Tucker Carlson

Nov. 17 (UPI) — Another board member of the conservative Heritage Foundation resigned after the organization’s president, Kevin Roberts, posted video defending Tucker Carlson‘s interview with anti-Semitic commentator Nick Fuentes.

Board member Robert P. George wrote Monday on Facebook that “I have resigned from the board of the Heritage Foundation. I could not remain without a full retraction of the video released by Kevin Roberts, speaking for and in the name of Heritage, on October 30th.”

In the video, Roberts refused to distance himself from the two-hour interview, which was posted two weeks ago on YouTube, and has 6.2 million views. Counting other platforms, including X, it has been seen by more than 20 million.

George, who had been a Heritage trustee since 2019, said: “Although Kevin publicly apologized for some of what he said in the video, he could not offer a full retraction of its content. So, we reached an impasse.”

Fuentes, 27, has expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler, claiming the Holocaust was “exaggerated.” He has also said “organized Jewry” is leading to white culture’s disappearance, and that white people are “justified” in being racist, and said “a lot of women want to be raped.”

A spokesman for the Heritage Foundation confirmed the resignation in a statement to Politico, thanked him for his service and calling him a “good man.”

George, the McCormick professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University, also called Roberts a “good man.”

“He made what he acknowledged was a serious mistake,” George said. “Being human myself, I have plenty of experience in making mistakes. What divided us was a difference of opinion about what was required to rectify the mistake.”

The Foundation defended Roberts in a statement through a spokesperson.

“Under the leadership of Dr. Roberts, Heritage remains resolute in building an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and civil society flourish,” the spokesperson said. “We are strong, growing, and more determined than ever to fight for our Republic.”

Roberts, in the Oct. 30 video, blasted the “venomous coalition” that has faulted Fuentes and Carlson, with the latter described as a “close friend.”

“The Heritage Foundation didn’t become the intellectual backbone of the conservative movement by canceling our own people or policing the consciences of Christians, and we won’t start doing that now,” Roberts said.

“Their attempt to cancel [Carlson] will fail,” he added. “I disagree with and even abhor things that Nick Fuentes says, but canceling him is not the answer either.”

One day later, Roberts also posted on X, elaborating on his remarks.

“Our task is to confront and challenge those poisonous ideas at every turn to prevent them from taking America to a very dark place,” Roberts wrote. “Join us — not to cancel — but to guide, challenge, and strengthen the conversation, and be confident as I am that our best ideas at the heart of western civilization will prevail.

“For those, especially young men, who are enticed by Fuentes and his acolytes online — there is a better way.”

Some staff members at a two-hour meeting on Wednesday called for Roberts’ resignation, with one attendee saying he had caused “enormous damage” to the foundation, according to the video obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

At least five members of the foundation’s anti-Semitism task force also have resigned, CBS News reported.

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that dates to the mid-1970s and came to larger prominence for its influence on the Reagan administration, helped to spearhead Project 2025, which has been used as a guide for President Donald Trump‘s second term in the White House.

Trump, who hosted Fuentes and rapper Kanye West at his Mar-a-Lago home in 2024, on Sunday told reporters that you can’t tell Carlson “who to interview.”

Carlson hosts platforms on his platform. The Tucker Carlson Network. He has worked for CNN, PS, MSNBC (now called MSNOW) and Fox News, the latter of which he was fired from in April 2023.

George said he wished the Foundation “the very best.”

“My hope for Heritage is that it will be unbending and unflinching in its fidelity to its founding vision, upholding the moral principles of the Judeo-Christian tradition and the civic principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States,” he wrote.

“I pray that Heritage’s research and advocacy will be guided by the conviction that each and every member of the human family, irrespective of race, ethnicity, religion, or anything else, as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, is ‘created equal’ and ‘endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.'”

Fuentes and Vice President JD Vance have been at odds since Fuentes asked his audience “Do we really expect that the guy who has an Indian wife and named their kid Vivek is going to support white identity?”,

In 2024 on CBS’s Face the Nation, Vance called him a “total loser” and said there is “no room” for him in the Make America Great Again movement.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump on Sunday brushed aside concerns about conservative commentator Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with a far-right activist known for his antisemitic views, which has caused a schism within the GOP.

Trump defended Carlson, citing “good interviews” he’d had over the years with the former Fox News host. He said if Carlson wants to interview Nick Fuentes, whose followers see themselves as working to preserve a white, Christian American identity, then “people have to decide.” Trump did not criticize Carlson or Fuentes.

Fuentes appeared to appreciate Trump’s sentiment, posting Sunday, “Thank you Mr. President!” along with video of his interaction with reporters.

Carlson had an amiable sit-down on his podcast last month with Fuentes that touched off a controversy among some conservatives. It roiled the Heritage Foundation, where the president of the right-wing think tank defended Carlson for his interview, drawing outrage from staffers. Heritage President Kevin Roberts later denounced Fuentes’ views.

Trump told reporters as he prepared to fly back to Washington from a weekend at his Florida estate that when it comes to Carlson, “you can’t tell him who to interview.”

“If he wants to interview Nick Fuentes, I don’t know much about him, but if he wants to do it, get the word out,” Trump said. “People have to decide.”

A few minutes later, Trump added, “Meeting people, talking to people for somebody like Tucker — that’s what they do. You know, people are controversial.”

The president then said: “I’m not controversial, so I like it that way.”

It’s not the first time Trump has been asked about Fuentes. Three years ago, he hosted Fuentes at a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort, along with the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. Ye, like Fuentes, has repeatedly made antisemitic remarks in recent years.

Trump at the time said he had not previously met Fuentes and “knew nothing about” him.

Fuentes’ visit to Trump’s estate was condemned by numerous Republicans at the time, including former Vice President Mike Pence, who said it was wrong for Trump “to give a white nationalist, an antisemite and Holocaust denier, a seat at the table.”

Trump said Sunday that he didn’t know Fuentes at the time and that he didn’t know he was coming with Ye.

Trump’s defense of Carlson’s interview comes as he has used his second term to crack down on colleges and universities over what his administration claims is a tolerance of antisemitic views during protests over the Israel-Hamas war.

Carlson has been critical of U.S. support for Israel in the war in Gaza and has come under fire for his own far-right views, including the white supremacist theory that says white Americans are being “replaced” by people of color.

Price and Megerian write for the Associated Press and reported from Washington and West Palm Beach, respectively.

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.”