Conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro has criticized Tucker Carlson for allowing Holocaust-denier Nick Fuentes on his podcast, accusing Carlson of normalizing and defending Fuentes’ antisemitic remarks. During an episode of ‘The Ben Shapiro Show’ released Monday, Shapiro called Carlson ‘the most virulent super-spreader of vile ideas in America’ and criticized the Heritage Foundation for defending the controversial interview. The incident has sparked division within the Republican Party, with some voices condemning the interview and others defending it.
Shapiro’s critique is the latest crack in a conservative movement splintering over Carlson’s inflammatory interview with Fuentes. The interview, which aired last week, was laced with antisemitic references and sparked division within the Republican Party over whether the discussion should be allowed or condemned. On the podcast, Fuentes praised Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and claimed the ‘big challenge’ to unifying the country was ‘organized Jewry.’ Carlson, a former Fox News host who retains a large following, said Republican Israel supporters suffer from a ‘brain virus.’
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. ‘I disagree with and even abhor things that Nick Fuentes says, but canceling him is not the answer, either,’ Roberts said. Roberts later explicitly condemned antisemitism and detailed his disagreements with Fuentes.
Shapiro pushed back on Roberts’ characterization. ‘It is not cancellation to draw moral lines between viewpoints,’ Shapiro said. ‘In fact, we used to call that one of the key aspects of conservatism.’ 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.
Shapiro, a prominent conservative podcaster who hosted fundraisers for Donald Trump and Senate GOP candidates during the 2024 cycle, warned that a ‘splinter faction’ of white supremacists is being ‘facilitated and normalized’ into the Republican Party’s mainstream, aided by Carlson. ‘The main agent in that normalization is Tucker Carlson, who is an intellectual coward, a dishonest interlocutor, and a terrible friend,’ Shapiro said.
At the annual Republican Jewish Coalition annual leadership summit last weekend, top GOP Jews attempted to distance Carlson from the GOP mainstream. Matt Brooks, CEO of the RJC, told reporters that antisemitism is ‘a very small, limited problem in our party,’ and attendees waved printed placards that read, ‘TUCKER IS NOT MAGA.’ Shapiro, who is Jewish, warned that the GOP is ‘being eaten by its radicals.’ ‘The left followed its radicals to electoral hell,’ Shapiro said. ‘Apparently, many on the right wish to do the same.’