White nationalist Nick Fuentes has ignited a bitter civil war within the US Republican party after a friendly interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, revealing deep divisions over how to handle far-right extremism. Fuentes, 27, who has praised Adolf Hitler and called Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance a 'race traitor' for marrying an Indian American woman, was given a two-hour platform on Carlson's online show last month.
The interview has exposed longstanding fissures between conservatives and populists, Zionists and Israel sceptics, and mainstream MAGA supporters and the far right. Several Republican senators, including Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz, condemned Carlson's decision, while the Heritage Foundation, a conservative thinktank with ties to Carlson, initially appeared reluctant to distance itself from Fuentes.
Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts issued a video statement noting that 'antisemitism should be condemned' but that 'conservatives should feel no obligation to reflexively support any foreign government'. He also accused a 'venomous coalition' of trying to 'cancel' Carlson. After backlash, Roberts backtracked, issuing a second statement explicitly condemning Fuentes and apologising for using terms with antisemitic connotations.
The controversy has led to infighting at Heritage, with leaks, anguished meetings and social media battles. Some current and former employees expressed horror at Roberts's initial response, with one saying: 'I gave my soul to that place.' Others, under the slogan 'No enemies to the right', have defended Carlson, arguing the controversy is being exploited by establishment conservatives.
The turmoil has spread to other groups, including the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, where two board members resigned, alleging a 'cadre' hostile to liberal democracy. Fuentes, who has called the Holocaust 'the baking of cookies' and expressed admiration for Joseph Stalin, told his followers that Groyperism, his far-right ideology, was now 'inside the institutions'.
