CIVIL WAR

Trump Cornered on Tucker Carlson’s Holocaust Denier Interview

The president says it’s important that “people have to decide” about a man whose quotes include “I love Hitler.”

President Donald Trump defended Tucker Carlson’s decision to give a softball interview to a Holocaust-denying white nationalist.

Nick Fuentes, 27, is one of the country’s most controversial pundits, and his interview by Tucker Carlson has sparked outrage, even among some MAGA loyalists.

When Trump was asked about the Carlson-Fuentes interview Sunday, he said, “We’ve had some great interviews with Tucker Carlson, but you can’t tell him who to interview.”

“I mean, if he wants to interview Nick Fuentes, I don’t know much about him, but if he wants to do it, get the word out, let him,” Trump went on. “You know, people have to decide. Ultimately, people have to decide.”

Fuentes on Monday sent out a message on X, saying, “Thank you Mr. President.”

Fuentes has routinely provoked outrage for espousing and promoting white nationalist and antisemitic ideologies. He’s made comments either minimizing or denying the existence of the Holocaust, praised Adolf Hitler to the extent of saying he “loves” the murderous fascist dictator, and expressed conspiratorial views about Jews supposedly controlling the world’s political and financial institutions.

Beyond his online rhetoric, Fuentes has also been associated with violent extremist groups. He participated in the 2017 Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally, and encourages his followers, known as “Groypers,” to disrupt conservative youth events and promote white identity politics.

In his interview with Carlson, released late last month, Fuentes used his appearance to further his white nationalist rhetoric. “We do need to be right-wing. We do need to be Christian. We do, on some level, need to be pro-White,” he told the former Fox News host. “Not to the exclusion of everybody else, but recognizing that white people have a special heritage here, as Americans.”

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Carlson’s sit-down with Fuentes sparked something of a civil war among MAGA ranks. Defending Carlson, Kevin Roberts, head of D.C. think tank the Heritage Foundation, said, “I disagree with, even abhor, things that Nick Fuentes says, but canceling him is not the answer either.”

Others were less convinced, with Jim Geraghty, a commentator at right-wing outlet The National Review, writing in response to Roberts’ comments, “You think this twerp is somebody that serious thinkers of the modern right should spend a lot of time engaging with?”

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As debate rages on the right over Carlson’s decision to platform Fuentes, and by some accounts legitimize dangerous ideological positions like those espoused by him, Trump proved himself quick on Sunday to sing Carlson’s praises.

“Well, I found him to be good,” he said. “I mean, he said good things about me over the years. He’s… I think he’s good. We’ve had some good interviews. I did an interview with him, we were at 300 million hits.”

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The president was soon forced to row back on his earlier statements that he doesn’t “know much about” Fuentes, given he did in fact once sit down to dinner with the white supremacist, who was brought along to a Mar-a-Lago event in 2022 by controversial rapper Ye.

“I didn’t know Nick at the time,” Trump said. “He came along, with a few other people. [Ye] brought a few people with him. Uh, meeting people, talking to people, for somebody like Tucker, that’s what they do. You know, people are controversial.”

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