Tucker Carlson's interview with Nick Fuentes sparks a war on conservatism: 'Their attempt to cancel him will fail'

The Heritage Foundation, the largest conservative think tank in the United States, defended Tucker Carlson following attacks for interviewing Nick Fuentes, an activist accused of promoting antisemitism. Heritage's president, Kevin Roberts, starred in a video in which he assured that canceling those who think differently is not a solution.

The controversy began last Monday, when the former Fox News host interviewed Fuentes on his podcast. This sparked dozens of criticisms from the conservative and Republican world.

In recent days, the Fox News host has been the focus of considerable criticism from the conservative and Republican world, primarily for bringing Fuentes as a guest on his podcast. On X alone, the conversation between the two surpassed 16 million views.

During their conversation, both criticized figures such as Ted Cruz, Ben Shapiro and Mike Huckabee, among many others. They took aim at "Christian Zionists," a group that encompassed Cruz, George W. Bush, John Bolton and Karl Rove.

"As far as Jews are concerned, you can't separate Israel and the neocons and all those things you talk about from Judaism: ethnicity, religion, identity. I see Judaism as the common denominator," Fuentes told Carlson during the program.

Immediately afterward, lawmakers and activists took direct aim at Carlson. One of them was Senator Cruz, who has already crossed paths with the host on other occasions. "It's remarkable, and sad, watching Tucker turn into Nick Fuentes," he wrote on his X account.

He was joined by Congressman Don Bacon, who represents Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District. Bacon, who has already announced he will not seek re-election in 2026, is one of the most critical congressmen of the isolationist wing of the GOP.

"Anti-Semites are not welcome in the GOP. It’s time for Tucker and Fuentes to team up with Mamdani, or start the new version of the 1800’s Know Nothing Party," he stated. 

Dinesh D'Souza, a conservative political commentator and author, made a stark analogy to sum up Carlson's work.

"Plato once described the dog as friendly to its owner and hostile to strangers. Tucker is friendly to guys like Nick Fuentes and hostile to guys like Ted Cruz. Tucker poses as a dog 'asking questions' but we know what kind of a dog he is based on whose rear end he likes to sniff," he posted on X.

Days later, the defense of the president of the Heritage Foundation followed. Through a video, Roberts stressed that the solution to a speech that one disagrees with is to debate it, not cancel it.

"Christians can criticize Israel without being anti-Semitic. And, of course, anti-Semitism is wrong. (...) the Heritage Foundation didn't become the intellectual backbone of the conservative movement by canceling our own people or policing the consciences of Christians, and we won't start doing that now. (...) We will always stand up for the truth. We will always defend America and always defend our friends against the slander of bad actors who serve the interests of others," he began.

"That includes Tucker Carlson, who remains, and as I have said before, always will be a close friend of the Heritage Foundation. The venomous coalition attacking him are sowing division. Their attempt to cancel him will fail. Most importantly, the American people expect us to be focusing on our political adversaries on the left, not attacking our friends on the right," he added.

Roberts, a historian and academic by profession, joined the Heritage Foundation in 2021 to replace Kay Coles James, who had resigned and was subsequently appointed by Glenn Youngkin as an official in Virginia.

In the video, he also claimed to disagree with Fuentes' statements: "I even abhor them, but canceling him is not the solution either."

"When we disagree with a person's thoughts and opinions, we challenge those ideas in debate, and we have seen success in this approach as we continue to dismantle the vile ideas of the left," Heritage's president concluded.