OPINION:
JERUSALEM — Bryan E. Leib, a member of the National Task Force to Combat and Monitor Antisemitism at The Heritage Foundation, just resigned, citing an inability to stomach Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’ public defense of Tucker Carlson, the ex-Fox guy who just handed known antisemitic, misogynist, racist Nick Fuentes the public platform equivalent of a gold nugget: the softball media interview. Ryan Neuhaus, who served as Roberts’ chief of staff, quit his job, too, for the same reason.
And the splitting of the conservative camp in America continues.
Carlson has been a loud and much-loved media presence to conservatives for years. But he’s losing his luster — in fact, for some, he’s never had that much luster to lose in the first place. Back when he ran The Daily Caller, for instance, the news outlet was known as much for its politically right-leaning brand of journalism as for the flashing images of half-dressed women that were interspersed among the headlines. Sex sells — but should it really be used to sell news? Anyhow, then he went to Fox and The Daily Caller, in his absence, toned down, and he ultimately moved to the prime-time Fox News Channel spot and became chief polemicist to the conservative world; a hero to many in the MAGA world who saw him as a freethinking type and a defender of liberty.
Fast-forward a few, and he’s now known as the guy who’s fueling antisemitism. And not just in America. Israelis, too, hundreds of miles from America, are upset at what they see as a growing antisemitic shift within the very camp of conservatives they long considered friendly. It’s sad, but true. It’s a sad truth on the streets of Jerusalem.
Let’s be clear: It’s not wrong for a member of the media to interview Fuentes. It’s not wrong for journalists to interview, or seek to interview, those with raging radical, wicked, vicious ideas. In the spirit of understanding, as a service to humanity, it’s actually a good thing for members of the press to question those of mindsets who are perhaps more aligned with the devil and with evil than with anything pure or virtuous or godly or good. Think “interview with a serial killer,” for instance. Consider “conversation with a convicted drug dealer,” for example. A properly conducted interview with evil can prove revealing and ultimately, become a tool to better fight against evil.
But the key is to push back and demand answers.
Simply giving a media platform for wicked ones to spout their wickedness, absent any serious demand for explanation, only enables the wicked.
It makes it seem, too, as if the interviewer is actually on board with the ideas of the wicked one and is only conducting an interview as a sly way of advancing the wickedness while pretending not — while pretending to be simply an unbiased journalist just doing a job.
And this is what is problematic with Carlson’s Fuentes show. Fuentes carries an open hatred of and hostility to Jews, Black people, women and more. His remarks are public and available for viewing and hearing. His record of misogyny and antisemitism is expansive. The only meaningful sit-down with Fuentes by a member of the media is one in which he’s called to account for his hate.
Anything less, and the interview only harbors the hate, and advances the hate.
Anything less, and the interview is useless in terms of advancing anything of value.
As The Economic Times summarized: “The growing divide [among conservatives on Israel] became public after a podcast hosted by Tucker Carlson featured far-right commentator Nick Fuentes, who is known for antisemitic statements and praise of Adolf Hitler. During the discussion, the two talked about US-Israel relations and the label of ‘anti-Semite’ often applied to Israel’s critics. Carlson disagreed mildly when Fuentes questioned Jewish Americans’ loyalty to the United States. He also mocked ‘Christian Zionists,’ mentioning Ted Cruz and George W. Bush by name. ‘I dislike them more than anybody because it’s Christian heresy and I’m offended by that as a Christian,’ Carlson said. … The controversy intensified when the Heritage Foundation, a major conservative think tank, refused to condemn Carlson or Fuentes. Instead, its president Kevin Roberts said conservatives should focus on political opponents rather than ‘attack our friends on the right. … While antisemitism is wrong, conservatives do not need to always support Israel,’ Roberts said.”
No. Conservatives don’t always need to support Israel.
But conservatives ought not give global platforms to Jew-haters where they are treated as if they’re just another political voice, either.
Antisemitism is not a topic of polite political conversation or debate. It’s an evil. It’s a rot. It’s a cancer. It’s a demonic force. And media members who conduct interviews of those who carry such views should make that clear — else don’t do the interview because it only normalizes and emboldens the evil.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.
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