{"id":127237,"date":"2026-01-26T17:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T15:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=127237"},"modified":"2026-01-22T08:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T06:46:09","slug":"14-09-116","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=127237","title":{"rendered":"Concern about antisemitism on the right isn\u2019t a plot against Vance"},"content":{"rendered":"<hr>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jns.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"center alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.reunion68.com\/Biuletyn\/img\/jns-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"35%\"><\/a><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #000080;\"><span><strong><a style=\"color: #000080; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jns.org\/the-debate-about-antisemitism-isnt-a-plot-against-jd-vance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Concern about antisemitism on the right isn\u2019t a plot against Vance<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Jonathan S. Tobin<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 15px; background: #d0e6fa; width: 100%;\">\n<div>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>The vice president won\u2019t distance himself from a dogmatic faction of Jew-haters led by Tucker Carlson. That\u2019s why some Republicans are drawing conclusions about him.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/me.jnsi.org\/uploads\/2025\/12\/54893504033_9e25246420_o-1320x880.jpg\" width=\"100%\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><em>U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks with attendees at the University of Mississippi tour stop of the \u201cThis Is The Turning Point&#8221; tour at the SJB Pavilion in Oxford, Miss., Oct. 29, 2025. Credit: Gage Skidmore via Creative Commons.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Believe it or not, 18 months from now, the 2028 presidential race will already have begun. And, assuming that there will actually be a real contest for the Republican nomination, some of Vice President JD Vance\u2019s fans aren\u2019t waiting until the summer of 2027 to begin laying the groundwork for his campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Apparently, their goal is to frame the battle as one between the 41-year-old man who is currently a heartbeat away from the presidency and the former discredited GOP establishment. By that, they refer to those who used to run Washington along with the Democrats before President Donald Trump came down the escalator in Trump Tower in June 2015 and into the country\u2019s political life.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>An unwelcome discussion<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">They are also claiming that those who have noticed the rise of antisemitism inside the Republican Party and the conservative movement in the past year are doing so only to discredit Vance. That was the argument of a recent&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/spectator.com\/article\/the-plot-against-j-d-vance\/?edition=us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">column<\/a>&nbsp;in&nbsp;<em>The Spectator<\/em>&nbsp;by Daniel McCarthy, the editor of the paleoconservative journal&nbsp;<em>Modern Age<\/em>. It was more or less the same&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/11\/04\/the-attacks-on-heritage-and-kevin-roberts-are-really-about-foreign-policy-and-j-d-vance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">argument<\/a>&nbsp;made by John Henry Davidson in&nbsp;<em>The Federalist<\/em>&nbsp;last November as a way to dismiss the criticism of Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, for his&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jns.org\/a-season-of-bipartisan-betrayal-on-antisemitism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">defense<\/a>&nbsp;of far-right podcaster Tucker Carlson. It also seemed to be the vice president\u2019s explanation for the controversy with&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jns.org\/sorry-jd-antisemitism-and-not-liking-israel-arent-that-different\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">comments<\/a>&nbsp;that he has made about the trouble revolving around whether some people \u201cdon\u2019t like Israel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">That Vance realizes the importance of the issue was made clear last month in his much-anticipated&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jns.org\/sorry-jd-antisemitism-and-not-liking-israel-arent-that-different\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">address<\/a>&nbsp;to the Turning Point USA AmericaFest. There, he declared that the entire discussion about antisemitism among conservatives was not merely unwelcome, but something that was being used to create unnecessary divisions and to distract the right from its main job of defeating the political left.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In his speech, he made it clear that he saw the issue as one of freedom of expression. In this way, he depicted those who are angry about the surge of Jew-hatred around the globe and in the United States as trying to \u201ccancel\u201d conservatives. Following the lead of Carlson and others on the far right, he opposes the backlash against the former&nbsp;<em>Fox News<\/em>&nbsp;host\u2019s platforming of antisemitism and Holocaust denial. Vance seems to view anger about this as no different from the deplorable manner in which leftists silenced dissent against their toxic doctrines during the moral panic about race following the death of George Floyd over the course of the Black Lives Matter summer of 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The problem with this is more than the fact that this is an utterly disingenuous evaluation of the controversy that has divided the right in the months since the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Since then, Carlson hosted neo-Nazi \u201cgroyper\u201d leader Nick Fuentes in a chummy interview on his podcast. In the past year since hosting faux historian and Holocaust denier Daryl Cooper, Carlson\u2019s show has been largely devoted to platforming virtually anyone who will bash Israel and promote the idea that Jews are controlling American foreign policy and the media, all classic tropes of Jew-hatred. He has also become an uncompromising defender of Qatar, the country that is funding Islamist propaganda and terrorism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Candace Owens, another popular though thoroughly unhinged right-wing podcaster, has gone even further down the rabbit hole of antisemitism and conspiracy theories. She alleges that the Jews and Israelis are guilty of Kirk\u2019s murder on the Utah Valley University campus and various other crimes while also seeking to promote age-old hard-core tropes about the Jews, such as depicting the Talmud as a hate tract.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Vance thinks that he ought not to be asked to condemn these lunatics or even to distance himself from Carlson, a friend who did a lot to foster his political career. Indeed, he remains close to him,&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailyreview.com\/ap\/national\/trump\/image_200d6cb9-d9c5-5139-bfbe-38a7e7800984.html#:~:text=Alex%20Brandon%20%2D%20AP,Alex%20Brandon%20%2D%20AP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reportedly<\/a>&nbsp;having lunch with the podcaster in the White House on Jan. 9, after which Carlson was allowed to sit in on a meeting between Trump, Vance and oil executives when Venezuela was being discussed.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Megyn Kelly\u2019s temper tantrum<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">He\u2019s not alone. Megyn Kelly, another heretofore responsible conservative voice who has condemned antisemitism and supported Israel, now believes that it is unreasonable to ask her to do the same when it comes to her friends Carlson and Owens. Indeed, she is so angered by these requests that she has turned on both Jews and Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In what can only be described as a childish tantrum aired in an&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7HgM0aI3IK8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">appearance<\/a>&nbsp;on Carlson\u2019s show this week, she has declared that she would \u201crather die\u201d than condemn the anti-Jewish hate flowing from that program or that of Owens. Furthermore, she says she now believes that the media is controlled by Jews \u201cwho are not telling the truth about Israel,\u201d as if the overwhelming majority of corporate legacy media hasn\u2019t been mainstreaming Hamas propaganda ever since the terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. Echoing Carlson, she repeats that the issue isn\u2019t Muslim antisemitism and support for Islamist terror, but that Jews and friends of Israel are responsible for promoting hatred of Muslims in America.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">It\u2019s important to remember that Carlson and Kelly are not insignificant figures on the far right but influential media personalities with vast followings on social media, as well as millions of viewers and listeners of their shows. Though Owens and Fuentes don\u2019t have the veneer of respectability that Carlson and Kelly acquired during their stints as prime-time&nbsp;<em>Fox News<\/em>&nbsp;hosts, they have audiences that number in the millions. More to the point, among them are a sizable percentage of the many young Republicans and conservatives currently working in official Washington.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">While Kirk was a strong believer in debate with anyone on anything, he labored to keep his organization free of the influence of Fuentes and the groypers. Now that he\u2019s gone, there is no one to guard the gates of conservatism. Indeed, Vance and others on the right seem to be taking the position that in the post-BLM era, any sort of gatekeeping, even to keep out the most vicious hate-mongers, is wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Is Trump a \u2018neoconservative\u2019?<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">For Vance and his media cheerleaders, any efforts to get him to take a side in the debate about whether there is room in the conservative movement for antisemites are not merely a distraction from the right\u2019s main task of taking on the left. They feel that it\u2019s all just a trick by neoconservatives to win back control of the Republican Party by thwarting the ambitions of Vance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">This is ludicrous for a number of reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Neoconservatism, per se, was a&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jns.org\/norman-podhoretzs-intellectual-journey-and-the-fate-of-american-jewry\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">movement<\/a>&nbsp;that was deeply important and indeed crucial to moving on from the dominant liberalism of the mid-20th century and to winning the Cold War against the Soviet Union. Since then, it has become identified with the failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But to the extent that it actually means anything in 2026, it is merely a way for some on the right to refer to what they think are Jews and others who support Israel. It is a boogeyman with which they can link to any cause they don\u2019t like. It\u2019s also the way they refer to opposition to the kind of extreme isolationism promoted by the likes of Carlson, who more often than not can be found speaking up for any opponent of the United States, whether in Moscow, Tehran or Caracas. That includes not merely Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Qataris and the Iranians (who have started&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/watch\/?v=1129584495753945\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">broadcasting<\/a>&nbsp;Carlson on the Islamic Republic\u2019s state propaganda network). It also includes former Venezuelan president and narco-terrorist Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, whom Carlson praised for his opposition to gay marriage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">What makes all this even crazier is that there is no differentiation between what these defenders of Vance label as neoconservatism or Bush-era Republican establishmentarians and the actual foreign policy of the Trump administration in which he is serving. As Trump has repeatedly&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jns.org\/despite-warning-signs-the-us-israel-alliance-is-still-solid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">made clear<\/a>, there is no real daylight between the positions of the United States and Israel on the key issues of Gaza and Iran, which is completely at odds with what Carlson, Kelly and their groyper fans are supporting. Trump\u2019s definition of \u201cAmerica First\u201d is nothing like the \u201cAmerica Only\u201d doctrine that Carlson backs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Moreover, the administration has prioritized the battle against antisemitism, as was illustrated by the tough tactics that the president has employed against elite universities that tolerated and encouraged the pro-Hamas mobs that targeted Jewish students since Oct. 7.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Moral obfuscation<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Yet when&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ScottJenningsKY\/status\/2008600042693947639?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">asked&nbsp;<\/a>by&nbsp;<em>CNN\u2019s<\/em>&nbsp;Scott Jennings to declare that the conservative movement has no room for antisemitism on his radio show, as with every previous opportunity he has been given to put himself on the right side of the issue, Vance prevaricated. While condemning Jew-hatred, he did it in the same manner that many on the left do so\u2014by coupling it to other issues, thereby denying the very real and growing problem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">As writer Liel Liebovitz&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/liel\/status\/2008644041093632184\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">noted<\/a>, his response was \u201cmalicious moral obfuscation\u201d and not the kind of moral clarity that Americans have a right to expect from a vice president, let alone someone who aspires to the presidency.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Bringing this up is inconvenient for those who see Vance as the future of the Republican Party, as well as the man who can shift the GOP away from the stalwart pro-Israel policies and implacable opposition to anti-Jewish positions that Trump has brought it.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">But doing so is not part of a plot to derail Vance\u2019s 2028 candidacy. To the contrary, as the current frontrunner to succeed Trump, conservatives of all stripes want Vance to take stands that are not just moral but also popular, and thus likely to help Republicans hold onto the White House.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Carlson and now Kelly may think a neo-Nazi like Fuentes is smart and represents views that everyone should listen to. But those individuals who think being soft on antisemitism is smart politics don\u2019t really know anything about the American people. Mimicking the left\u2019s hatred for Israel and alliance with Islamists that has been evident since Oct. 7 is not a winning formula for a party, the vast majority of whose voters are supporters of the Jewish state.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">It\u2019s not unfair to ask Vance to take a stand on what is clearly one of the great moral issues of our time, as well as one linked to the defense of Western civilization, against those on the left who wish to tear it down. His failure to do so\u2014and his determination to stick with his buddy Carlson\u2014isn\u2019t a distraction or an attempt to force him into a struggle session in which he does the bidding of a mythical all-powerful Israel lobby. It\u2019s a test of his character. Unfortunately, much like Megyn Kelly, he\u2019s currently failing it.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/me.jnsi.org\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Jonathan-S.-Tobin-480x480.png\" width=\"20%\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em><strong>Jonathan S. Tobin<\/strong> is editor-in-chief of the Jewish News Syndicate, a senior contributor for The Federalist, a columnist for Newsweek and a contributor to many other publications. He covers the American political scene, foreign policy, the U.S.-Israel relationship, Middle East diplomacy, the Jewish world and the arts. He hosts the JNS \u201cThink Twice\u201d podcast, both the weekly video program and the \u201cJonathan Tobin Daily\u201d program, which are available on all major audio platforms and YouTube. Previously, he was executive editor, then senior online editor and chief political blogger, for Commentary magazine. Before that, he was editor-in-chief of The Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia and editor of the Connecticut Jewish Ledger. He has won more than 60 awards for commentary, art criticism and other writing. He appears regularly on television, commenting on politics and foreign policy. Born in New York City, he studied history at Columbia University.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 15px; background: #d0e6fa; width: 100%;\">\n<div id=\"content\" class=\"content-alignment\">\n<div id=\"watch-description\" class=\"yt-uix-button-panel\">\n<div id=\"watch-description-text\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p><em>Zawarto\u015b\u0107 publikowanych artyku\u0142\u00f3w i materia\u0142\u00f3w nie reprezentuje pogl\u0105d\u00f3w ani opinii Reunion&#8217;68,<\/em><em><br \/>\nani te\u017c webmastera Blogu Reunion&#8217;68, chyba ze jest to wyra\u017anie zaznaczone.<br \/>\nTwoje uwagi, linki, w\u0142asne artyku\u0142y lub wiadomo\u015bci prze\u015blij na adres:<br \/>\n<\/em><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em><a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"mailto:webmaster@reunion68.com\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">webmaster@reunion68.com<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr style=\"width: 100%;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Concern about antisemitism on the right isn\u2019t a plot against Vance Jonathan S. Tobin The vice president won\u2019t distance himself from a dogmatic faction of Jew-haters led by Tucker Carlson. That\u2019s why some Republicans are drawing conclusions about him. U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks with attendees at the University of Mississippi tour stop of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[33,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127237"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=127237"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127260,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127237\/revisions\/127260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}