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Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts is facing an “open rebellion” within the prominent right-wing think tank as he struggles to contain the growing uproar he incited by defending Tucker Carlson’s platforming of notorious white nationalist Nick Fuentes. According to the Washington Post, at least five members of the foundation’s antisemitism task force have resigned from Heritage in protest, and distinguished fellow Chris DeMuth has also left the conservative group. “It’s an absolute sh*tshow, he’s lost control of the organization,” a senior Heritage staff member told CNN. “It is open rebellion, it is disgust … 85 percent are totally disgusted.” The fallout over Roberts’ defense of Carlson within both the Washington-based think tank and the Republican Party at large has been swift and intense, sparking what appears to be a civil war that’s currently dividing the American conservative movement. In an attempt to tamp down internal and external uproar, Roberts and senior Heritage leadership held an all-staff meeting Wednesday, during which the president apologized for decrying the “venomous coalition” that criticized Carlson for his friendly interview with Fuentes. “I made a mistake, and I let you down, and I let down this institution, and I’m sorry, period, full stop,” he said. That latest attempt at damage control, however, did not appear to stop the revolt against Roberts. “When Kevin Roberts repeatedly defended Tucker Carlson after his kid-glove treatment of Nick Fuentes, I lost faith that Heritage is the right institution to lead this important fight,” Ian Speir, a member of Heritage’s National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism who recently resigned, told the Post. “We cannot let this malevolent evil make further inroads into our politics and civil discourse. It will literally destroy us.” The backlash against Roberts began last week over Carlson’s softball sitdown with Fuentes, which saw Fuentes sing the praises of Josef Stalin, bemoan the problem of “organized Jewry in America,” and tell Carlson the importance of being “pro-white.” There was one moment in particular, though, that prompted intense anger from the Christian right and Jewish conservatives. “And then the Christian Zionists who are, well, Christian Zionists. What is that? I can just say for myself, I dislike them more than anybody, because it’s Christian heresy,” Carlson told Fuentes at one point. “And I’m offended by that as a Christian.” Amid growing calls for the Heritage Foundation to distance itself from Carlson, whose media company is a sponsor of the organization, Roberts instead released a fiery video doubling down on his support for Carlson while blasting critics who wanted to “cancel” both him and Fuentes. Saying he would defend Carlson from the “slander of bad actors who serve someone else’s agenda,” Roberts also chastised the “venomous coalition” and “globalist class” who were criticizing Carlson, whom he described as a “close friend of the Heritage Foundation.” Roberts’ remarks in the video, which also saw him portraying Fuentes as a victim of cancel culture, were seen as playing on antisemitic tropes by many Heritage staffers and prominent conservative figures. With his video defense of Carlson causing an immediate wave of criticism, Roberts attempted to quell the firestorm by elaborating that he despises Fuentes’ worldview, adding that the white supremacist podcaster is “fomenting Jew hatred, and his incitements are not only immoral and un-Christian, they risk violence.” At the same time, though, he insisted that “our task is to confront and challenge those poisonous ideas” and “not to cancel” them. Needless to say, the controversy didn’t end there. In recent days, Roberts’ chief of staff Ryan Neuhaus parted ways with the Heritage Foundation, with Roberts telling employees Wednesday that Neuhaus – who he called a “good man” who “made a mistake” – was largely responsible for drafting the script for the video. "Our former chief of staff had the pen," Roberts said in the meeting. "When the script was presented to me … I understood from our former colleague that it was approved, it was signed off on by a handful of colleagues who are part of that. Still my fault, I should have had the wisdom to say, ‘Time out, let’s double check this.’" Roberts also told staff that he “didn’t know much about this Fuentes guy” and still doesn’t, except that he is an “evil person.” Still, he argued that Fuentes “has an audience of several million people, and at least some of that audience might be open to be converted” to a more traditional style of conservatism. Meanwhile, Roberts explained that the organization was still “wordsmithing and workshopping” how to distance itself from Carlson, though he maintained that the former Fox News star would remain a personal friend. He also said he was open to resigning, but felt a “moral obligation” to steer the organization through the controversy. “I made the mess, let me clean it up,” he claimed he told the foundation’s board. “This was the final straw for me. It’s just the last one, but there are many that have come before it,” researcher Rachel Greszler told Roberts during the meeting. “You have always been kind to me, but I do not believe that you are the right person to lead the Heritage Foundation.” Roberts took fire from many other employees throughout the meeting, with legal fellow Amy Swearer saying his handling of this matter was “a master class in cowardice that ran cover for the most unhinged dregs of the far right.” As for his use of terms that some felt were antisemitic dog whistles, Roberts insisted that was not his intention, though admitting it was a “terrible choice of words, especially for our Jewish colleagues and friends.” At the same time, some staffers rallied behind Roberts at the meeting and wondered what would happen to those staffers who backed Roberts, with one employee saying those who leaked to the media were “Judas.” Another point of contention, however, came up over comments made by a member of Roberts’ team. “Roberts’s speechwriter, Evan Myers, suggested that Heritage’s attempts to address accusations of antisemitism would eventually mean he would be required to attend a Shabbat dinner, which he said would conflict with his faith,” the Post reported. “Another Heritage executive shot back, ‘I’m deeply sorry that you could not see that as a generous offer but rather a personal attack on you.’” Having seen his influence grow throughout the second Trump term, especially after the death of his longtime foe Charlie Kirk, Fuentes – whose followers are known as “groypers” – has been thoroughly enjoying the rift caused by his appearance on Carlson’s show. “We are thoroughly in the groyper war,” Fuentes declared on his podcast last week. “The civil war for the GOP.”
