward.” Ted Cruz made some noise. The Wall Street Journal editorial board huffed. And talk radio host Mark Levin criticized Fuentes and Carlson during a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition. For a brief moment, it looked like accountability was actually trending.
But … why this moment? Why now?
Keep in mind: Then-former President Trump dined with Fuentes in 2022 and wrongly claimed immigrants were eating pets in 2024. As president, he told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” in 2020. And of course he launched his political career by questioning President Obama’s birth certificate. I could go on.
Despite all of this, Trump’s grip on the conservative movement only grew firmer.
Meanwhile, right-wing antisemitism has metastasized on Trump’s watch — despite his support for Israel.
Charlottesville, anyone?
The “alt-right” has shed its “alt.” They’re just “right” now.
This is especially observable when it comes to young conservatives who came of age during the Trump era. Indeed, one Heritage staffer told the New York Post that “a growing number” of Heritage interns “actually agree” with Fuentes.
And here’s the irony: The same conservative media figures now sounding the alarm helped build the machine.
Take Levin. Fuentes recently admitted that it was Levin’s radio show that first radicalized him. “He planted the seed, at least,” Fuentes told Carlson.
Likewise, aside from endorsing Trump in 2024, Shapiro made conspiracy theorist Candace Owens famous when his Daily Wire hired her to host a podcast on its platform after she became buddies with Kanye West and after she suggested the only problem with Adolf Hitler was that “he had dreams outside of Germany.”
So if these more mainstream Trumpers are horrified now, it’s probably because they helped create monsters — and those monsters are now coming to devour their creators, as monsters always do.
Rest assured, though, this rot is not limited solely to antisemitism. In recent months, MAGA figures such as Vivek Ramaswamy, FBI Director Kash Patel and even Vice President JD Vance (who is married to an Indian American woman) have all been targets of racist abuse online.
It’s important to note that none of these folks are considered “Never Trump” or Reagan conservatives. They are Trump allies. The revolution devours itself. (First they came for the Never Trumpers.…)
Again, this is far from the first skirmish in the MAGA civil war. But all of these internecine fights obscure the root cause of the problem: Trump. And yet, the orange emperor himself? Off-limits.
The fever won’t break while Trump’s still around, serving as a magnet for the worst people and cultivating the toxic ecosystem that made all of this right-wing racism possible, if not inevitable.
So by all means, conservatives: Condemn Carlson, denounce Fuentes and scold Heritage for failing to police the right and only punching left.
But as long as you avert your eyes from Trumpism, your righteous outrage is just theater — the political equivalent of aggressively mopping the floor while the pipes keep bursting.
Matt K. Lewis is the author of “Filthy Rich Politicians” and “Too Dumb to Fail.”
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Ideas expressed in the piece
The author details concerns about Tucker Carlson’s podcast interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes as an example of extremism being laundered into mainstream conservatism, arguing this represents a troubling normalization of radical ideology within the MAGA movement[1]. According to the author, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts’s response was inadequate because Roberts defended Carlson while using rhetoric that echoes antisemitic tropes by suggesting critics pursue a hidden agenda, though the author notes that some Heritage staffers bravely pushed back against this position[1]. The author highlights that prominent conservative figures including Ben Shapiro, Ted Cruz, Mark Levin, and the Wall Street Journal editorial board appropriately condemned both Carlson and Fuentes, demonstrating that meaningful accountability briefly emerged[1]. The author contends that these condemning voices bear some responsibility for the extremist ecosystem they now critique, noting that Mark Levin’s radio show reportedly radicalized Fuentes himself and that figures like Shapiro previously amplified conspiracy theorist Candace Owens through their media platforms[1]. Most significantly, the author argues that Trump himself represents the root cause of this problem, citing his 2022 dinner with Fuentes, his 2020 comments to the Proud Boys, and his role in mainstream birther conspiracy theories as evidence of enabling extremism[1]. The author emphasizes that right-wing antisemitism has metastasized during Trump’s political dominance, with the “alt-right” shedding its “alt” prefix and becoming normalized, particularly among young conservatives who came of age during the Trump era[1]. The author concludes that condemnation of Carlson and Fuentes remains ineffective unless conservatives address Trump’s enabling role in cultivating the toxic ecosystem that made this extremism possible.
Different views on the topic
Conservative figures operating within the “America First” camp, including Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, argue that the debate over Israel policy represents legitimate political disagreement rather than antisemitism or extremism, contending that no other country’s interests should supersede American interests[1]. According to this perspective, questioning U.S. funding to Israel reflects patriotic concern rather than bigotry, with Greene arguing that fellow Republicans mischaracterize policy criticism as hate speech to silence dissenting voices[1]. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon articulated this opposing view by criticizing Israel’s territorial expansion and arguing that the United States never committed to supporting such policies, positioning this as a question of national interest rather than antisemitism[1]. Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts defended Carlson by emphasizing that conservatives should not “cancel our own people or police the consciences of Christians,” framing concerns about extremism as an attempt to purge dissenting voices from the movement rather than as legitimate accountability[1]. This opposing perspective views the controversy as driven by what Roberts characterized as a “venomous coalition” attempting to impose ideological conformity and silence alternative viewpoints on U.S. foreign policy, particularly regarding Israel and America First priorities[1].