Newsmax went hard against the Heritage Foundation’s effective endorsement of anti-Semiitism (well-almost) through itw failure to sufficiently denounce Tucker Carlson’s platforming of white supremacist Nick Fuentes, while its fellow ConWeb denizens at the Media Research Center basically censored it. Newsmax kept up that anger into the end of the year and well into the new year:
- Robert P. George Resigns From Heritage, Crisis Over Antisemitism Deepens
- Bryan Leib to Newsmax: Heritage Continues to Bleed Support
- Josh Blackman Resigns Over Heritage’s ‘Untenable’ Antisemitism
- WSJ: Heritage Foundation Has ‘Blown Up’ Under Kevin Roberts’ Leadership
- Bryan Leib to Newsmax: Heritage Foundation President Roberts Must ‘Step Aside’
- Ed Meese Backs New Legal Center Outside Heritage Foundation
In addition to his Newsmax appearances, Leib wrote a Nov. 20 Newsmax column denouncing the situation:
The Republican Party is led by President Donald J. Trump, the best friend the Jewish community in America and Israel has ever had.
Yet today, we find ourselves confronting something that many assumed could never happen: a troubling rise of antisemitic rhetoric and influence on the right.
This isn’t coming from the Republican rank and file.
It’s coming from a fringe gaining platforms, protection, and credibility from those who should know better.
The controversy surrounding the Heritage Foundation’s embrace of Tucker Carlson, even after Carlson hosted one of the most notorious Jew haters in America, is not simply a debate over personalities.
It’s a moral test.
When the President of Heritage publicly praises Carlson as a friend, even as Carlson elevates voices who deny Israel’s right to exist and demonize American Jews, the message is unmistakable.
It tells antisemites that their place in the conservative movement is secure.
[…]The future of the conservative movement will be shaped by the choices made right now.
The Republican Party will not become a home for antisemitism.
The conservative movement will not surrender its moral compass.
Not now. Not ever.
A Dec. 22 article by the apparently unironically named Charlie McCarthy hyped:
Former Vice President Mike Pence’s political group reportedly is hiring away top officials from the Heritage Foundation, deepening a simmering power struggle inside the conservative movement as Republicans battle over what comes after the Trump era.
Pence’s Washington-based organization, Advancing American Freedom, plans to bring on roughly 15 Heritage employees, including several prominent leaders, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The exodus of top Heritage staff and fellows has gained momentum after the think tank’s president, Kevin Roberts, refused to criticize Tucker Carlson’s antisemitism or disassociate the organization from the podcaster.
Pence followed with a Jan. 8 TV appearance:
Former Vice President Mike Pence said the Heritage Foundation has become “disappointing and concerning to millions of American conservatives” following what he described as a significant shift in ideology.
“I had a longstanding relationship with the Heritage Foundation,” Pence said on CNN Wednesday night, adding that the Washington-based think tank “contributed mightily to the conservative movement,” before sharply criticizing its recent direction.
Host Kaitlin Collins framed the issue as a growing fracture within the conservative movement, noting that “more than a dozen staffers, some of them incredibly influential,” have left Heritage amid controversy over “condemning or allowing anti-Semitism in your party.”
[…]Pence emphasized that his organization, Advancing American Freedom, was founded five years ago “to be one more voice in the conservative movement in Washington, D.C.”
“I was deeply humbled when some of the leading policy, thought leaders at Heritage came, came to us and said, we see you as a consistent organization, committed to that traditional conservative agenda,” Pence said.
And Newsmax still wasn’t done. We’ll get to that soon.