Backs the Nazis
President Trump backed Tucker Carlson on Sunday after the ex-Fox News host’s interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes triggered contentious MAGA-world infighting.
Trump’s defense of Carlson interviewing a man labeled a white supremacist by the Justice Department puts him at odds with Republicans like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz who have condemned Carlson. More broadly, it underscores MAGA’s divided approach toward tolerating racism, sexism and antisemitism on the far right.
Trump on Sunday finally waded into the Republican warfare after weeks of critics blasting Carlson for hosting the Holocaust denier on his podcast. The president didn’t address Fuentes’ comments but said “you can’t tell him [Carlson] who to interview.” He said he found Carlson “to be good,” adding he “said good things about me.”
Trump continued, “if he wants to interview Nick Fuentes, I don’t know much about him, but if he wants to do it, get the word out. Let him, you know, people have to decide.”
I know what you’re thinking. This vacuous, demented fool can’t hear himself. He’s constantly saying that various critics should be silenced, banned, arrested etc. But because Tucker has said something good about him, he’s now a crusader for free speech. (In reality, he’s just fine with the Nazis — always has been.)
When asked if the president condemned Fuentes’ racist and antisemitic rhetoric, the White House pointed Axios to the president’s remarks. Trump said he didn’t “know much about him” but did not criticize Fuentes Sunday.
Fuentes and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2022. The president has been adamant that Ye brought Fuentes, whom he said he knew nothing about.
He reiterated that Sunday when a reporter mentioned the dinner, saying, “I didn’t know he was coming.” Trump added, “Kanye asked if he could have dinner, and he brought Nick. I didn’t know Nick at the time, and he did.”
This has become a major rift and it isn’t getting any better. Carlson, Fuentes, Ted Cruz, The Heritage Foundation, Ben Shapiro and thousands of other influencers are all at each others’ throats. It’s awesome. And here comes Trump, trying to say he knows nothing about the Nazi MAGA’s but they do say nice things about it so…
It’s undoubtedly enjoyable to watch them fight amongst themselves, but we should be aware that the mainstreaming of fascist monsters like Fuentes is not a good development under any circumstances. According to people who know, the federal government is full of his little army of young “groypers.” Not good.