Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
After Ben Shapiro accused him “cowardice” to refuse to condemn Candace Owens conspiracy theories And Bari Weiss extends condemnation of Shapiro, Megyn Kelly retaliated by claiming He is the founder of Daily Wire and CBS News Editor in Chief “Making anti-Semitism” with his openly pro-Israel stance.
The former Fox News host’s tirade against Shapiro and Weiss comes amid a MAGA civil war that erupted into public view during last weekend’s AmericaFest, the annual year-end conference hosted by the prominent right-wing youth organization Turning Point USA.
The American conservative movement has already been tearing itself apart in recent months epstein files And funny interview with tucker carlson Along with notorious white nationalist Nick Fuentes, Owens added more gasoline to the fire in recent weeks by making increasingly wild claims about the assassination of Turing Point USA chief Charlie Kirk.
Owens, A far right provocateur Shapiro, who rose to fame as a host for The Daily Wire and once served as TPUSA’s communications director, has sparked a backlash among conservatives. to assert wildly Kirk may have been killed by Israeli government figures with the help of senior Turning Point staff, suggesting that this was due to Kirk’s alleged change of heart over the Gaza War.
As Owens continued lean more towards anti-semitism With her baseless claims, Kelly stood by her fellow right-wing podcasters and even took credit for founding “Detente” Between Owens and Charlie Kirk’s widow Erica Kirk, who called on Owens to stop pursuing conspiracies about her murdered husband’s death.
during his Thursday night speech at AmericaFestWhich came directly after Erica Kirk’s address, Shapiro attacked Kelly, Carlson and former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, whom Shapiro said “A PR Flak for Jeffrey Epstein.” Calling influential right-wing figures “charlatans” who “engage in conspiracy and dishonesty”, he criticized Carlson’s “moral stupidity” in the Fuentes interview, while taking particular aim at Kelly for embracing Owens.
“There’s only one moral side here: Erica Kirk’s side,” he said. “You know, the side of the widow with two children whose husband was shot live on camera in front of all of us. Friendship with the man who accused TPUSA of covering up Charlie’s murder is no excuse for cowardice.”
while kelly will respond in kind During her appearance at AmericaFest, like Carlson and Bannon, she also doubled down on Owens’ defense — and even praised him for calling out Israel in Kirk’s killing.
Kelly announced from the stage, “I don’t think Israel has anything to do with this.” “But why was it my responsibility to stop Candace from asking these questions? I didn’t do that, and I didn’t call her out because I was in favor of her asking these questions.”
Still, Kelly saved his harshest reactions for Shapiro his follow up interview with Vanity FairThat included a broadside against Weiss for inserting herself into the fray—claiming that the two prominent Jewish media personalities were responsible for pushing conservatives toward anti-Semitism.
As Carlson also claimed that Shapiro’s criticisms from the TPUSA platform were due to his support of Israel, Kelly stated that “Ben is Israel first” while noting that Shapiro would likely call that accusation anti-Semitic.
“And I’m sorry, but his behavior has vindicated that charge. Why would you divide the American conservative movement – which was growing, which was becoming more united for a moment after Charlie’s death – over Israel!” Kelly considered that Vanity Fair Conversation.
Kelly also made sure to add Weiss, who has described herself as a “Zionist fundamentalist” And their list also includes the founder of the staunchly pro-Israel digital media outlet The Free Press. Weiss, Installed as top editor of CBS News this fall And currently under fire to pull a 60 minutes In a last-minute story on CECOT, The Free Press published a version of Shapiro’s speech and shared it on social media.
Kelly declared, “There’s this very loud group of pro-Israel activists who are trying to create a litmus test of whether or not you can call yourself a conservative, and they don’t have enough capacity to do that.” “Bari has built her career specifically on anti-cancel culture. Meanwhile, she’s never been canceled. And she’s basically supporting Ben’s effort to cancel me from the conservative movement, which she’s not a part of.”
Adding “Charlie.” [Kirk] And I see at the same time that the country is changing” and “Young Republicans are turning toward Israel,” Kelly then accused Shapiro and Weiss of promoting anti-Semitic hatred with their efforts to stifle criticism of Israel.
“They’re making anti-Semites. Tucker is not making anti-Semites. He is,” Kelly said, referencing allegations that Carlson is pushing anti-Semitism with his rhetoric and conspiracy theories. Fired Fox News star vehemently denies the allegations,
Tuesday morning, Kelly keep aiming Weiss, prompting conservative pollster Frank Luntz to note That was just two months ago When? Kelly praised it a lot On Weiss following the Free Press founder’s ascension to the top of CBS News.
“What prompted the shift from ‘deserves every bit of this success’ to ‘knows literally nothing about television’?” Luntz was surprised, only to find Kelly making a sarcastic reference to Shapiro’s “cowardice” line.
“I was reliably informed this week that not telling your friends the truth about their flaws is cowardice. So my days of being a polite friend (to her) are over. More truth is coming,” Kelly tweeted in response,
In the meantime, it appears that the growing rift dividing MAGA will not be healing any time soon.
Despite meeting with Erica Kirk last week, Owens has doubled down on his crazy conspiracy theories and even Recently hosted a “Witness” who claimed to have seen Kirk at a military intelligence base the day before her husband’s death – seemingly a way to implicate him in the assassination plot.
“A day later, Owens again produced a shockingly anti-Semitic video, where he called Shapiro and his father “stomach crawlers” and urged his viewers to read The Talmudic Jew, a nineteenth-century anti-Semitic tract that became popular among Nazis,” said Will Sommer of The Bulwark. wrote,
“These are some bad things that would have been completely disqualified a long time ago,” Sommer said. “Yet just hours after that episode went live, Kelly told the MFest stage that she welcomed Owens’ questions about whether Israel was involved in the murder of Charlie Kirk.”