Trump widens the GOP's rift over antisemitism

When President Trump doesn't like someone, he knows how to show it. In just the last few days, he has described Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) as a traitor, mocked the second marriage of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) after his first wife died, and demanded that comedian Seth Meyers be fired from his late-night television show.

- BY CHRIS MEGERIAN AND THOMAS BEAUMONT

But he had nothing bad to say about two people roiling his party: white nationalist Nick Fuentes and conservative commentator Tucker Carlson. The former Fox News host recently hosted Fuentes for a friendly interview, during which he declined to challenge his guest's bigoted beliefs or a remark about problems with "organized Jewry in America."

Asked about the controversy that has been rippling through Republican circles for weeks, Trump did not criticize Fuentes, and praised Carlson for having "said good things about me over the years."

The president's answer echoes his longstanding reluctance to disavow — and sometimes, his willingness to embrace — right-wing figures who have inched their way from the political fringe to the Republican mainstream.

"We are disappointed in President Trump," said Morton Klein, president of the conservative Zionist Organization of America, adding that he should "rethink and retract" his comments.

The threat of antisemitism, which has percolated across the political spectrum, will probably be a recurring political issue in the coming year, as Democrats and Republicans battle for control of Congress in the midterms. Although Trump has targeted left-wing campus activism as a hive of anti-Jewish sentiment, Fuentes' influence is a test of whether conservatives are willing to accommodate bigots as part of their political coalition.

Conservative group faces controversy

The turmoil has already engulfed the Heritage Foundation, a leading think tank whose president, Kevin Roberts, initially refused to distance himself from Carlson. A member of Heritage's board of trustees, Robert George, announced his resignation Monday, a move that followed a recent decision by an antisemitism task force to sever its ties with the organization.