Will Tucker Carlson’s interview with far-right activist, Nick Fuentes, tear MAGA apart?
Did Tucker Carlson’s softball interview with white supremacist Nick Fuentes ignite a full-blown MAGA civil war? Is the latest dust-up — over Israel and anti-Semitism — between powerful and popular conservative voices, another family feud or a marker of End Times MAGAism? Is it a head-on collision of merely a fender-bender? And, are rank-and-file MAGA supporters paying any attention to these inside-the-beltway gasbags?
While we’ve seen this show before — conservatives with fangs out for fellow conservatives — political observers want to know: Is the current dust up over anti-Semitism in the movement, a deal breaker, an all-out game-changing power struggle?
What’s really at stake isn’t just the movement’s flirtation with antisemitism, but who gets to define its future? Will it be the nationalist, isolationist Carlson wing, or the older, neocon-aligned Shapiro faction.
It didn’t start with Tucker Carlson’s interview with white supremacist Nick Fuentes on his podcast, in which Fuentes excoriated Daily Wire founder, [and conservative podcaster] Ben Shapiro and made inflammatory, anti-Semitic remarks about “organized Jewry.” That interview, however, poured lighter fluid on an ongoing simmering fire.
According to Kyle Tharp’s Chaotic Era Substack, “Fuentes and his continued criticism of U.S. support for Israel (calling fellow conservatives ‘Christian Zionists’ with a ‘brain virus’) drew condemnation from prominent GOP figures and Israel hawks like Senators Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnell, as well as from [popular conservative radio host Marc] Levin and Shapiro.
Tharp, whose timely newsletter is about politics, media, and online influence, noted that “The conservative fight over supporting Israel has been simmering all year, with top influencers like Carlson, Candace Owens, and Steve Bannon bucking Republican orthodoxy on the issue. The shift reflects both declining support for Israel among younger MAGA supporters and a shift in audience demand in online MAGA media. The data shows that Carlson and Owens, in particular, are winning – having grown their following and clout significantly this year, while pro-Israel voices like Shapiro have seen their audience growth stall in 2025.”
“Republicans Denounce Tucker Carlson for Interview With Nick Fuentes, a White Supremacist” read the New York Times headline. The Bulwark, a consistently anti-Trump voice, called the interview “One of the Most Dangerous Interviews Ever in MAGA Media.” The Associated Press titled it report, “Controversy over Tucker Carlson interview reveals conservative movement’s conflict over antisemitism,” while the Wall Street Journal warned of “The New Right’s New Antisemites.”
Politico’s Samuel Benson reported that Shapiro, titled a response episode of his show “Tucker Carlson Sabotages America.” Shapiro blasted Carlson on Monday, calling him “’the most virulent super-spreader of vile ideas in America,’ adding fuel to an incident that sparked a staff shakeup at the Heritage Institute.”
Benson noted that “The podcast episode was received differently by two bastions of conservative thought: The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board condemned it, while Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts defended it, criticizing the ‘venomous coalition’ attempting to ‘cancel’ Carlson after the interview.”
According to Benson, “Carlson’s interview with Fuentes came on the heels of other high-profile incidents of antisemitism on the political right. Last month, a nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel withdrew his nomination after bragging of his ‘Nazi streak’ in a text message; days earlier, POLITICO reported on a leaked group chat of Young Republicans who praised Hitler and joked about the Holocaust. The same week, a Nazi symbol was discovered hanging in a GOP congressional office.”
Inquiring minds want to know: Will an increasingly distracted Donald Trump weigh in on this kerfuffle and can he demand, and achieve, a cease-fire? Or is the MAGA empire finally growing too unruly for its emperor?