Jewish Insider: RJC, conservatives condemn Heritage’s defense of Carlson, Fuentes
By Marc Rod, Jewish Insider
Thursday, October 30, 2025
‘I am appalled, offended and disgusted that [Kevin Roberts] and Heritage would stand with Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes,’ Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks told JI
Conservatives, including the CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, condemned the Heritage Foundation and its president, Kevin Roberts, for Roberts’ defense of his "close friend" Tucker Carlson amid criticism of Carlson’s friendly interview with neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes and his general antisemitic and anti-Israel turn.
Roberts also declined to fully disavow Fuentes, saying that "canceling him is not the answer."
"Watching the statements from Kevin Roberts today, as somebody who has been involved and supportive of the Heritage Foundation since I came to Washington in 1987, I am appalled, offended and disgusted that he and Heritage would stand with Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes as somehow being acceptable spokespeople within the conservative movement," Matt Brooks, the RJC CEO, told Jewish Insider.
Brooks said that Heritage’s defense of Carlson and Fuentes "is a total abrogation of their mission and what it means to be a conservative today."
He said that RJC has worked with Heritage in various ways over the years, particularly its foreign policy team, "but obviously there’s going to be a reassessment of our relationship with Heritage in light of this."
Brooks said that "we’ve seen Heritage moving further in this direction," but that he believes that it is still "well outside of the mainstream of where the conservative movement in the Republican Party is."
"They’re becoming more like Tucker Carlson and less like Ronald Reagan. Tucker Carlson represents the Barack Obama-Bernie Sanders wing of the Republican Party," Brooks said. "I believe that there’s still a vibrant Trump-Reagan wing of the Republican Party, and Heritage continues to position itself away from that — I think to their detriment."
...In his video, Roberts cited comments by Vice President JD Vance at a Turning Point USA event on Wednesday that no other country should come "before the interest of American citizens." Vance’s comments had come in response to an openly antisemitic question accusing Jews of persecuting Christians, a notion Vance did not directly dispute.
"I wish that Vice President Vance had answered the question differently," Brooks told JI. "He should know — and if he doesn’t, I am sure there are a number of people who will make the information available to him — that the Israelis have not limited access to any of the Christian holy sites or persecuted Christians in Israel. In fact, things couldn’t be further from the truth."
"It has been Israelis, since the founding of the State of Israel and even before, that have protected the Christian heritage sites, and have always talked about having Israel as the home to the three major religions and having freedom of access and freedom of religion throughout the country," Brooks continued...
This article appeared on the Jewish Insider website on October 30, 2025.