Is Tucker Carlson descending into madness? Calling Christian Zionism ‘heresy’ & ‘a brain virus’ is one thing — but embracing Jew-hating, Holocaust-denying Nick Fuentes crosses the line
How should Evangelicals engage one of the most influential voices on the Right?
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — In the summer of 2024, when I addressed The Family Leadership Summit of some 1,500 Evangelical leaders and activists in Des Moines, Iowa, I first publicly raised my concerns about Tucker Carlson.
True, antisemitism and vicious anti-Israel rhetoric on the American Left is increasingly shrill and dangerous, I told them—especially from the likes of influential voices such as Senator Bernie Sanders, Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to name just a few.
But I also noted that several very prominent voices on the American Right were becoming just as shrill and dangerous.
Among them: the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, Candace Owens, and Tucker Carlson.
To be sure, there is a sharp difference between them.
Sadly, “Ye” and Candace have moved from being interesting, engaging, and constructive voices on the Right to becoming openly anti-Jewish and brutally hostile toward Israel.
FROM KANYE TO CANDACE TO TUCKER: INCREASINGLY TROUBLING VOICES ON THE RIGHT
ALL ISRAEL NEWS has published numerous stories and commentaries about Kanye West’s ugly antisemitic rants, including his call to his 30-million-plus X followers to “go DEFCON 3 against the Jews.” (see here, here, here, here, and here).
I’ve also personally called Kanye out on his “revolting and antisemitic statements that are unacceptable from anyone—but especially from someone calling himself a passionate follower of Jesus Christ.”
In recent years, Candace Owens has become hostile toward Jews and Israel, most recently saying about Israel, “Everything they are doing is demonic—I want nothing to do with it—I will never support Israel.”
That said, Tucker was the one I gave the most attention to because of his prominence in the MAGA world, his close friendship with President Trump, his invitation to address the Republican National Convention, and the fact that Tucker had been the emcee of The Family Leadership Summit the year before.
After my remarks, many people told me how much they had loved Tucker over the years but how increasingly surprised—and disturbed—they were becoming by his rhetoric.
That was 18 months ago.
TUCKER IS NOW THE MOST INFLUENTIAL ANTI-ISRAEL VOICE ON THE AMERICAN RIGHT
Since then, the evidence of Tucker’s intense hostility toward Israel—and toward American Christians and Jews who love Israel and advocate for a strong U.S.–Israeli alliance—has become far more strident and obvious.
One example: Where did Candace Owens call Israel a “demonic state”? On Tucker’s podcast.
The latest example: Tucker’s warm and friendly embrace of—and lengthy podcast interview with—Nick Fuentes.
Look, Tucker’s obsessive criticism of Israel is one thing.
But his open and unapologetic embrace of a Jew-hating, Israel-hating, Holocaust-denying white supremacist completely crosses the line.
It’s deeply shocking and disappointing to many Christians who have long loved and appreciated Tucker’s feisty views and spirited voice.
For others, it’s more than disappointment—they fear he’s abandoning mainstream American conservatism and beginning to descend into madness by identifying with—and trying to normalize—some of the most antisemitic and anti-Christian voices in the country.
Tragically, Tucker Carlson has emerged as the most prominent and influential anti-Israel voice on the American Right.
Earlier this week, prominent Christians began calling Tucker out for his statements and sharply criticizing his embrace of Fuentes, as reported on ALL ISRAEL NEWS.
I hope more Evangelicals will do the same—especially those who are his friends and who genuinely care about his voice and reputation.
WHAT EXACTLY DID TUCKER SAY TO FUENTES?
Let’s start for a moment with Tucker’s own growing hostility toward Israel and then I’ll get to Fuentes.
Lest there be any lingering doubt, his conversation with Fuentes demonstrated that Tucker has completely broken with his own past statements of strong support for Israel as a vital American ally in the volatile world of violent, radical Islamism.
It also demonstrated that he has completely broken with President Donald J. Trump’s position that Israel is America’s most important, strategic, valuable, and loyal ally in the Middle East.
“I always thought it’s great to criticize and question our relationship with Israel because it’s insane and it hurts us,” Tucker told Fuentes during their conversation.
“We get nothing out of it—I completely agree with you there,” he added, openly affirming Fuentes’ hatred of Israel.
“Everybody’s going to be like, ‘You’re a Nazi, you just like Fuentes,’” Tucker told his audience, adding that “these Zionist news outlets” need to be “taken down.”
Tucker used the conversation to openly attack “Christian Zionism” as a “heresy.”
IS CHRISTIAN ZIONISM THEOLOGICAL HERESY?
Heresy? Hardly.
Christian Zionism is the theological position that affirms that beginning in the Book of Genesis, the God of Israel made important, enduring, unconditional promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants—including giving them the land of Israel to be the homeland of the Jewish people as their “everlasting possession,” and that Israel’s capital will be the city of Jerusalem, also known in the Bible as “Zion.”
Known as God’s “Abrahamic Covenant,” this extraordinary set of promises to the patriarch of the Jewish people and the father of the nation of Israel is repeatedly restated and reaffirmed throughout the Old and New Testaments.
Jesus Christ clearly taught about His love and compassion for Israel and all Jewish people and His promise to return to Israel and one day reign over the entire world from Jerusalem.
The Apostle Paul clearly taught the same thing and specifically wrote in Romans 9, 10, and 11 that God has not rejected the Jewish people but rather has a wonderful future for the people and nation of Israel.
The Hebrew prophets repeatedly wrote that God would sovereignly resurrect the nation-state of Israel in the last days, bring millions of Jewish people back to the land, and help them rebuild the ancient ruins and make the deserts bloom.
The Apostle Paul reaffirms that these ancient promises of God to the Jewish people are “irrevocable.”
And sure enough, over the last century we have seen these prophecies coming to pass.
Christian Zionism isn’t fringe theology.
It’s a mainstream theological view held by many Christians, including most of the world’s 600 million Evangelical Christians.
Charles Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards, John MacArthur, Dr. James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Charlie Kirk have all been Christian Zionists.
A “BRAIN VIRUS”?
Yet Tucker didn’t just call Christian Zionism a “heresy.”
He called it a “brain virus.”
Tucker told Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes that “Christian Zionists” have been “seized by this brain virus.”
Tucker specifically blasted Mike Huckabee, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, and President George W. Bush, among others.
He said, “There are a lot like that who have been seized by this brain virus.”
Tucker noted that “they’re not Jewish,” but said he despises them because of their love for Jesus Christ and their advocacy for a strong U.S.–Israel alliance.
“Most of them are self-described Christian Zionists,” Tucker noted.
“Christian Zionists? What is that? I could just say for myself, I dislike them more than anybody,” Tucker told Fuentes.
Tucker accused Senator Cruz of “serving Israel” rather than serving the people of Texas or the broader American public.
Huckabee posted a response on X: “Wasn’t aware that Tucker despises me. I do get that a lot from people not familiar with the Bible or history. Somehow I will survive the animosity.”
WHO EXACTLY IS NICK FUENTES?
Now let’s take a moment to better understand who Nick Fuentes is.
As ALL ISRAEL NEWS has reported in the past, Fuentes is an “unapologetic antisemite and white supremacist.”
Fuentes called for a “holy war” against Jews in July 2023.
“We’re in a holy war, and I will tell you this: because we’re willing to die in the holy war, we will make them die in the holy war. And they will go down.”
“They will go down with their Satanic master,” Fuentes said. “They have no future in America. The enemies of Christ have no future in this world.”
As I’ve written before on ALL ISRAEL NEWS, Fuentes calls himself a Christian but spews the most vile hatred of the very Jewish people and the very nation of Israel of which Jesus—a Jew born in Israel—was a part, and whom Jesus came to love and rescue as Messiah.
In one disgusting online video, Fuentes mocks those who believe the Holocaust ever happened and compares the Nazis’ decision to put Jews in ovens in death camps like Auschwitz to “baking cookies in ovens.”
Here's Nick Fuentes denying that the Holocaust happened.
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) October 30, 2019
Him and his followers are scum of the earth and their bad faith, anti-Semitic attacks should be shot down by the entire conservative movement. pic.twitter.com/7wJ9S7Q6zv
In another disgusting video, Fuentes rants: “The anti-Christ is the Jewish state of Israel…. They call themselves Israel, the world Jewry…. The real Israel is the believers of Christ…. They [the Jews] have set up a fake Israel, a fake Israel country, and a fake Israel nation, this organized Jewish influence…. Who else would be leading the revolution [against Christians]? Who else would be behind it other than the Devil? You could say it’s the Left, and behind that it’s the Jews, and behind that it’s the Devil. What else would it be?”
White nationalist Christian fascist Nick Fuentes went on a rant against "world Jewry," calling Jews a "hostile tribal elite" who worship the Devil and have established an "anti-Christ" nation in Israel: "Who else would be leading the insurrection against the true kingdom?" pic.twitter.com/i4mP7lI4jj
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) October 26, 2022
WHAT IS THE BOTTOM LINE HERE?
Look, Tucker can criticize Israel and its leaders all he wants.
I have my own criticisms—but I think Tucker is simply wrong in many of his.
I’d like to have a conversation with him and deal with his charges heart to heart.
But by embracing vile and unabashed Jew-haters and Holocaust deniers like Nick Fuentes, a longtime serious analyst like Tucker is crossing the line.
He’s mainstreaming very dangerous voices.
And thus, in grave danger of becoming a dangerous voice himself.
I’m not saying Tucker is antisemitic.
I’m saying he’s getting dangerously close.
He’s playing with fire—Jews are being attacked and killed all over the country and all over the world.
Tucker has never hesitated to speak out against threats to the American people when he feels strongly.
Are the lives of American Jews no less important to him?
Joel C. Rosenberg is the editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS and the President and CEO of Near East Media. A New York Times best-selling author, Middle East analyst, and Evangelical leader, he lives in Jerusalem with his wife and sons.
