I’ve been following a kind of internal civil war emerging within Trump’s MAGA movement, particularly centered around the controversy stirred up by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Many right-wing commentators whom I myself used to respect years ago have been drifting into this “woke-right” camp, which has been marked by a strong anti-Israel sentiment that is increasingly taking on the characteristics of classical antisemitism. You can still find a positive article about Carlson on my blog, published back in December 2023, where I referred to the X-Space audio discussion between Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, and Alex Jones criticizing the new world order and the Malthusian death-ideology of its supporters. Except for Musk, my respect for every figure mentioned in that article has steadily declined, and today I view Carlson as perhaps the most dangerous promoter of Jew-hatred in America.

The term “woke-right” was first used in May 2025 by academic James Lindsay, who until then had primarily focused on criticizing the woke-left. Since then, many other conservative influencers have adopted the term in an attempt to drive out these anti-Jewish, racist, misogynistic, Islamist-sympathizing, and authoritarian extremists from within the MAGA movement. But the dam has already broken, and this flood of Jew-hatred poisoning young minds is no longer easy to stop. What was once fringe thinking is rapidly becoming part of the mainstream right. This is due largely to figures like Tucker Carlson, who have normalized this new wave of right-wing antisemitism. Even Benjamin Netanyahu, whom the woke-right despises, has entered the dispute by referring to them mockingly as the “woke-reich”.

Without going all the way back to the days of the Third Reich, the origins of the woke-right trace back to a young radical Catholic named Nick Fuentes, whose so-called “Groyper” followers have sought to incite this civil war among young American conservatives since the previous decade. Their campaign was primarily directed at Charlie Kirk’s – who was assassinated in September – Turning Point USA organization. There are many videos on X that clearly show Kirk and Fuentes were far from being close allies. Alongside fighting the radical left, Kirk also often had to fight the radical right, who claimed that homosexual conservatives like Peter Thiel and Dave Rubin were not welcome in the conservative movement due to their sexual orientation and constantly criticized America’s alliance with Israel. The Groypers also attacked the basic constitutional rights of American citizens based on skin color or religion.

Nick Fuentes, the leader of the Groypers, has made numerous shocking statements. On one occasion, he compared the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust to “cookies burned in an oven” and attempted to deny the death toll. He has called Hitler “a freaking awesome guy,” said that women should be thrown into a river and burned at the stake like in the Salem witch trials, and praised the Taliban’s Islamist regime in Afghanistan as a better model for a society he would like to see in the West. Although Fuentes’ followers claim to defend Christian morality against the West’s moral decay promoted by the far left, Fuentes once joked with a far-left influencer known as Destiny about how “kids are hotter,” and in another instance openly admitted he preferred marrying a 16-year-old girl instead of a 25-year-old woman. Yet even that is not entirely credible, since the unmarried Fuentes appears to also be interested in men, having once accidentally streamed gay pornography live and later blamed Jews for it.

Fuentes is not merely some paleoconservative “America Only” type who opposes U.S. military support for Israel. He is an open antisemite who has said he is in a holy war against the Jews and is ready to die in this crusade against them. For years, Fuentes’ Groyper activists remained on the margins of the MAGA movement, but the October 7 terrorist attack and the Gaza war have ignited Jew-hatred to unprecedented levels, both on the far-left and the far-right.

This has not surprised me. In my first book, completed in 2014, I wrote about the so-called “red-green-brown alliance,” meaning the coalition between the far-left, radical Islam, and the far-right when it comes to Israel and the Jews. Jew-hatred is the one thing that successfully unites all of these extremist factions, who are at war against the entire Judeo-Christian Western civilization. So when far-right figures like Fuentes claim to be defending the Kingdom of Christ and use the chant “Christ is King!” as a political slogan, in reality they are waging war against Christ and His Kingdom. Their Christ is not the Jewish King proclaimed by the apostles, but some sort of “Aryan Christ” who seeks to establish a “Christian theocracy” that is nothing more than a mirror image of Islamic theocracy.

A significant turning point in the rise of the woke-right was when black conservative commentator Candace Owens, who worked at the Daily Wire (a media platform founded by Orthodox Jew Ben Shapiro) until the end of 2023, and who had previously enjoyed warm relationships with Christian Zionist figures like Charlie Kirk and Jewish conservatives like Dennis Prager, was dismissed from the platform. She then founded her own platform, where she has gradually become a promoter of increasingly paranoid anti-Jewish conspiracy theories. Prager, who became the victim of a serious accident soon after Trump’s re-election, is known for his PragerU channel, which has educated millions of young people around the world in America’s traditional conservative values, including love for the Jewish people and for Israel.

Jew-hatred often spreads in the form of conspiracy theories, because conspiracy theories do not rely on concrete, verifiable evidence that would stand up in a court of law. Instead, they exploit the public’s distrust of institutions of power and mainstream media narratives. In doing so, they attempt to fill the gaps left by public discourse through seemingly innocent questions that already contain the seed of accusation. I say this as someone who has fallen into this pattern myself. As a teenager, my interest in biblical prophecy often merged with my interest in conspiracy theories. I often say that while many people only woke up in adulthood to the realization that official narratives do not always tell the whole truth, I knew that already at age 13, and therefore became involved in many of the popular conspiracy theories that are far more widespread today than they were 20 years ago.

I suppose I have always been too logical a thinker (an INTP “Logician” according to multiple personality assessments) to ever fall into flat-earth beliefs, but I admit that in my youth I did believe the claim that NASA’s Apollo moon landings were staged. Today I regard that kind of thing as a form of confirmation-bias-driven cognitive dissonance rooted in pure epistemic narcissism (as opposed to epistemic humility, which was a central principle behind the development of the scientific revolution). It certainly feeds the ego to imagine that after watching a couple TikTok videos, we understand astrophysics better than 99.9% of real astrophysicists who have spent their entire lives studying the subject academically. But today you don’t even need to be an astrophysicist to challenge your own false preconceptions. You can use ChatGPT, Grok, or other large language models to present condensed summaries of both sides of any dispute.

But this is precisely how the logic of conspiracy theories works. One jumps to a conclusion that contradicts the prevailing narrative without a deeper understanding of the subject, or without first carefully considering all alternative explanations that might account for the perceived anomaly, and evaluating which explanation is the simplest and most likely. Instead of reaching conclusions through a balanced examination of evidence, conspiracy theorists selectively gather only the pieces of evidence that support their theory while ignoring all evidence that contradicts it. This does not apply to all so-called conspiracy theories, since real conspiracies have always existed, and I myself still believe in several of them.

In addition to Fuentes and Mrs. Owens, the influencers now associated with the woke-right include names such as Andrew Tate and Sneako (both Muslims), Ian Carroll, Dan Bilzerian, Dave Smith, the Hodgetwins, and increasingly also “the king of conspiracy theories” Alex Jones, whom I myself have often defended and acknowledged as having had an influence on my own thinking and on the broader MAGA movement in America. Having followed Jones since the George W. Bush era, I know that he has never promoted anti-Jewish conspiracy theories. But recently he has sided in this internal MAGA civil war with figures like Tucker Carlson, because Tucker was one of the few mainstream conservative journalists who took Jones seriously and frequently invited him onto his X platform for interviews. Like Tucker, Jones does not seem to have a particularly deep understanding of the historical background of the Israel–Palestine conflict or of biblical theology, which is why he has never been a strong Christian Zionist.

However, all of these names are relatively marginal influencers compared to Tucker Carlson, who for a long time enjoyed immense popularity among the core of Trump’s supporters and was often regarded as the only honest journalist willing to speak about topics that others avoided. What perhaps contributed most to the downward spiral of Tucker’s career was the fact that, even during his time at Fox, he was known as an advocate of isolationist foreign policy—the view that America should withdraw from NATO and avoid involvement in overseas wars, which were often perceived as benefiting only the military-industrial complex rather than ordinary Americans.

This view was naturally popular among Trump supporters because of his America First doctrine, but it misunderstood Trump’s actual foreign policy principle, which was never isolationist. Rather, it reflected the same doctrine known since the eras of Nixon and Reagan: that wars are best prevented when America projects military power through technological superiority and credible deterrence, and is not afraid to confront its enemies when necessary to demonstrate that superiority. One could also say that George W. Bush believed in this principle, but in practice his wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were among the greatest foreign policy disasters in history. Because of this, many young Americans now label all non-isolationist foreign policy as Bush-era neoconservatism.

Thus, Trump’s America First doctrine was distorted into America Only by journalists like Tucker. This was well understood among Tucker’s followers even during his time at Fox. Over the past year, Tucker’s position shifted from arguing that America should not support Israel at all to portraying Israel as some sort of satanic force, and claiming that all Jews in Israel and all Christian Zionists in America are enemies of the people. On his show, he hosted figures such as Darryll Cooper, a World War II revisionist who teaches that Winston Churchill was the real villain of the war, and Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos, a mustached Orthodox nun living in the West Bank who spread false claims that Hamas is not an Islamist terrorist organization and that Israel murders Middle Eastern Christians—despite Israel being the only country in the region where Christians are safe and where their population is growing rather than shrinking.

The final low point came when Tucker invited Nick Fuentes—an openly anti-Jewish extremist—onto his show. Instead of pressing him with difficult questions, Tucker affirmed him and spoke to him as if he were an old friend. Meanwhile, he interrogated a Christian Zionist senator like Ted Cruz as if he were a criminal. When Fuentes remarked during the interview that he admires Joseph Stalin, Tucker did not challenge him or ask why he admired one of the bloodiest mass-murderers of the 20th century. In the same interview, Tucker said he despises Christian Zionists more than anyone, calling their beliefs offensive and heretical. Tucker has repeatedly platformed advocates of Replacement Theology who demonize the Scofield Reference Bible, Dispensationalism, and Christian Zionism, and who are now resurrecting the medieval Christian antisemitism that claimed God had rejected the Jews forever as “Christ-killers” and that the Christian Church had replaced Israel as the “new Israel”—in direct contradiction to what Paul taught in Romans chapter 11.

Many of Tucker’s former Christian followers have half-jokingly asked whether a demon gained dominion over Tucker’s soul, because last year he publicly shared a story about a demon attacking him at night and leaving three visible scratches on his back. There has also been speculation about the influence of Qatar, which has financed Hamas and Islamist terrorism, because many of these right-wing influencers who once spoke strongly against Islamism and Sharia law have suddenly begun defending Sharia law, Islam, and the Arab dictators of the Persian Gulf. Qatar is known to funnel massive amounts of money into Western universities, where young minds are systematically indoctrinated with anti-Israel propaganda.

Tucker Carlson’s influence within the American conservative movement is evident in the fact that he was also a friend of Charlie Kirk, and Kirk’s Turning Point USA has not turned its back on Tucker even after he invited Nick Fuentes — Kirk’s arch-enemy — onto his program. After Kirk’s death, Fuentes has mocked Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, and insinuated that she arranged her husband’s murder. (Woke-right figures such as Candace Owens and Ian Carroll have gone even further, spreading conspiracy theories that Netanyahu’s government was involved in Kirk’s murder, a claim that even Nick Fuentes dismissed as ridiculous given Kirk’s strong support for Zionism.)

The more conservatives offended by the woke-right’s antisemitism demand that Turning Point sever ties with Tucker, the more this issue appears to be splitting the MAGA movement into two camps. Tucker’s defenders view this as an example of “right-wing cancel culture,” claiming that any criticism of Israel is being silenced in the same way the woke-left seeks to cancel those it labels racist or transphobic. Many conservative influencers — such as Steve Bannon and Roger Stone (both friends of Alex Jones) — who were once known as supporters of Israel and the Jewish people, have for some strange reason now sided with the woke-right. Jewish conservative journalist Laura Loomer is one of the few remaining voices on X whom I still follow, because the platform is now filled with all types of neo-Nazis.

Many conservatives are too afraid to criticize Tucker Carlson. Even if they refuse to take sides in this conflict, they often call for conservative unity (for example, Matt Walsh from the Daily Wire), which implicitly assumes that those criticizing Nick Fuentes’ and Candace Owens’ antisemitism are the ones causing division, and that conservatives should now “unite” with neo-Nazis in order to defeat the Democrats in next year’s midterm elections.

The response recorded by Kevin Roberts, president of the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, to rumors that the organization had distanced itself from Tucker, also drew sharp criticism from opponents of the woke-right. While Roberts did say that antisemitism should be condemned, he immediately followed this by describing Tucker’s critics as a “toxic coalition sowing division.” Seth Dillon, CEO of the Christian satirical site Babylon Bee, responded to Roberts on X: “Why demand that antisemitism be condemned, yet in the next breath condemn the current condemnation effort as a divisive ‘toxic coalition’ akin to cancel culture? Please explain.” (Roberts later admitted that he had made a mistake and apologized, acknowledging that his statement sent the wrong message about what the Heritage Foundation stands for.)

Although President Trump himself has been known for decades as a friend of the Jewish people, and has arguably been the most pro-Israel president in American history — recently giving a speech in Israel’s Knesset in which he gave the highest honor and praise to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — many now fear that his potential successor, Vice President J.D. Vance, is emerging as the pied piper of the woke-right. Vance’s relationship to Israel has not been as positive as Trump’s, and he recently stated that he was “personally offended” by the Israeli parliament’s decision to take control of the West Bank, calling it “a very stupid political stunt.”

Vance is also known to be a friend of Tucker Carlson, even though President Trump himself has publicly called Tucker “a kook,” after Tucker opposed Trump’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities last summer and claimed they would start World War III. Recently, Vance also lashed out against Ezra Levant, a Jewish journalist living in Canada known for his conservative Rebel News platform. I am not claiming that J.D. Vance, a Roman Catholic, is himself an antisemite who shares the worldview of Nick Fuentes or Tucker Carlson. The Catholic Church’s Nostra Aetate (1965), article 4, condemns Christian antisemitism and affirms nearly the same theological position held by Christian Zionists regarding the Jewish people. Therefore, the Replacement Theology embraced by Fuentes, Owens, and Tucker is heresy even within contemporary Catholic theology.

I believe that both the responses of Turning Point USA and Vice President Vance reflect a strategic posture aimed at keeping the MAGA movement intact. They do not dare to “excommunicate” figures like Tucker Carlson, because doing so would be seen as too divisive and might drive away many young conservatives who are far more skeptical of Israel than the older Republican generation. Such a move would also reinforce the already absurd perception that the “Zionist lobby” controls American politicians. Charlie Kirk himself struggled with the same dilemma, even though he was one of Israel’s strongest supporters and friends in America. But as his personal letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu already shows, he was deeply concerned that Israel was losing the PR war for the minds of young Americans, and that he could not fight the growing wave of Jew-hatred alone.

But as the old saying goes: “Give the devil a finger, and he will take the whole hand.” Just as the naivety of Franz von Papen toward Nazism enabled Hitler’s rise to power, and Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of the Nazis led to the Second World War, so too today the Republican Party’s appeasement of figures like Nick Fuentes may lead to consequences that future historians will remember with the same shame that now surrounds Papen and Chamberlain.