Heritage Foundation’s Kevin Roberts Stands By Tucker Carlson

Tucker Carlson’s interview with Nick Fuentes marks a watershed moment in right wing politics. Carlson has forced the issue of America First vs Israel First with the widely viewed interview in ways that previous Fuentes interviews, like his appearance on Patrick Bet David, did not. The Heritage Foundation has weighted in, wielding its weight as the most important policy think tank on the right.

On Thursday afternoon, Kevin Roberts issued a statement on X

I’ll have more to say on this in the coming days, but today I want to be clear about one thing. Christians can critique the state of Israel without being anti-Semitic. And of course, anti-Semitism should be condemned. My loyalty as a Christian and as an American is to Christ first and to America always. 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. 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 don’t take direction from comments on X, though we are grateful for the robust free speech debate.

We also don’t take direction from members or donors, though we are inherently grateful for their support. And we’re adding more every day. This is the robust debate we invite with our colleagues, our movement friends, our members, and the American public. We will always defend truth. We will always defend America. And we will always defend our friends against the slander of bad actors who serve someone else’s agenda. 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. I disagree with, and even abhor, things that Nick Fuentes says. But canceling him is not the answer either.

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

As my friend Vice President Vance said last night, what I am not okay with is any country coming before the interests of American citizens, and it is important for all of us, assuming we are American citizens, to put the interests of our own country first. That’s where our allegiance lies, and that’s where it will stay.

Kevin Roberts likens the Zionists on the right to a liberal cancel culture mob. Roberts then appeals to public debate to dismantle bad ideas. But most importantly, the Heritage Foundation has backed Tucker Carlson against the Zionists, claiming that Israeli interests must be subordinate to American interests and implied that there is no Christian obligation to support Israel.

The banners of the Heritage Foundation arrived on the battlefield and joined the ranks of Carlson. Many are predictably mad about this as the battle for ideas is turning into a rout. The Zionists are losing the right.