Fuentes, Carlson Interview Sparks Heated Debate in GOP Circles

The “Conservative Movement” in the United States is experiencing an ideological schism, the winner of which may emerge to shape the modern U.S. Republican Party for years to come.  Traditional neoconservative views about foreign policy, which have dominated the GOP for the better part of the last half century, are being challenged by the self-dubbed “America First” movement led by, among others, the young, charismatic Nick Fuentes.  This party infighting has been brewing for the last year or so, fueled in part by Fuentes’ skyrocketing online popularity.  The 27-year-old Chicago native has been a fringe figure in online media since 2015, but he has enjoyed a meteoric rise in support over the last 12 months.  Fuentes had 750,000 viewers of his channel on Rumble in September 2025 alone, and millions more view his viral clips on X and Instagram every month.  And it was Fuentes’ recent interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who started his own news media company in 2023 after leaving Fox, has exposed the growing GOP foreign policy schism.

Before getting into the content of and reactions to the interview, it is important to explain the foreign policy viewpoints of both sides.  The incumbent Republican foreign policy philosophy since the late 20^th century has been the idea of neoconservatism.  In a nutshell, this political ideology advocates for a strong military and to use the armed forces to pursue an interventionalist foreign policy with the goal of “spreading democracy” around the globe.  Supporters of this philosophy express the desire for America to achieve “peace through strength”, and that the United States must be the most active participant in world affairs to ensure the nation’s security.  Ronald Reagan fighting the “war on communism”, and George W. Bush invading Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11, are two examples of the neocon philosophy in practice.  

This method is being questioned through the debate about whether or not the U.S. should continue to defend Israel, as well as through broader questions regarding the overall U.S. approach to the Middle East. The mainstream position of U.S. conservatives has been to value a partnership with Israel, as many believe the relationship is in America’s long-term best interest.

This is where Fuentes and his followers, who call themselves the “Groypers,” vehemently disagree.  Fuentes (and those who share his beliefs) routinely argue that Israel, and pro-Israel lobbying groups like AIPAC, have a stranglehold on United States foreign policy in the region, and have led to the U.S. engaging in actions that are not in the U.S.’s long-term interest.  Fuentes argues that various U.S. military engagements in the Middle East, such as bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities, do more for the Israel than they do for the U.S.  He also claims Israel “doesn’t want peace” in Gaza, and they have compromised American politicians into allowing the conflict to continue, so as to advance Israeli objectives at the expense of U.S. security.

Fuentes subscribes to the Pat Buchanon school of thought: America should avoid foreign wars, reduce foreign aid, and protect its own sovereignty and economy before intervening abroad.  These were all points that Buchanon raised years ago during the 1990’s, statements that got him labeled as an “antisemite” and cast out from the mainstream.  He famously said during the lead-up to the 1991 Gulf War that there were, “only two groups beating the drums for war in the Middle East — the Israeli Defense Ministry and its amen corner in the United States.”

That takes us to the Fuentes-Carlson interview.  The two-hour long conversation hit on a myriad of topics, but the biggest was Israel, and why Fuentes feels so strongly about America’s need to distance itself from the Middle Eastern nation.  Fuentes echoed all of his usual points (listed above) and the conversation, while confrontational at times, was largely respectful.

However, after the interview aired, GOP lawmakers and pundits such as Ted Cruz, Mark Levin, and Ben Shapiro took to their various audiences to condemn Fuentes and Tucker. They smeared Fuentes as an antisemite - something he is not foreign to - and Carlson as an enabler. Immediately after the interview, Levin called Fuentes and his supporters the, “Anti American, anti-Israel, anti-West crowd.” Then, on Monday, Shapiro dedicated an hour-long segment of his show to the interview in question, and ended it with the following, “No to the groypers. No to cowards like Tucker Carlson, who normalize their trash.  No to those who champion them.  No to demoralization.  No to bigotry and anti-meritocratic horseshit. No to anti-Americanism. No.”

In the weeks since the interview, several more establishment Right pundits have spoken out against Fuentes and Carlson.  However, Carlson did get one very big endorsement from the president of the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, who said, “Tucker Carlson remains, and, as I have said before, always will be, a close friend of the Heritage Foundation.  The venomous coalition attacking him are sowing division.  Their attempts to cancel him will fail.  Most importantly, the American people expect us to be focusing on our political adversaries on the Left, not attacking our friends on the Right.”

These are just a few examples of how political pundits on the Right (and one can assume their supporters) are beginning to take sides in this interparty feud.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out and which side will control the destiny of GOP politics in America.