headshots of ben shapiro, nick fuentes, and tucker carlson in black and white against a purplish blue background

Andrea Austria / Media Matters

Research/Study Research/Study

Following Tucker Carlson’s interview with Nick Fuentes, fault lines have emerged as right-wing media battle over the future of MAGA

Some in MAGA media have tried to distance their movement from Fuentes and his ideas while others have suggested the white nationalist streamer is “mainstream now”

Written by Jack Wheatley & Gideon Taaffe

Published

Tucker Carlson’s friendly interview with white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes has precipitated a right-wing media struggle over the future of the MAGA movement.

While many traditional right-wing media figures criticized Carlson for platforming Fuentes and not pushing back strongly enough on his rhetoric, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts posted in support of Carlson, calling the former Fox host’s detractors a “venomous coalition” and Carlson a “close friend” to The Heritage Foundation. In response, some conservative pundits, including Ben Shapiro and Erick Erickson, criticized the conservative institution and warned against the embrace of Carlson and extremists — all while the organization faced resignations from staff and distancing by partner groups.

Additional fractures have emerged within right-wing media, with some conservative media figures claiming Carlson “is not MAGA,” and others calling Fuentes “the face of the future Republican Party.” Some who have defended Carlson have argued against “canceling” him while others have focused their ire on figures like Shapiro and Mark Levin for their criticism of Carlson and Heritage. A smaller cohort within conservative media have, in turn, railed against the infighting and instead proposed continuing to “focus our fire” on the left.

  • Fractures have emerged in the right-wing media landscape during Trump's second term. Carlson's interview with Fuentes is driving the latest wedge in the MAGA movement.

    • After Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson interviewed right-wing streamer Nick Fuentes — who has espoused white nationalism and Holocaust denial — for over two hours on the October 27 edition of The Tucker Carlson Show, many in right-wing media were quick to criticize Carlson for giving Fuentes a friendly platform. Radio host Eric Metaxas called the interview “sick” and “despicable,” while Dana Loesch said the interview was “not very hard-hitting.” Others accused Carlson of “spitting on Charlie [Kirk]’s grave” and having done “what Charlie feared most: platform Fuentes and give him a friendly, uncritical hearing.” [Media Matters, 10/28/25, 10/31/25]
    • Right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation voiced support for Carlson, but denounced Fuentes. Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said, “We actually ought to be engaged in that conversation." Roberts called the former Fox host’s detractors a “venomous coalition,” and labeled him a “close friend” to Heritage. [Media Matters, 10/31/25]
    • Despite a follow-up statement from Roberts seemingly attempting to clarify his position, The Heritage Foundation reportedly faced internal backlash and several resignations from Heritage staffers. Two members of The Heritage Foundation’s antisemitism task force resigned, with one writing that Roberts’ follow-up remarks responding to the backlash amounted to a “strategic non-apology that doubles down on ‘loyalty’ to Tucker Carlson, muses about welcoming groypers and the groyper-curious into the movement, and continues to gaslight everyone about ‘cancelation’ when that clearly isn’t the issue.” A senior Heritage staffer told CNN, “It is open rebellion, it is disgust … 85% are totally disgusted.” Roberts’ chief of staff also resigned amid internal turmoil, and Roberts later apologized to Heritage staff, saying, “I made a mistake.” [The Hill, 11/4/25, 11/3/25; CNN, 11/6/25; The National Review, 11/4/25; The Washington Free Beacon, 11/5/25]
    • Right-wing media have split over a number of issues during Trump's second term, including policies related to Israel, tariffs, Ukraine, and the handling of Jeffrey Epstein's case. Some more traditional right-wing media figures like Fox News host Mark Levin and The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro voiced support for military intervention in Iran and called for the administration to support Ukraine. Meanwhile, some right-wing media figures, including Carlson, Fuentes, and some right-leaning podcasters, previously criticized Trump’s military intervention in Iran and support of Israel and called for the administration to end support for Ukraine. Other fault lines have emerged around Trump's tariff policies and his handling of the Epstein files as well. Earlier this year Shapiro accused Carlson of being “quite fond of regimes that do not like the United States.” [Media Matters, 6/18/25, 8/6/25, 5/13/25, 4/3/25, 4/16/25, 7/18/25, 9/8/25; The Daily Wire, The Ben Shapiro Show, 7/8/25]

  • Some conservative media figures have criticized Carlson, claiming he “is not MAGA” and “peddles anti-American propaganda”

    • Ben Shapiro pointedly criticized Carlson in an episode dedicated entirely to the dispute, calling him “a terrible friend” to Charlie Kirk for hosting Fuentes, as well as a bad friend to Vice President JD Vance. Shapiro remarked: “Certainly, Vice President Vance has been quite generous with Tucker Carlson. That loyalty was not reciprocated last week, to say the least,” before playing a clip of Fuentes attacking Vance’s wife, Usha Vance. [YouTube, The Ben Shapiro Show, 11/3/25]
    • Shapiro said that Carlson “let Nick Fuentes cuck him.” [YouTube, The Ben Shapiro Show, 11/3/25]
    • On his radio show, Mark Levin said he’s “fighting like hell against the Tucker Carlsons and the Fuenteses and the Bannons and the others” who he claimed are “dancing with Hitler and Stalin and bigots and racists and segregationists.” He stated: “If you're a racist and a bigot and you don't believe in equality, your party will pay the price, and it should.” Levin made similar remarks during a speech he gave at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Annual Leadership Summit, where he said: “You don’t get to claim you’re MAGA and America First when you’re lining up with the Marxists and the Islamists and Hamas and the terrorists. That’s not America First. That’s sick!” [Westwood One, The Mark Levin Show, 11/4/25; Newsmax, 11/3/25]
    • Right-wing influencer James Lindsay posted: “Tucker is not MAGA.” [Twitter/X, 11/1/25]
    • Joel Griffith of the conservative non-profit Advancing American Freedom said of Roberts: “His continued partnership with @TuckerCarlson as he peddles anti-American propaganda (from Putin, Qatar, and Iran), ridicules Christians who affirm the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland, and slanders, Israel as ‘genocidal.’” “Sad times,” he added. [Twitter/X, 11/1/25]
    • Manhattan Institute fellow Ilya Shapiro said Carlson is “now firmly in the bigoted conspiratorial fever swamps.“ He wrote: “This is more bad judgment by Kevin Roberts. You can be someone’s ‘friend’ personally but still distance professionally.” [Twitter/X, 11/4/25]

  • Some right-wing media figures rebuked The Heritage Foundation for embracing Carlson's interview and “making more space on the right for antisemitism”

    • Ben Shapiro said on his show, “Tucker Carlson last week was aided, abetted, celebrated for normalizing Nazism within the Republican Party by the mainstay organization of the traditional right, The Heritage Foundation.” [YouTube, The Ben Shapiro Show, 11/3/25]
    • Shapiro also criticized Roberts specifically, saying, “What Kevin Roberts did last week is tragic and awful.” [YouTube, The Ben Shapiro Show, 11/3/25]
    • Right-wing radio host Erick Erickson published a piece in The Free Press titled “The Moral Rot Eating the American Right.” Erickson wrote, “When leaders like J.D. Vance and Kevin Roberts excuse Tucker Carlson’s embrace of extremists, they’re not defending the conservative movement—they’re burning it to the ground.” [The Free Press, 10/31/25]
    • The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board lamented that “a philosophy of no enemies to the right would cost Republicans elections and endanger the country.” In a piece titled “The New Right’s New Antisemites,” the editorial board concluded: “If conservatives—and Republicans—don’t call out this poison in their own ranks before it corrupts more young minds, the right and America are entering dangerous territory.” [The Wall Street Journal, 11/2/25]
    • Middle East Forum Executive Director Gregg Roman called Roberts’ actions “deeply troubling” and wrote that “it represents a dangerous departure from the moral clarity that institution has historically embodied.” Roman called Fuentes a “white nationalist who admires Adolf Hitler and spreads conspiracy theories about Jewish control,” and concluded: “There are many hills worth dying on in politics. Defending the mainstreaming of Holocaust deniers isn’t one of them. Kevin Roberts should know the difference.” [Middle East Forum, 10/30/25]
    • The Dispatch's Jonah Goldberg argued, “By giving Tucker Carlson a pass, the Heritage Foundation’s leader is making more space on the right for antisemitism.” [The Dispatch, 10/31/25]
    • Right-wing author Joel Richardson posted: “The American conservative movement is splitting in two right in front of us: On one side are those who stand for the Constitution, Reagan, Rush Limbaugh, and true MAGA: faith, freedom, and America First vs. those drawn to Alex Jones, Hitler, Fuentes, and Tucker, trading principle for rage.” He argued: “One side seeks to preserve, the other to undermine and destroy. Choose wisely.” [JoelsTrumpet.com, accessed 10/30/25; Twitter/X, 11/2/25; Media Matters, 2/17/11]
    • Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer wrote, “The Heritage Foundation - a good group with a storied history - has handled this terribly.” “Nick Fuentes is a vile anti-semite who has called for death to Jews. He's also a racist. He deserves everyone's condemnation,” said Fleischer, adding: “Tucker Carlson is a carnival barker. Since he got fired by FOX, he's reduced himself to promote fringe causes.” [Twitter/X, 11/3/25]

  • Some right-wing figures have suggested MAGA “might want to listen to Fuentes’ trajectory” because he is “mainstream now” and “the face of the future Republican Party”

    • Right-wing influencer Ian Miles Cheong posted, “Nick Fuentes is mainstream now. He is the face of the future Republican Party, which he’s remaking in his image.” He continued, “Good work on trying (and failing spectacularly) to cancel him, everyone. Should’ve mainstreamed him first and THEN kept him in line. You can’t cancel an outsider.” [Twitter/X, 11/3/25]
    • Conservative commentator Julie Kelly argued that Fuentes is worth listening to in order to understand young right-wing men. Kelly wrote, “But I will say this. If either party, especially MAGA, wants to understand why so many young people, especially young men, flirt with what might be considered antisemitism or are at the very least reluctant to support American policies toward Israel-- might want to listen to Fuentes' trajectory on the issue.” [Twitter/X, 11/2/25]
    • Streamer Jon Zherka posted: “Defend Nick Fuentes from these low lives because he is carrying the freedom impulse for America and they are not.” [Media Matters, 8/8/23, 3/13/24; Twitter/X, 11/3/25]

  • Some right-wing influencers have defended Carlson, saying he will be canceled “over all of our dead fucking bodies”

    • Right-leaning comedian Dave Smith posted, “You will cancel Tucker Carlson over all of our dead fucking bodies.” He added, “You war thirsty scumbags have ruined everything for 25 years (at least) and you will never kill the awakening of the American people, which is way over due.” [Twitter/X, 11/2/25]
    • Right-wing podcaster Candace Owens claimed conservatives have been “instructed to go after Tucker more than anyone else” because he “happens to not be controlled” by Zionists and “is the natural heir to the populist movement and they want him to be canceled.” She continued, “Tucker Carlson, oh no, he's having conversations with people that they don't like.” She also played a video of Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) saying that “Tucker is not MAGA,” and claimed that “they have declared war on Tucker Carlson.” [YouTube, Candace, 11/3/25, 11/3/25]
    • Former Daily Wire host Brett Cooper criticized conservative radio host Mark Levin, who attacked Carlson during a recent speech, with Cooper saying: “You will never attack him into irrelevance. In fact, by doing so, you might just make people love him more.” She claimed Levin is “hypocritical” for “canceling people and de-platforming people who you disagree with.” She concluded: “My advice would be, if you are so worried about the influence of people like Tucker, you need better PR. You need a better strategy. That is the only thing that is going to help at this point. What is not going to help is threatening cancellation, de-platforming, and turning your back on all of the principles that have made this country great, that make conservatism great.” [YouTube, The Brett Cooper Show, 11/4/25, 11/4/25; Newsmax, 11/3/25]

  • Some MAGA media figures criticized Shapiro and Levin, calling for them to be kicked out of MAGA

    • Candace Owens said that Ben Shapiro took a “scripted stab at Tucker Carlson” by saying that Carlson had betrayed Charlie Kirk by hosting Fuentes. While discussing criticism of Carlson during another part of the episode, she remarked that “the way that they are going about it right now though is especially sickening. They're now trying to roll Charlie Kirk's legacy into this.” [YouTube, Candace, 11/3/25, 11/3/25]
    • A social media account for right-wing influencers Keith and Kevin Hodge, known online as the Hodgetwins, posted, “No to Ben Shapiro.” [Twitter/X, 11/3/25; IMDB, accessed 11/7/25]
    • The Matt Gaetz Show writer Vish Burra posted, “It’s time to kick Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin out of MAGA and out of the Republican Party forever.” He continued, “They have no home here. It’s time for them to go.” [Twitter/X, 11/3/25]
    • LindellTV host Emerald Robinson dismissed Shapiro, saying he has “no relevance.” She wrote: “Remember: @benshapiro and @marklevinshow and @josh_hammer and @bungarsargon were all Never-Trumpers in 2016. Then they lost, and were forced to pretend to support Trump. These fools have no relevance. Their followers are mostly morons and paid bots.” [Twitter/X, 11/3/25]
    • Podcaster Hannah Pearl Davis, who has used social media to spread antiwomen and antisemitic messages, wrote online, “It’s sad to see @benshapiro running from a debate with @NickJFuentes.” She said: “Ben Shapiro has championed himself for years as a free speech warrior, yet he’s afraid of a twenty something year old talk show host? Disagree with him? Then debate.” She continued: “You have to ask yourself why on earth the @dailywire is accepting people’s money when their top guy is afraid of a debate.” [Media Matters, 3/16/23, 4/24/24, 8/8/23; Twitter/X, 11/3/25, 2/24/23]
    • Julie Kelly called Shapiro’s response to the Fuentes interview “pretty thin gruel.” She added that she “expected a hard hitting compelling argument from Shapiro to justify this insane level of outrage.” [Twitter/X, 11/3/25]

  • Some in right-wing media called to put their differences “off to a different day,” arguing the right should “focus [their] fire” on the left

    • On The Megyn Kelly Show, The Daily Wire's Matt Walsh said, “I want to focus our fire” on the left. He said, “My stance has been that I want to focus our fire, metaphorically, on the left. We are dealing with people, truly, truly, want us dead. And they just killed my friend.” He continued, “I think it was a day after Charlie was killed I put out a tweet where I said this. Where I said that … I know there are a lot of disputes and debates on the right, and I’m not saying that they’re totally unimportant, but I want to put that all off to a different day.” Host Megyn Kelly responded, saying, “I love everything you said. I totally endorse and agree with all of it.” [SiriusXM, The Megyn Kelly Show, 11/4/25]
    • Walsh also stated in a social media post that he is “furious,” writing, “We’re going to waste this window fighting with each other. We’re going to squander everything.” He said: “We have a very short window of time where we control congress and the White House and have the power to push our agenda forward.” [Twitter/X, 11/3/25]
    • Manhattan Institute senior fellow Chris Rufo published an op-ed in City Journal criticizing conservatives for focusing on Fuentes. He wrote, “In the recent controversy, the Right has also unwittingly reinforced Fuentes’s Nazi performance. Some conservatives have criticized Fuentes, Carlson, and Roberts by posting that ‘Nazis are bad.’ That’s self-evidently correct—Nazism is monstrous. But leaning on that truism blurs the distinction between reality and hyperreality.” He continued, “Rather than engage in the surface-level debate, conservatives should seek the deeper ground of reality and deconstruct the ‘metapolitics,’ or underlying rules, of this conflict. Conservatives should do this by treating Fuentes as an essentially fraudulent phenomenon.” [City Journal, 11/4/25]
    • Vish Burra posted: “We must focus our fire on the Left.” He went on to argue that the right should “totally ignore and marginalize the venomous coalition that is trying to censor and cancel America First MAGA Patriots on behalf of the interests of a foreign nation.” [Twitter/X, 10/30/25]