Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, is urging conservatives to confront squarely rising antisemitism on the right by naming names — including that of Tucker Carlson.
Mr. Cruz delivered his rallying cry Friday at the Federalist Society’s 2025 National Lawyers Convention, the annual gathering of right-tilting legal luminaries, following a week of turmoil over Mr. Carlson’s friendly interview with antisemitic firebrand Nick Fuentes.
“I will tell you: It’s easy right now to denounce Nick Fuentes. That’s kind of safe. Are you willing to say Tucker’s name?” Mr. Cruz asked the crowd at the Washington Hilton. “I can tell you my colleagues almost to a person think what is happening is horrifying, but a great many of them are frightened because he has one hell of a big megaphone.”
The conservative movement was thrown into an uproar after Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts defended Mr. Carlson in an Oct. 30 video, prompting resignations from the institution’s antisemitism task force and calls for Mr. Roberts to step down, which he has rejected.
The turbulence on the right has produced gloating on the left. But Mr. Cruz called for conservatives to grapple with the issue now instead of letting it fester, encouraging them to combat “hateful, noxious, horrible speech” with more speech.
“Fuentes and Tucker and the rest of that ilk have a right to say what they are saying, but every one of us has an obligation to stand up and say, ’It is wrong,’” Mr. Cruz said.
He warned that antisemitism on the right is on the rise, pushed by youthful personalities like Mr. Fuentes, who has one million followers on X.
“I’ve seen more antisemitism on the right than I have at any time in my life,” Mr. Cruz said. “It is growing. It is metastasizing. There are about a half-dozen vocal apostles, and it is in particular finding purchase with the young.”
Democrats are now paying the price for refusing to take on growing antisemitism on the left, he said, citing anti-Israel Democrat Zohran Mamdani’s election victory Tuesday in the New York City mayoral race.
“Ten years ago, we saw antisemitism begin to rise on the left, begin to rise on college campuses, begin to rise with radical professors corrupting the minds of young students, and we saw it begin to rise in the halls of Congress, and the leaders of the Democrat Party did nothing,” Mr. Cruz said. “They looked the other way. They said, ’This is a fringe view and doesn’t concern us, we don’t need to worry about this.’”
As a result, he said, those views have “consumed the Democrat Party.”
“Today there is a real and recognizable pro-Hamas wing of the Democrat Party, and the remainder of the Democrats are terrified of them,” said Mr. Cruz. “I have Democrat colleagues in the Senate who abhor what has happened to their party, but they are terrified to open their mouths and say a word about it.”
Watch Senator Cruz’s remarks and the full Hon. Robert H. Bork Memorial Roundtable discussion: https://t.co/FD3QWApVyI
— Federalist Society (@FedSoc) November 7, 2025
Mr. Carlson was defiant in an interview Thursday with conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly after she asked why he failed to challenge Mr. Fuentes on his previous incendiary statements, such as comparing Holocaust victims to “cookies” in the oven or ripping Vice President J.D. Vance for having “an Indian wife,” Usha Vance.
“You know, do your own interview the way that you want to do it. You’re not my editor. Buzz off,” said Mr. Carlson in a response to hypothetical critics. “I mean, I don’t know. You want to go yell at Nick Fuentes? I’ll give you his cell. Call him and go sit and yell at him and feel virtuous or whatever.”
Mr. Carlson added: “That doesn’t mean I share the views. I’m not telling Nazi jokes obviously or Holocaust jokes.”
Both Mr. Carlson and Ms. Kelly previously hosted popular shows on the Fox News Channel.
Mr. Roberts said in his video that “canceling” Mr. Carlson and Mr. Fuentes is “not the answer,” while Mr. Cruz and others have countered that legitimate criticism is not the same as “cancellation.”
“If he [Mr. Carlson] wanted to have Nick Fuentes on and cross-examine him about his odious views, that’s fine, but he didn’t,” said Mr. Cruz. “He fawningly gave in, including when Mr. Fuentes said he loved Stalin and he celebrated Joseph Stalin’s birthday every year. What kind of freak job celebrates Stalin’s birthday?”
Mr. Cruz, who gave his remarks at the start of the convention’s Robert H. Bork Memorial Roundtable, received a standing ovation.
