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Newsmax, the right-wing network known for its ultra-pro-Trump coverage, has seemingly taken a side in the MAGA civil war that has erupted. Tucker Carlson’s flirtatious interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes And the middle has become more intense Candace Owens’s growing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories About the death of Charlie Kirk.
“What happened to Tucker?” Newsmax host John Huddy on Friday interviewed a former Israel Defense Forces soldier who accused Carlson of spreading “Jewish hatred” as he grappled with a “crisis of faith” after Fox News fired him.
Meanwhile, the conservative cable channel repeatedly praised Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro Destroying Carlson and Owens last week During Turning Point USA’s year-end AmericaFest conference, which saw an interparty rift over Israel and accusations of anti-Semitism.
In fact, Newsmax called Rabbi Steven Berg several times to talk Recent op-ed for him jerusalem post It praised Shapiro’s “moral courage” in “exposing right-wing anti-Semitism at Turning Point USA.” Berg, for his part, took Carlson to task for his “just asking questions” style — particularly during his recent Fuentes interview.
“I think what Tucker Carlson in particular is doing is terrible,” Berg said Friday morning. “The evil is also to stand by and say nothing while you watch things happen,” he said. Meanwhile, the network also noted throughout its coverage this week that an Orthodox Jewish civil rights group Carlson was named “Anti-Semite of the Year”.
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Independent Newsmax has been contacted for comment.
Over the past year, there has been conflict between different wings of the Republican Party over the direction of Donald Trump’s administration and the MAGA movement in general, whether Controversy over Jeffrey Epstein filesBombing Iran or the H1-visa issue.
However, with divisions growing between factions of the “America First” coalition over the Israel-Gaza war, Carlson’s friendly sit-down with Fuentes — a notorious Holocaust denier who leads a troll group of racist followers known as “Groypers” — was a seismic event for the GOP.
After the president of the influential conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation initially defended Carlson tried to “cancel” him against the “toxic coalition” and the “global class”, the organization soon found itself in “Open rebellion” And faced a wave of resignations.
Carlson himself will look for sponsors Start Running From Her PodcastHowever, he did not back down from his critics, saying “Go” Receiving support from former Fox News colleague Megyn Kelly.
Owens would add more fuel to the fire with his wild theories about the murder of Kirk, a conservative activist and founder of the right-wing youth organization TPUSA. Owens, who was once a close friend of Kirk and TPUSA’s communications director, has claimed Israeli government agents could have assassinated him because of his changing views on Gaza, and TPUSA employees could have been involved in his assassination.
After Kirk’s widow, Erica Kirk, asked Owens to stop promoting his conspiracies, Kelly – who has refused to condemn Owens – said he arranged a private meeting between the two women to discuss the situation. Since that standoff, Owens and Kelly have doubled down on their claims appreciated for asking the question About cancer death.
During his speech at AmericaFest last week, Shapiro left scorched earth Carlson, Owens (who once worked for Shapiro), Kelly, and former Trump strategist turned MAGA podcaster Steve Bannon criticized their moral “cowardice”, calling them “arrests and frauds.” Bannon, Carlson and Kelly would all counterattack from the TPUSA stage later in the event.
Lines are being drawn in the MAGA sand in recent days, and even the Trump administration weigh And trying to get its most popular influencers to stop “canceling each other” on “self-defeating purity tests,” Newsmax weighed in this week and essentially declared it was in Shapiro’s favor.
“Now, as far as we know, Tucker Carlson is not a member of the clergy. But he told the crowd that anti-Semites have the right to a platform for their hate speech because, quote, they have a soul,” morning anchor Chrissie Lenzo told Berg on Friday. “So, as a rabbi, how do you respond to Carlson, who feels it is his God-given right to give a platform to anti-Semites?”
Calling it “the most absurd thing in the world”, Berg said that Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin “had a soul” but then “killed many millions of people” before accusing Carlson of poisoning the minds of America’s youth.
Berg declared, “He is simply giving a platform to people who peddle conspiracy theories that are completely absurd.” “And it’s going to destroy the country because you have young people who are hearing these things and believing it to be true.”
Meanwhile, guest host TW Shannon said, “Follow the dollar” because “we know that there are extreme Muslim terrorist groups that really promote this type of hatred on both the left and the right.” This appears to point to allegations made by self-appointed Trump “loyalty enforcer” Laura Loomer and Fox News host Mark Levin. Carlsen is on Qatar’s payroll,
During his late morning interview with former IDF soldier Benjamin Anthony, Bone — who was once Carlson’s colleague at Fox News — took a dig at the onetime primetime star as well as Owens, Fuentes and Kelly.
“It’s a dangerous trend we’re seeing with Candace Owens, who has everything that comes out of her mouth — excuse me, I’m going to take off my journalist hat — but it’s just bullshit. It’s horrible! It’s anti-Semitic! Same with Nick Fuentes.”
Saying that Carlson “is not backing down on this,” he claimed that Carlson said “opponents have the right to a platform for their hate speech” because they have the right souls to express outrage over the right-wing pundit’s alleged position.
“No, they don’t! Not when they’re spewing lies, fabrications and hatred, I don’t think they do and I think they should be called out,” Bones said angrily.
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“My question is that a lot of people have asked, ‘What happened to Tucker?’ What is the reason behind this because he was not always like this. We have never heard this kind of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel talk coming from her, from Megyn Kelly,” he continued earlier. Citing Qatar’s alleged influence,
“I have my suspicions and its roots go back to some of Qatar’s influence through social media in Qatar and the Western world, the United States, Europe,” Huddy wondered. “But what do you think? Why do you think this happened to people like her and Megan Kelly?”
Anthony, who now leads Pro-Israel Miriam Instituteopenly speculated that Carlson “has finally got license to speak his heart out” because he is now a “YouTuber” and is in the “Wild West of media”, adding that Carlson’s sudden termination from Fox News in 2023 had caused a “crisis of trust”.
Anthony asserted, “I think Tucker Carlson is reacting to a disruptive event in his life – him being fired from Fox News.” “And I think, quite frankly, he – as is often the case among feeble-minded individuals – looks around to blame someone other than himself and what does he say? Rupert Murdoch holds water for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I’m now going to attack Benjamin Netanyahu, the Jewish state and, yes, the Jewish people.”
This is not the first time Newsmax has attempted to marginalize Carlson amid right-wing criticism of the former Fox News host.
Earlier this summer, Newsmax personalities and guests began telling their viewers — and one viewer in particular — that Carlson had “Jumped the Shark” and Was No Longer Relevant after leading a maga rebellion Against the White House over America’s involvement in Israel’s short-lived war against Iran.
At the time, Trump labeled Carlson — a longtime aide who helped convince him to choose J.D. Vance as his running mate — “Kookie Tucker” while mocking the commentator’s unceremonious exit from Fox News.
However, Newsmax’s condemnation of Carlson is a little more ironic, given that it was just two years ago that the network made a play for Fox News’ much larger conservative audience by shamelessly introducing Carlson after the Murdoch-owned outlet fired the host.
In the days following Carlson’s termination, Newsmax mentioned Carlson’s name on air hundreds of times and dozens of volumes dedicated That situation featured typically conservative guests raging against Fox News for letting him go. With Newsmax’s sudden ratings surge, the network even ran An “immediate poll” asking viewers whether “it was right for Fox News to fire Tucker Carlson” and whether they “want Tucker back on cable TV.”
moreover, it was reported Network CEO Chris Ruddy was not only offering Carlson his own primetime Newsmax show, but he also floated the idea of programming an entire channel with him to sweeten the deal. Network executives also made it clear at the time that “they would basically give him a bigger role in the rebranding of their channel.”