Inside the war tearing the Heritage Foundation and American right apart

2 hours ago7 min read

The American conservative movement is currently convulsed by an internal schism of historic proportions, a conflict that has erupted into public view with the ferocity of a long-simmering ideological war finally breaching its containment. This struggle, centered on the influential Heritage Foundation but radiating across the entire right-wing ecosystem, was ignited when Tucker Carlson, the preeminent media voice of the MAGA faithful, chose to platform Nick Fuentes, a figure widely recognized as a purveyor of gutter antisemitism, for a congenial interview.The subsequent decision by Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts to vehemently defend Carlson from criticism, rather than to condemn the normalization of such extremism, acted as the Fort Sumter of this particular civil war, triggering resignations, leaked staff meetings, and a stark generational divide. This is not merely a dispute over a single podcast episode; it is a harbinger of the post-Trump future, a raw and public battle to define the soul of the Republican Party once its current, unifying figurehead departs the stage.The underlying dynamic has been building since the 2016 election, but the uniquely combustible issue of antisemitism has provided the spark, exposing a fundamental rift between an older, pro-Israel conservative guard and a younger, more insurgent cohort deeply skeptical of both foreign entanglements and the influence of what they perceive as a liberal Jewish establishment. This breach was vividly illustrated when a well-placed Heritage insider, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of professional retaliation, described witnessing a disturbing 'rot' within the institution's culture, including staff using racially derogatory language and openly questioning women's suffrage.While Heritage has labeled these claims as 'defamatory,' the organization's retention of figures like economist E. J.Antoni—whose nomination to a key government post was withdrawn after the discovery of an anonymous account posting degrading remarks—and its association with Project 2025's John McEntee, who publicly joked about revoking women's right to vote, lend credence to the notion of a permissive environment. The fight, however, extends far beyond one think tank's corridors.The Intercollegiate Studies Institute saw board members resign in protest, echoing the sentiments of former Heritage visiting fellow Adam Mossoff, who in his resignation letter accused Roberts of embracing those who 'proselytize these evil ideas. ' What we are witnessing is the final collapse of the gatekeepers' power, a consequence of social media and direct monetization that has allowed once-unsayable debates on race, gender, and now, most divisively, Judaism, to flood from private conservative spaces into the mainstream.This mirrors the left's experience with radical ideas like police abolition entering mainstream discourse around 2020, but on the right, the ideas in question are far more sinister. The strategic calculus of this infighting is equally telling, as seen in the perspective of figures like Jack Hunter, a former shock jock who himself was canceled for neo-Confederate rhetoric but now defends Carlson's platforming of Fuentes as a necessary, if ugly, tactic in a broader factional war over U.S. policy toward Israel.This reveals that the battle lines are not drawn solely on principle but are deeply entangled with the raw power politics of the post-Trump succession, where every alliance and condemnation is weighed for its factional advantage. All eyes now turn to Vice President JD Vance, the political avatar of this online New Right, to see if he will attempt to shove this genie back into the bottle or if he will accept that the quiet part of the conservative movement's internal dialogue is now being said out loud, forever altering the landscape of American politics.

#Heritage Foundation

#Republican Party

#internal conflict

#antisemitism

#Tucker Carlson

#Nick Fuentes

#Project 2025

#featured

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