Right-wing antisemitism must be confronted before it dominates Republican Party - editorial

Taken together, Carlson’s “win” this year and Owens’s “victory” the year before do not represent isolated lapses or rhetorical excesses. They point to something much more alarming: a pernicious strand of antisemitism that has begun to surface inside the conservative movement and, by extension, the Republican Party – not among most of its elected officials, but among its most influential media personalities and online influencers.

This trend is extremely troubling, not only for American Jews but for the long-term health and appeal of American conservatism itself.

A growing number of American Jews have in recent years grown increasingly uncomfortable with the Democratic Party, where hostility to Israel has become routine in parts of the progressive wing. Figures such as Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Bernie Sanders have normalized rhetoric that treats Israel as uniquely evil – as perpetrators of genocide, practitioners of apartheid, and whose right to exist as a Jewish state should be questioned.

But now, a growing number of Jews are also starting to feel uneasy on the Right.

The antisemitism emerging there looks different. It is not couched in the language of intersectionality, human rights, or settler colonialism. It comes instead wrapped in conspiracies about “Israel First,” insinuations about dual loyalty, and a fixation on Jewish power and influence.

Carlson’s role in this change has been central. By giving sympathetic airtime to Holocaust deniers and white supremacists like Nick Fuentes and figures who openly peddle antisemitic tropes, by obsessively framing Israel as a corrupting force on American policy, and by downplaying or relativizing antisemitism, he has helped amplify and legitimize ideas that once belonged firmly on the fringes.

Owens’s contribution has been even more explicit. She has trafficked in classical antisemitic libels – claims about Jewish control of the slave trade, grotesque distortions of Jewish religious texts, and insinuations that Jews deliberately sow conflict between Christians and Muslims. These are not critiques of Israeli policy. They are vicious attacks on Jews as Jews.

Interestingly, this trend has largely bypassed Republican politicians themselves. The party’s elected leadership continues to be overwhelmingly pro-Israel and publicly opposed to antisemitism.

But that is precisely what makes this moment so fraught, because movements rarely radicalize from the top down. They radicalize from the cultural ecosystem outward – and that ecosystem today is dominated by podcasters, influencers, and online personalities who face little accountability.

Vance has declined to confront these voices head-on. Instead, he has minimized the scope of the problem, framing the backlash against Israel as a legitimate foreign-policy debate rather than acknowledging the antisemitic tropes embedded within it. He has drawn tidy distinctions between “not liking Israel” and antisemitism – distinctions that collapse instantly in the real world of memes, slogans, and conspiracy theories.

Vance’s reluctance is not accidental. As the current frontrunner to win the 2028 Republican nomination, he certainly understands that a segment of younger conservatives is being radicalized online. He doesn’t want to alienate them.

Silence, in this context, is calculation. But silence is also permission.

The Republican Party has not become antisemitic. Its base remains solidly pro-Israel. Its elected officials, with a few exceptions, reject Jew-hatred outright.

But antisemitism does not need majorities to thrive. It needs tolerance. And today, within parts of the conservative media ecosystem, that tolerance is increasingly visible.

That is a reality Republican leaders should confront – openly and at once – before this trend hardens into something much more difficult to uproot. JD Vance – as an influential voice of the future inside the party – should be leading the charge. Unfortunately, he is not.