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Political commentator Tucker Carlson speaks at the Building a Legacy: Remembering Charlie Kirk Memorial event at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on Sept. 21, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times
The Heritage Foundation’s president, Kevin Roberts, issued a statement and accompanying video on Oct. 30 in defense of Tucker Carlson, sparking varied and passionate responses among conservatives—including among Heritage staff.
Some lauded Roberts’s defense of Carlson, a commentator and interviewer who appeared on the campaign trail with President Donald Trump ahead of his victory in 2024.
Others, including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have condemned the statement, which came just days after Carlson offered his massive platform to controversial live streamer Nick Fuentes. Fuentes has a long history of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish commentary, as well as his radical views on race and gender.
Carlson has voiced opposition to blanket condemnations of the Jewish people.
“Every person must be assessed individually as God assesses each person individually,” Carlson told Fuentes.
In his post on X, Roberts, the president of the flagship conservative think tank, wrote that his statement was intended to quell “speculation that Heritage is distancing itself from Tucker Carlson.”
“Christians can critique the state of Israel without being anti-Semitic. And of course, anti-Semitism should be condemned,” Roberts said in the video accompanying the post.
“When it serves the interest of the United States to cooperate with Israel and other allies, we should do so, with partnerships on security, intelligence, and technology.
“But when it doesn’t, conservatives should feel no obligation to reflexively support any foreign government, no matter how loud the pressure becomes from the globalist class or from their mouthpieces in Washington,” he continued.
Kevin Roberts, president of The Heritage Foundation, in Washington on June 30, 2022. Matthew Pearson/CPI Studios
Roberts said: “The venomous coalition attacking [Carlson] are sowing division.
“I disagree with, and even abhor, things that Nick Fuentes says, but canceling him is not the answer either.”
Divided Responses
Nick Solheim, the CEO of American Moment, a group that trains young conservatives for careers in public policy, commended Roberts.
“I’ve never been more excited about where our movement is headed,” he wrote on X.
Curt Mills, executive director of The American Conservative, described Roberts’s comment that “Christians can critique the state of Israel without being antisemitic” as “an astonishing counterweight to the mendacious pressure campaign.”
Eric Teetsel, the CEO of the Center for Renewing America, a think tank founded by current Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, shared a similar sentiment.
“Proud to stand with you and Heritage,” he wrote on X.
In contrast, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) condemned Roberts’s statement on X.
“Last I checked, ‘conservatives should feel no obligation’ to carry water for antisemites and apologists for America-hating autocrats,” he wrote, quoting part of Roberts’s video.
Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, wrote on X, “Today, Heritage has chosen to vocally stand with an antisemite.”
“The consequences will be far-reaching indeed,” he said.
Richard Hanania, a political scientist, urged his Jewish friends “to step back and rethink this entire conservative movement thing.”
David French, a New York Times columnist, echoed Hanania’s concerns.
“The fringe is now the mainstream, and one of the most powerful institutions in the American right is bending the knee,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Bret Weinstein, an evolutionary biologist and podcaster who has previously described Fuentes as “genocidally inclined,” praised Roberts’s statement.
“Attempting to police thought, speech and association is anti-American, and will only deepen our divisions,” he wrote. “Thank you for your courage in standing up for our foundational principles.”
Tension at Heritage
Heritage’s one voice policy means that staff “always publicly advocate for a single, unified position.”
Yet, Roberts’s pro-Carlson post appears to have drawn divided responses from staffers at the think tank, long a key hub for policy and thought in the conservative world.
Preston Brashers, a research fellow on tax policy at the institution, posted an image of Norman Rockwell’s painting, “Freedom of Speech,” tagged with the words, “Nazis are bad.”
Richard Stern, a budget and economic policy leader at Heritage, quote-tweeted Brashers’s post with the line, “Evidently, a truth that is never more than one generation away from being forgotten.”
On the other side, Emma Waters, a Heritage policy analyst specializing in biotechnology, family policy, and reproductive medicine, retweeted a post from a former Heritage staffer, Mary Clare Amselem, in support of Roberts.
“We all wish Tucker pushed back on Fuentes more,” she wrote. “Cutting ties with someone for pushing the boundaries of acceptable debate is not a habit we should normalize.”
Sarah Grace Todd, an editorial associate with Heritage, quote-tweeted Roberts’s statement with a quotation from it: “Christ first. America always.”
Nathan Worcester is an award-winning journalist for The Epoch Times based in Washington, D.C. He frequently covers Capitol Hill, elections, and the ideas that shape our times. He has also written about energy and the environment. Nathan can be reached at [email protected]
