The last two weeks have been a bruising spectacle for the conservative movement. Tucker Carlson’s fawning interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes ignited a firestorm—not only for its uncritical platforming of a Holocaust denier, but for what it revealed about creeping antisemitism at the edges of the right. When Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts released a video defending Carlson and deriding a “venomous coalition” of critics, it seemed, for a moment, that the dam of moral clarity might break.
It didn’t.
The backlash was swift, fierce, and—for once—nearly universal. Senator Ted Cruz declared that anyone who sits silently while Fuentes praises Hitler is “a coward, and complicit in that evil.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reminded conservatives that “no one should feel obliged to carry water for antisemites.” Jewish leaders from across the ideological spectrum withdrew from Heritage’s Task Force on Antisemitism in protest. And inside Heritage itself, longtime fellows and staff publicly called for Roberts to resign.
Rabbi Yaakov Menken, head of the Coalition for Jewish Values, resigned from Heritage’s antisemitism task force, calling Roberts’ defense of Carlson “validation of antisemitism masquerading as free speech.” His letter was blunt: “We cannot lend legitimacy to an institution that platforms hate.” Mark Goldfeder of the National Jewish Advocacy Center and the entire Young Jewish Conservatives network soon followed suit.
Within a week, Roberts was apologizing to staff in a closed-door meeting: “I made a mistake and I let you down.” But his refusal to renounce Carlson—and the revelation that Heritage had quietly sponsored Carlson’s podcast—only deepened the revolt. Veteran Heritage scholar Robert Rector invoked William F. Buckley Jr.’s historic expulsion of the John Birch Society, reminding Roberts, “You have to expunge all antisemitism. You have to expel the lunatics.”
By Wednesday, the internal revolt had spilled into public view. Legal scholar Amy Swearer told Roberts she had “no confidence in your leadership,” calling his response “a masterclass in cowardice.” One staffer described the damage to Heritage’s reputation as “the worst I’ve ever seen.”
What’s remarkable is not merely Heritage’s implosion—it’s the reaction it provoked. In an era when “owning the libs” often replaces principle, the conservative establishment drew a bright line. From the Senate floor to think tank hallways, antisemitism was called out by name.
That’s the silver lining in this mess: Nick Fuentes is still toxic. He remains persona non grata outside the darkest corners of the internet. Despite attempts to launder his image under the banner of “Christian nationalism” or “America First,” the mainstream right isn’t buying it.
The Roberts fiasco proves that moral antibodies still exist within conservatism. The same movement that once purged the John Birch Society for paranoia now faces the same test—whether to tolerate hate for the sake of unity or to draw boundaries for the sake of conscience.
This time, conservatives are choosing the latter. And that’s something worth defending.
-- James Trimm
