The storm engulfing the Heritage Foundation reached new heights this week after conservative commentator Mark Levin unleashed a fiery tirade against Tucker Carlson, branding him a “Nazi promoter” and “modern-day David Duke” during a blistering segment of The Mark Levin Show.
The feud erupted as the conservative world reels from Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’ ongoing refusal to condemn Carlson for hosting Holocaust denier and white nationalist Nick Fuentes on his program — a move that has triggered mass resignations and fierce backlash across right-wing circles.
According to Levin, Carlson had reached out earlier that same day, asking him to appear for a debate at a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) conference in December. Levin flatly refused — and publicly explained why. “My family and I want nothing to do with you, what you’ve become, your vile libels against my faith, millions of Christians, and in my view, what you seek to do to our country,” Levin said. “There’s nothing to debate. You’re a Nazi promoter. You’re the modern-day David Duke.”
Levin said he was appalled that TPUSA continued to feature Carlson, stressing that this wasn’t about silencing speech but about standards. “You could be heard by millions,” Levin told him. “Regardless, some unsolicited advice: Stop long enough to remember who you used to be and what you used to stand for.”
Carlson fired back, claiming Levin was twisting his views. “For the record, I’m strongly anti-Nazi … but that’s hardly the point,” he said, challenging Levin to defend his positions “to my face like a man” while accusing him of ignoring “what Israel has done to civilians in Gaza.”
Levin dismissed Carlson’s challenge, saying he wasn’t feared but “despised.” Carlson shot back, “Well, you’re a coward. If you change your mind, I’m here. Thanks.” Levin then went further, calling Carlson a “little bastard” and alleging that he had “attacked” his stepson, David Milstein, a senior adviser to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
Later in the broadcast, Levin escalated his criticism, accusing Carlson of an “unspeakable betrayal” of conservative leader Charlie Kirk by interviewing Fuentes shortly after Kirk’s passing. Levin claimed Carlson had “figured out the more disgusting, heinous, racist, bigoted, antisemitic, anti-American things he can say, the better it is for his video podcast, ‘The Tucker Carlson Show.’”
The fallout from the episode has spilled into the Heritage Foundation, leaving its once-vaunted reputation in shambles. Its National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism (NTFCA), launched under Roberts’ leadership, has been gutted by a wave of resignations from top figures who say the organization has abandoned its principles.
Among those departing was former Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who blasted the think tank’s leadership for aligning with figures spreading hatred. “Inexplicably, consistent voices of antisemitism on the political right were embraced and, worse, defended by the leadership of Heritage Foundation,” she told Newsmax.
Other prominent names, including fellows Stephen Moore and Chris DeMuth, have also walked away. Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, warned that Roberts’ stance “pose[s] a huge danger — not just to the Jewish people, but to American civilization.”
Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, announced that his group too had left the NTFCA and called for Roberts to step down. Meanwhile, Jewish community leader Bryan Leib, another task force member who resigned, condemned the board’s inaction. “What’s really reprehensible is that Heritage’s trustees refuse to hold Roberts accountable,” Leib told Newsmax.
{Matzav.com}
