Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 17, 2025 / 15:41 pm (CNA).
Robert P. George, a Catholic academic focused on philosophy and law, resigned from his board position at the conservative Heritage Foundation on Nov. 17 after the think tank’s leader Kevin Roberts posted a video defending Tucker Carlson’s interview with Nick Fuentes.
In the interview, Carlson and Fuentes bonded over criticism of Israel, and Carlson pushed back on Fuentes for tying his criticisms of Israel to Jewish identity and blaming “organized Jewry” for the American support of Israel. Jewish organizations and some conservative and other political commentators argued that Carlson platformed Fuentes’ views and kept a friendly tone without adequately pushing back against antisemitic claims. Carlson allowed Fuentes to speak uninterrupted and challenged general blame levied against Jewish people but did not address each specific claim Fuentes made.
Roberts, who has since apologized, said in his initial video that he abhors “things that Nick Fuentes says” but urged debate instead of “canceling him.” He said Heritage would stay friends with Carlson and criticized the “venomous coalition” attacking Carlson.
In the video, Roberts said: “Christians can critique the state of Israel without being antisemitic.” Roberts issued an apology for using the term “venomous coalition” amid accusations that it was an antisemitic trope and said Heritage would continue to fight antisemitism.
George said in a Facebook post that he would resign from the board because Roberts did not fully retract his initial video when he issued an apology.
“Kevin is a good man,” George said. “He made what he acknowledged was a serious mistake. Being human myself, I have plenty of experience in making mistakes. What divided us was a difference of opinion about what was required to rectify the mistake.”
George said he was saddened to leave Heritage and prays the think tank “will be guided by the conviction that each and every member of the human family, irrespective of race, ethnicity, religion, or anything else, as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, is ‘created equal’ and ‘endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.’”
“The anchor for the Heritage Foundation, and for our nation, and for every patriotic American is that creed,” he said. “It must always be that creed. If we hold fast to it even when expediency counsels compromising it, we cannot go wrong. If we abandon it, we sign the death certificate of republican government and ordered liberty.”
A spokesperson for Heritage said in a statement to CNA that George is “a good man,” thanked him for his time at Heritage, and looks forward to “opportunities to work together in the future.”
“Under the leadership of Dr. Roberts, Heritage remains resolute in building an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and civil society flourish,” the statement read. “We are strong, growing, and more determined than ever to fight for our republic.”
Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the conservative Family Institute of Connecticut, said in response to George on Facebook that he disagrees with George’s decision to resign “when Heritage is trying to make amends and needs support of the adults in the room, lest it be tempted by the ancient evil about whose promotion Kevin Roberts was initially too sanguine.”
Wolfgang said the “continuing beatdown” on Roberts appears to be a proxy for the pre-Trump Republicans seeking to “take back the reins of the party from the Trumpers.” Though he told George, “I’m not saying that’s you,” he added that the neoconservative wing of the Republican Party and the “MAGA” wing should be unified in opposition to antisemitism.
The Oct. 27 interview of Fuentes by Carlson has more than 6.2 million views on YouTube. In the interview, Fuentes discussed Republican efforts to “cancel” him starting when he was 18 years old. Those efforts often focused on his criticism of Israel and derogatory comments toward Jewish people and other ethnic minorities.
Fuentes and Carlson agreed in criticism of Israeli military action in Gaza, opposition to American financial and logistic support to Israel, and objections to politicians receiving political donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Carlson objected when Fuentes said neoconservatism and advocacy for Israel was rooted in Jewish identity and blamed “organized Jewry” for wars. Carlson retorted that many supporters of Israel are Christian Zionists, like Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee, and many Jewish Americans, such as Dave Smith, are critical of Israel.
In the interview, Carlson said collectively blaming Jewish people is “against my Christian faith” and “I just don’t believe that and I never will.”
The interview has fractured American conservatives. Some denounced Carlson for his friendly tone throughout the interview. Others noted his pushback against some of Fuentes’ views and the political relevance of Fuentes, who has a large fanbase among young conservative men.
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“Wolfgang said the “continuing beatdown” on Roberts appears to be a proxy for the pre-Trump Republicans seeking to “take back the reins of the party from the Trumpers.””
This is a key insight about the extreme and continued response to Roberts and also to Carlson. A couple years ago I attended a conference at Franciscan University in Steubenville that centered on the Church’s relations to the Jewish people. Kevin Roberts was one of the speakers and based on his emphatic talk there he is clearly not anti-semitic or in the slightest sympathetic to such views. Carlson has made clear in his comments noted in the article that he is not either. So what is really going on?
The professor could have made his feelings known internally that Heritage should do more, but he chose to make a dramatic exit. There is a lot of such exaggerated drama going on over this, and it would be a shame if the neo-cons are allowed to use an idiot like Fuentes, and limited mistakes by good-willed men like Roberts and Carlson, to bring back the world-view that brought us the Iraq war, the subsequent destruction of much of middle-eastern Christianity, and the callous disregard for the well-being of Christians caught amidst the Israel-Hamas war. As I have said before, American Catholics need to pay more attention to the views of Rome about the mid-east and our fellow Catholics who actually live in the region and not be swept along by domestic political tides and philosophies.
You can criticize specific actions of Israel in Gaza without being anti semitic. That said, you don’t want to get into generalities about “the Jews.” It’s a bit of a tightrope, but it can be done. Unfortunately, some on both the hard Left and hard Right can lapse into generalized criticism of “International Jewry” and other such historical anti Semitism.
Defining Anti Semitism is perhaps similar to defining pornography. Difficult to precisely define, but you know it when you see it.
We can’t read anyone’s heart but we can take a moral stand against the views they proclaim & not continue to fund programs that platform those views.
Free speech is a constitutional right but moral clarity is an obligation.
Mr. Arnold is to be commended for writing a fair article on the Fuentes interview in contrast to the vague hit piece penned by Mr Peter’s here last week. Yes, Carlson did push back against some of Fuentes’ comments on Jews. Yes, many of the criticisms both have made against Israel and American Jews are at least defensible. Objecting to Israel’s conduct in Gaza and the power of AIPAC is not antisemitic per se. Of course, Carlson didn’t say everything he could have in a two hour interview. Carlson mentioned that he did not call out Fuentes for his attacks on TC himself, his wife and his father. Did those omissions mean the Carlson agreed with NF’s attacks on himself and his family?
Dr. George is a neoconservative very much in mold of George Weigel and Michael Novak. His support for whatever the Israeli government wants to do in the Middle East is absolute. He equates criticism of Israel and its US lobby with antisemitism. I found it particularly interesting that George, partly of Syrian extraction, fully supported the Israeli campaign to overthrow Assad in Syria, even though everyone knew that jihadists would take over and immediately begin persecuting Christians. As I said, he is Israel First.
Also, it is very telling that George and the other preening “conservative” intellectuals who have resigned from Heritage or piled on Roberts remained silent when the former president of the think tank joined in all the racism hysteria surrounding George Floyd’s death in 2020. With conservative such as them, who needs leftists?