The Heritage Foundation reaffirmed its admiration for Tucker Carlson, saying it wanted to “put to rest” the speculation that the right-wing think tank was “distancing itself” from the former Fox News star in the wake of conservative outrage over Carlson’s friendly interview with notorious white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
Earlier this week, online sleuths noticed that the Heritage Foundation had quietly removed references to Carlson from a donation page that is sponsored by the conservative pundit’s media company.
After conservative policy analyst Jason Hart pointed out that the donation page still referenced the ex-Fox News host, he tagged Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts on X and asked if it was “intentional” that the page was still live.
Hours later, Hart noted that the think tank had scrubbed all references to Carlson. Indeed, the current URL for the page does not mention the right-wing commentator at all, whereas the previous version included a quote from Carlson praising both Roberts and the foundation.
The observation from Hart came as Carlson was facing intense backlash from much of the Christian right and Jewish conservatives over his sitdown with one-time foe Fuentes. While the two-hour chat featured Fuentes singing the praises of Josef Stalin, bemoaning the problem of “organized Jewry in America,” and telling Carlson the importance of being “pro-white, there was one moment in particular that really sparked anger from a large number of conservatives.
As Mother Jones reported this week, the “online skirmish over Carlson’s remarks about Christian Zionists is only the latest evidence to emerge of a growing fissure on the right over the extent to which the United States should be involved in foreign conflicts, especially those in the Middle East.” Vox, meanwhile, noted that the interview was further proof of the GOP’s “antisemitism crisis” and the “looming Republican civil war over Jews.”
Amid the speculation that the Heritage Foundation was ditching Carlson over the uproar, Roberts posted a social media video on Thursday afternoon in which he insisted that the MAGA provocateur remained in the organization’s good graces.
Noting that “Christians can critique the state of Israel without being antisemitic,” adding that “antisemitism should be condemned.” After saying his loyalty as a Christian was to “America first,” Roberts then seemingly took multiple swipes at Carlson’s right-wing critics.
“Conservatives should feel no obligation to reflexively support any foreign government, no matter how loud the pressure becomes from the globalist class or from their mouthpieces in Washington,” he declared, adding that Heritage Foundation wouldn’t be “policing the consciences of Christians.”
After saying he would defend Carlson from “slander of bad actors who serve someone else’s agenda,” Roberts also appeared to offer a defense of Fuentes, suggesting that he was a victim of cancel culture.
“I disagree with, and even abhor, things that Nick Fuentes says, but canceling him is not the answer either,” he said. “When we disagree with a person's thoughts and opinions, we challenge those ideas in a debate.”
Roberts' remarks sparked their own wave of outrage from conservatives and the center-right, with centrist writer Matthew Yglesias claiming “the groypers are winning”, referencing Fuentes’ army of followers.
“The Heritage Foundation is afraid of Tucker Carlson and his audience,” anti-Trump conservative David French reacted. “The fringe is now the mainstream, and one of the most powerful institutions in the American right is bending the knee.