It’s been an uncharacteristically slow news week for President Donald Trump’s second term. (It’s a very high bar)
But we may soon view this week as among the most consequential of his presidency, especially as it relates to the future of the conservative movement.
WOKE RIGHT, BROKE RIGHT — LEARNING FROM THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF THE LEFT
Tucker Carlson’s decision to invite Nick Fuentes — a self-avowed white nationalist — onto his hugely influential show has thrust the fringe figure into the heart of the New Right mainstream. Fuentes’ appearance, punctuating Carlson’s sharp anti-Jewish turn in recent months, caused Rod Dreher, hardly a neo-con stooge, to write in his Substack that it’s “legit freaky that we have reached this point in American life.”
Dreher, who counts Vice President JD Vance among his close friends, then implore Vanced to “take a firm, clear public stand against the Groypers (followers of Nick Fuentes). This evil is not going to burn out on its own; it must be stopped … if it can be, at this point.”
Another of Vance’s personal friends, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, urged otherwise. Roberts, among the most powerful leaders in the conservative movement, and indeed America, released a video on X on Thursday afternoon, applauding Carlson’s decision to promote Fuentes. He also defended Carlson from “the slander of bad actors who serve someone else’s agenda.” By which, of course, he meant Israel.
Roberts continued: “Tucker Carlson remains and will always be a friend of the Heritage Foundation. The venomous coalition attacking him are sowing division… The American people expect us to be focusing on our political adversaries on the Left. Not attacking our friends on the Right.”
Freaky, indeed.
I wrote earlier this week that the ascendant New Right coalition in the conservative movement appeared to be adopting an increasingly explicit “no enemies to my right” posture. This means that everyone on the Right is to be considered a “friend,” including Fuentes, who has called for executing Jews and their co-conspirators, while everyone not on the Right is an “enemy.”
This attitude shift culminated in the shocking mainstreaming of Fuentes by Carlson, aided by Roberts’ blessing.
Perhaps most troubling was Roberts’ amplification of Fuentes’ anti-Jewish paranoia, drawing on ancient antisemitic tropes. Roberts approaches the issue of Israel entirely on Fuentes’ terms by treating it suspiciously and pledging independence from it — as if that were a pressing matter. No one forced Roberts to declare Heritage’s independence from Israel. Yet he felt compelled to mollify the rising anti-Israel and anti-Jewish faction within the New Right. It all speaks to the stunning rise of Fuentes’ influence.
Roberts began his video by noting that criticism of Israel is not antisemitic and that he is loyal to “Christ first, and to America always,” unsubtly suggesting that Israel is indeed attempting to work the controls of our nation from the shadows. Fuentes has laid this charge repeatedly in recent years, as has every antisemite in our nation’s history. In 2023, he said plainly, “We Americans have been snookered into supporting [Israel] by Jewish control of our banks, our media, and our politicians, but we have to say enough and rise up as a people.” Carlson has been similarly straightforward, writing in a recent newsletter, “Israel and AIPAC control U.S. foreign policy,” while defending other foreign lobbies, such as Qatar.
Roberts, who I know to be a devout Catholic and a brilliant man, lends credence to Fuentes’ and Carlson’s alt-Right fever dream.
As for Vance, he appears unwilling to heed Dreher’s call to “take a firm, clear public stand” on the Groypers and appears aligned with Roberts — at least for now.
At a Turning Point USA rally Wednesday night, a student asked Vance, “I’m a Christian, and I’m just confused why there’s this notion that we might owe Israel something, or that they’re our greatest ally, or that we have to support this multi-hundred-billion dollar foreign aid package to Israel, to cover this, to quote Charlie Kirk, ‘ethnic cleansing in Gaza.’”
The student added, “Not only does their religion not agree with ours, but also openly supports the prosecution of ours.”
But instead of pushing back on any of the lunacy, lies, and antisemitic filth inherent in the question, Vance simply assured the questioner that the Jews had no control over Trump — but not for a lack of trying.
“When people say that Israel is somehow manipulating or controlling the President of the United States—they’re not controlling this president,” Vance replied, “which is one of the reasons why we’ve been able to have some of the success that we’ve had in the Middle East.”
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No one was more pleased with the TPUSA event than Fuentes himself. Afterward, he posted:
“Questions at JD Vance’s TPUSA event: Is Trump controlled by Israel? Why are you fighting Thomas Massie? How is it America First to support Israel? Why did you marry a Hindu? Explain your connections to Palantir? The Groypers have taken over. We run this.”
And he’s right. The Groypers are at the gate. And the conservative movement, led by Roberts, is waving the white flag.