The political right needs to exorcize its Fuentes’ demons

• A “big tent” approach sounds good when you want your side to be more popular than your political enemies. But welcoming everyone and everything means that before long, your group will become infected.

In the current political climate, extremes reign. This is due in part to how we consume our news and information. The internet spreads knowledge, ideas, and even conspiracy theories in remarkably fast ways. The news cycle is both quick and constant. And we encounter multiple narratives each day. This reality allows those of likemind to coalesce in powerful, organized ways. This has both positive and negative repercussions. 

Bad actors, whether they be legacy media or new media, build platforms, create content, and find audiences. Those whose questionable positions might relegate them to the sidelines in real-life situations are suddenly kings among their crowd. This doesn’t mean free speech is bad; on the contrary, free speech is good and allows both that which we like and that which we dislike. But it also means we have the opportunity and responsibility to speak up when evil takes root. 

Enter Nick Fuentes and Tucker Carlson. 

Carlson has been around for far longer than Fuentes. But both of them have swayed an eager segment of the public, especially in recent months. Tucker Carlson uses his own show to routinely platform some of the worst people. These people are anti-American, antisemites, conspiracy theorists, conflict entrepreneurs, misogynists, liars, socialists, and the like. Fuentes is even worse. His audience has grown substantially in the last few years. And his messages are blatantly hateful. Fuentes, rather proudly, says things like this on his show: “Jews are running society, women need to STFU, blacks need to be imprisoned, for the most part. And we would live in paradise. It’s that simple. It’s literally that simple.” Tucker Carlson may not go quite as far as Fuentes, but Carlson himself platformed Fuentes on a recent episode of his show. He did so enthusiastically, not calling him out on anything. They find common ground on one major thing: attacking, lying about, and hating on Israel and the Jewish people. They and their content are vile.

The Fuentes-Carlson influence is such that the right side of the political aisle must collectively decide whether to ignore, join in, or speak out against such harmful rhetoric. And currently, there’s something of a civil war going on as a result. 

Some see the conflict and desire unity above all else. Many of these calls for unity are spurred by a desire to avoid uncomfortable confrontations wherein one would have to call out ideological allies. This brand of unity isn’t propelled by principles at all. And that is a problem. If we shield those on our side of the aisle from criticism when it’s clear we’d not hesitate to condemn our opponents for doing the same, a moral inventory needs to take place. 

When it comes to those on the right side of the aisle, just “not being on the left” isn’t good enough. Conservatives must anchor themselves to a solid foundation. That foundation includes basic tenets of morality that are non-negotiable. There is plenty of time for discussion and possible compromise on matters of policy. But what we’re seeing now is far more serious than that. 

A virulent strain of antisemitism is weaving its way through the right in ways not seen before. For some reason, there exists the idea that if one supports Israel and the Jewish people even generally, then one does not care most about American interests. This is a convenient excuse by those who have thinly veiled antisemitic tendencies. It takes no effort at all to be a patriotic American focused on this country while also showing concern for Jews and the state of Israel. A constant theme throughout history is the attempted subjugation and destruction of the Jewish people. In 2025, those proclivities remain. The state of Israel represents freedom and the West in a part of the world that is a violent breeding ground for the opposite. 

A “big tent” approach sounds good when you want your side to be more popular than your political enemies. But welcoming everyone and everything means that before long, your group will become infected. When bad ideas take hold and find a fertile ground in which to grow, they become difficult to remove. Furthermore, they start to feel regular and routine. The extremes don’t feel so extreme. By then it’s too late to make a decisive about-face.

The time to draw a clear line in the sand is now. It doesn’t matter if those spouting conspiratorial nonsense or antisemitism are disliked by those we also count as our enemies. The enemy of our enemy is not automatically our friend. Conservatives and Republicans alike should be more selective. There must be real concern motivated by the need for improvement. The stakes are far too high.