'BradCast' 3/6/2026 (Encore: Antisemitism Rising Inside MAGA, with investigative journalist Art Levine)

Summary

The BradCast with Brad Friedman

Episode: "BradCast" 3/6/2026 (Encore: Antisemitism Rising Inside MAGA, with Investigative Journalist Art Levine)
Date: March 6, 2026
Main Guest: Art Levine, Investigative Journalist
Theme: A detailed investigation into the rising tide of antisemitism inside the MAGA movement, the Republican Party’s weaponization of antisemitism accusations, and the truth behind right-wing infighting over Israel and Jewish Americans.

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Episode Overview

This episode rebroadcasts Brad Friedman's deep-dive interview with journalist Art Levine, author of a Washington Spectator exposé on antisemitism and fractures within the MAGA and Republican ranks. The show explores how Trump-era Republicans both weaponized allegations of antisemitism against their opponents and simultaneously harbored and enabled real antisemitism within their base—culminating in growing rifts and open infighting, especially after the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. The episode also shines a light on the right-wing media, internal hypocrisy, Christian Zionism’s dark underbelly, and the dangerous mainstreaming of open antisemitism.

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Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. Equal Time Rule: The Colbert v. FCC/CBS Battle

• [02:14 – 19:06]
• Brad introduces a segment recapping Stephen Colbert’s public battle with his network and the FCC regarding the "Equal Time Rule" and censorship concerns during campaign season.
• Colbert’s show was barred from airing an interview with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico due to CBS’ legal fears — a story Colbert addresses in trademark comedic fashion.

Memorable Quotes:

• Stephen Colbert ([05:00]):
  “I was told in some uncertain terms that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on. And because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about this, let’s talk about this.”
• Colbert ([07:19]):
  “Am I being clear?...If Kimmel or Colbert want to continue to do their programming and they don’t want to comply, then they can go to a cable channel or a podcast or a streaming service…Great idea, man whose job is to regulate broadcast TV, suggest everyone just leave broadcast TV.”
• Colbert ([14:38]):
  “I’m just so surprised that this giant global corporation would not stand up to these bullies. Come on, you’re Paramount. No, no, no. You’re more than that. You’re Paramount Plus. Plus what? I guess we’re all going to find out pretty soon.”

Key Insights:

• FCC head Brendan Carr, a Trump ally, signals intent to axe longstanding exceptions for candidate appearances on talk/news shows, ostensibly to fight "partisan bias"—prompting self-censorship at CBS.
• Colbert and his team move the interview to YouTube, where it attracts nearly triple CBS’ regular viewership, ironically amplifying Talarico’s message.
• The episode exemplifies how government power may be wielded to selectively silence criticism, especially in a heated political climate.

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2. The Weaponization and Reality of Antisemitism in US Politics

• [21:18 – 55:59]
• Brad and Art Levine examine how post-2024 Republicans, led by Trump, weaponized accusations of antisemitism against Democrats, universities, and progressive groups—while ignoring or excusing the rising antisemitism within their own movement.

Major Topics & Insights:

a) GOP’s Electoral Strategy:

• Right-wing media and politicians painted campus protests against Israel’s war on Gaza as evidence of endemic left-wing antisemitism (even as many protesters opposed the Democratic establishment).
• The narrative became a wedge to win Jewish support and justify crackdowns on universities and dissent.

b) Growth of the Far-Right Antisemitic Faction:

• As Trump’s second term unfolds, "white Christian nationalism" and open antisemitism escalate inside the GOP and MAGA base.
• Epicenter moments include:
  • The murder of Charlie Kirk and subsequent conspiracy theories (including Mossad assassination plots peddled by Candace Owens).
  • Tucker Carlson’s softball interview with Holocaust-denier Nick Fuentes, which further splits the movement.
  • The Heritage Foundation’s unwillingness to address antisemitism within their ranks, leading to resignations from a supposed "antisemitism task force."

c) Internal Infighting & Hypocrisy:

• At the Turning Point USA "America Fest," MAGA luminaries like Ben Shapiro and J.D. Vance react to open antisemitism and neo-Nazi friendly rhetoric in the movement.
  • Ben Shapiro ([29:18]): “There is a reason that Charlie Kirk despised Nick Fuentes…building him up is an act of moral imbecility. And that is precisely what Tucker Carlson did.”
• Shapiro and Ramaswamy are the rare voices denouncing obvious antisemitism from the stage, but the party overall downplays or ignores it.
• The right’s support for Israel often comes from Christian Zionism, which, as the show explores, is rooted in end-times theology seeing Jews as sacrificial means to their own religious prophecy, rather than genuine support for Jewish people.

d) Christian Zionism’s Sinister Overtones:

• David Haspel (quoted, [41:45]):
  “Some might say Christian Zionists love Jews the way that cattle ranchers love their cattle.”
• Much GOP support for Israel is transactional and theological, not motivated by concern for Jewish safety or rights.
• Matthew Taylor (paraphrased): Philosemitism—the ostensible "love" or support for Jews—often merely flips into antisemitism, as it treats Jews as utilitarian tools, not fully human.

e) The Candace Owens Factor:

• Owens, once prominent in mainstream right-wing media, veers into open antisemitic and conspiratorial rhetoric, accusing Jews of plotting Kirk’s death via medieval blood-libel myths and Nazi-sourced propaganda.
• Despite being fired from Daily Wire, she becomes the most influential online right-wing media figure and spreads Nazi talking points to massive audiences.

f) Internalization and Escalation:

• Turning Point USA, founded by Kirk, had long trafficked in anti-Jewish, anti-trans, anti-Muslim, and racist tropes, now coming to full fruition in open Nazi-sympathetic sentiment among younger members.
• Growing numbers of young, Gen Z conservatives express positive views of Hitler and no longer see Nazism as taboo, per polling and focus groups.

g) Government Endorsement of Extremism:

• Departments like Labor and Homeland Security echo white supremacist slogans in public messaging (“one homeland, one people, one heritage”) and even use Proud Boys anthems in ICE recruitment videos.

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3. Notable Quotes

• Brad Friedman ([33:56]):
  "The notion…that the response here in the US to the horrific war in Gaza was some sort of ripping away of a veil of antisemitism endemic only on the American left…always seemed ridiculously, laughably opportunistic to me."
• Art Levine ([38:13]):
  "Their discovery of antisemitism on the right is like Captain Renault in Casablanca: 'I'm shocked, shocked that there's gambling in Casablanca.'"
• Art Levine ([41:45], quoting David Haspel):
  “Some might say Christian Zionists love Jews the way that cattle ranchers love their cattle.”
• Art Levine ([43:56]):
  "[Ben] Shapiro, after years of supporting the ugliest elements of the MAGA movement, was suddenly alarmed to discover that there are antisemites in the MAGA movement."
• Brad Friedman ([55:13]):
  "All of this inside an administration pretending to be stamping out antisemitism as we go into the midterm elections…How did anybody ever buy into this notion that the GOP is out there, you know, standing up for religious liberty, fighting against antisemitism?"

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4. Critical Timestamps

• [02:14]: Brad introduces the Colbert/FCC segment.
• [05:00 – 10:56]: Stephen Colbert explains the "Equal Time" controversy with CBS.
• [12:58 – 19:06]: Colbert’s response to the CBS corporate statement and fundraising fallout.
• [21:18]: Discussion shifts to MAGA and antisemitism, introducing Art Levine.
• [29:18]: Ben Shapiro’s denunciation of Nick Fuentes at America Fest.
• [43:56]: Discussion on Christian Zionism hypocrisy.
• [45:18 – 48:13]: Candace Owens’s embrace and amplification of Nazi propaganda.
• [52:48]: Data on declining support for Israel and rising antisemitism among young conservatives.
• [55:13]: Government departments using white nationalist slogans/music.
• [56:09]: Critique of media platforming Ben Shapiro.

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Tone & Style

• Brad Friedman’s tone throughout is incredulous, sharply critical, and darkly humorous, with a healthy dose of sarcasm, especially in reference to right-wing hypocrisy and media failures.
• Art Levine offers deeply-researched, sometimes mordantly funny context, never downplaying the genuine threats exposed.
• The episode is unsparing in its documentation of right-wing infighting, hypocrisy, and the dangerous drift toward open bigotry.

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Summary Takeaways

• The Republican Party’s supposed war on antisemitism after 2024 was a cynical, opportunistic ploy that enabled real antisemitism to grow even as it castigated the left.
• The “coalition” behind Trump/MAGA is fraying as open Nazis, white Christian nationalists, media grifters, and opportunistic evangelicals vie for control—and increasingly turn on one another.
• Figures like Ben Shapiro and Vivek Ramaswamy represent a dwindling faction willing to publicly oppose the new antisemitic wave; Candace Owens and her Nazi-influenced rhetoric reflect the mainstreaming of hate.
• Much evangelical support for Israel is rooted in eschatology that foresees Jews’ destruction—not protection.
• Government agencies have begun to echo white supremacist rhetoric, signaling a normalization of extremism at the highest levels.
• The media, especially centrist outlets, remain hesitant to honestly confront or condemn right-wing antisemitism.

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Further Resources

• Art Levine’s piece:
  "Inside the MAGA meltdown over antisemitism" (Washington Spectator)
• Guest: Art Levine (Twitter: @ArtL7)
• Host: Brad Friedman (Twitter: @TheBradBlog | bradblog.com)

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This episode is both a meticulous unpacking of right-wing hypocrisy on Jewish issues and a warning about the real dangers as bigoted rhetoric and policies come to define American conservative politics in 2026.

Transcript

[Brad Friedman]

Today's broadcast was originally recorded on February 18, 2026.

It's a playbook as old as the game. Overwhelm communities, provoke fear, suggest that those tasked with enforcing the law are also above it and drip authoritarianism bit by bit into our veins in the hopes that we won't notice we're being poisoned by it. I've noticed, Governor. Hope everyone has.

[Art Levine]

Well, I don't know why I came

[Brad Friedman]

here tonight, but I'll help him if they have.

[Art Levine]

I got the feeling that something ain't right I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair and I'm wondering how I get down the stairs Clowns to the left me jokers to the right Here I am stuck in the middle with you.

[Brad Friedman]

Yep. From Pacifica Radio in Los Angeles, this is the Bradcast as heard on KPFK 90.7 FM in LA and on dozens of other fine affiliate stations on both the public airwaves and the Internets around the country and the world blanketing planet Earth. I'm Brad Friedman, your friendly investigative blogger, journalist, troublemaker, muckraker and all around swell fellows, says me from bradblog.com and yes, once again today, delighted to be on our public airwaves. Thanks for joining us. Coming up shortly. All right, pop your popcorn, Desi doyen.

[Art Levine]

Oh, goody.

[Brad Friedman]

And try to hold your laughter as we will be joined by investigative journalist Art Levine to discuss his gobsmacking expose at the Washington Spectator this month, headlined Inside the MAGA Meltdown over Antisemitism. With the perfect no notes sub headline, quote, a parade of Charlie Kirk wannabes, Nazi sympathizers, end time. Prognosticators, media grifters and nostalgic evangelicals scramble for control of their imploding coalition.

Yeah, that sounds like maga.

As I said, pop the popcorn. Finally. Finally. Someone, however, taking on the always absurd notion far too often echoed by the gullible corporate media, the Donald Trump and his Republican coalition are taking on antisemitism. Are you at colleges and universities, et cetera? Are you kidding me? Because, you know, they really give a about the Jews, don't they? Who and and what do they really care about? Like I said, pop your popcorn. Stay tuned. We'll get to art momentarily. First up today, I want to jump into this Stephen Colbert versus the fcc. And really, more to the point, Stephen Colbert versus CBS at this point, that fray a little bit today because this seems to be an important emerging story. I'm not sure where all of this goes and to be honest, I'm not Yet sure what to make of all of it. I feel like this, like the full story here has yet to play out, much less to be told publicly. But I find it both interesting and disturbing on several levels. And so I want to make sure that you at least know about it, know what the facts are about it for the moment. We can get to analysis of it on another day. But for the moment, I think it's more important that you understand the facts of what is going on or at least the known facts at this time. Because as noted, I think there's gonna be more to come, whether it's from this Colbert, fcc, CBS situation or elsewhere in the media as the Trump administration and its FCC poodle Brendan Carr turn big government against the media and freedom of the press. Sort of like the Republican Trump campaign pretended to oppose antisemitism Republicans and Donald Trump in 2024 RA the idea of big government encroachment on the media and freedom of speech, basically. However, it seems that they lied about both of those things. I know. Knock me over with a feather. Now, I want to play this for you both from Monday night and Tuesday night. Colbert does a pretty good job of explaining what happened legally and the FCC rules surrounding it. He does a good job on his own. So I will play that for you in full. First, here is Colbert from Monday night's Late show with Stephen Colbert on cbs.

[Stephen Colbert]

You know who is not one of my guests tonight? That's Texas State Representative James Talarico. He was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network's lawyers who called us directly that we could not have him on the broadcast. Then, then I was told in some uncertain terms that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on. And because my network clearly doesn't want us to talk about this, let's talk about this. You've probably heard so you, you, you, you might have heard of this thing called the equal time rule, okay? It's an old FCC rule that applies only to radio, broadcast television, not cable or streaming that says if a show has a candidate on during an election, they have to have all that candidate's opponents on as well. It's the FCC's most time honored rule right after no nipples at the Super Bowl. There's long been an exception for this rule, an exception for news interviews and talk show interviews with politicians. Now that's crucial. On January 21st of this year, a letter was released by FCC chairman and smug bowling pin Brendan Carr. In this letter, Carr said he was thinking about dropping the exception for talk shows because he said some of them were motivated by partisan purposes. Well, sir, you're chairman of the fcc, so fccu, because I think

[Art Levine]

simple.

[Stephen Colbert]

Because I think you are motivated by partisan purposes yourself, sir. You smelt it. Cause you dealt it. You are Dutch ovening America's airwaves. Let's just call this what it is. Donald Trump's administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on tv because all Trump does is watch tv, okay? He's like a toddler with too much sleep. He gets cranky and then drops a load in his diapers. So it's no surprise, it's no surprise that two of the people most affected by this threat are me and my friend Jimmy Kimmel. When this letter dropped, we both talked about the letter on air. And then later, Carr defended it like this. If Kimmel or Colbert want to continue to do their programming and they don't want to have to comply with this requirement, then they can go to a cable channel or a podcast or a streaming service, and that's fine. Great idea, man. Whose job is to regulate broadcast tv. Suggest everyone just leave broadcast tv. It's like when Arby's changed their slogan to Arby's. Would it kill you to eat a salad? Anyway. Anyway. Am I being clear?

[Art Levine]

Yeah, it's clear.

[Stephen Colbert]

Have I been clear so far? Yes, indeed. Okay, this one up. Super important. Anyway, I decided to take Brendon Carr's advice. I am going to interview James Tallarico tonight, but it's not gonna be on the Late Show. It's gonna be on The Late Show's YouTube page. The network says I can't give you URL or a QR code, but I promise you, if you go to our YouTube page, you'll find it. Now what? After the show. Right. Little later. Okay, now, Carr here claims he's just getting partisanship off the airwaves, but the fcc, as I said, is also in charge of regulating radio broadcasts. And what would you know? Brendan Carr says right wing talk radio isn't a target of the FCC's equal time notice. No, no, I get this part. It makes sense. You can't get rid of talk radio. What else would your angriest uncle do in traffic? Talk to your saddest aunt. Now, as I said, at this point, he's just released a letter that says he's thinking about doing away with the exception for late night. He hasn't done away with it yet, but my network is unilaterally enforcing it as if he had. But I want to assure you, Ladies and gentlemen, please. I want to assure you this decision is for purely financial reasons. And this doesn't just affect interviews. The rules forbid any candidate appearance, including by voice or picture. That's right. I am absolutely not allowed to show a photo of Texas State Representative James Talarico. Cause that's not him. That's a stock photo we found when we Googled. Not James Talarico. Heck, I'm not even. And this is true, I'm not even allowed to show you a drawing of him. Okay, Carr is not joking around here, folks. He is serious. He is as serious as the seasoned cliffhanger of Matlock. Matlock. Watch it or don't watch it. I leave in May because a couple weeks ago. She's great. Kathy's great, though you should watch. Kathy's fantastic. Okay? Because a couple of weeks ago, on Carr's orders, the FCC opened an investigation into ABC's the View after their James Tallarico interview. That is absolutely shocking. James Talarico did the View before. My show at 2 will pay. So I cannot show you any form of James Talarico. I can't interview James Talarico. I can't show any pictures of James Tallarico. I'm not even sure I can say the words James Talarico. But what I can show you is what we always show when we have to pull material at the last minute, this tasteful nude of Brendan Carr. We'll be right back.

[Brad Friedman]

Okay, so that was Monday night on Late show with Stephen Colbert. And by the way, right wing talk radio, not a target. He's not. Bren Car is not worried about that. How about non right wing radio? Well, maybe we'll find out at some point, but those are also on our public airwaves. So the fact that he doesn't give a damn about, you know, right wing talk radio, which is most of talk radio, should be quite telling to you there. Uh, in. In any event, Colbert's interview with Texas's Democratic Senate primary candidate James Talarico was in Fact posted to YouTube on Monday night. He is running for the primary nomination against U.S. house Rep. Jasmine Crockett for the. For the Senate nomination on the Democratic side in Texas. Crockett has appeared twice in the past on Colbert's show, though not during the actual election which is now underway. That primary election, which will be election day, is March 3. Also running on the Democratic side is a man named Ahmad Hassan. And I think there are eight different Republican candidates. Who are running for the Republican nomination. The YouTube posting of Colbert's interview with Talarico, meanwhile, as of this afternoon before air, had received nearly six and a half million views.

Wow.

Which is almost three times more people than would have actually seen it had it actually just run as normal on cbs, where it tends to have about two and a half million viewers a night. So nice job, Brendan Carr and cbs. And then, however, there was more to the story thereafter, as Colbert explained on the Tuesday night's Late Show.

[Stephen Colbert]

Here's what happened, folks. Last night I talked to Texas Senate candidate James Tallarico, but it wasn't on the show. It wasn't on the show. We put the interview on our YouTube channel because of something called the equal time rule. And that rule says that if a show on broadcast television has a qualified candidate on during an election, they have to offer equal time to all that candidate's opponents. It's a pretty famous rule. But, but here's the thing. There has long been a very famous exception to that rule. And that exception included talk shows, interviews with politicians. We looked and we can't find one example of this rule being enforced for any talk show interview, not only for my entire late night career, but for anyone's late night career going back to the 1960s. But on January 21st, we heard from FCC chairman Brendan Carr. You see, he issued a letter saying he was thinking about getting rid of that talk show exception. He had not gotten rid of it yet, but CBS generously did it for him and told me no, told me unilaterally that I had to abide by the equal time rules, something I have never been asked to do for an interview in the 21 years of this job. Now, that decision, I want to be clear, is their right. Just like I have the right to talk about their decision on air last night.

[Art Levine]

All right,

[Stephen Colbert]

Last night I did. And people who interview politicians for a living noticed Stephen Colbert making headlines.

[Brad Friedman]

Stephen Colbert.

[Art Levine]

Stephen Colbert.

[Brad Friedman]

Stephen Colbert.

[Stephen Colbert]

Stephen Colbert.

[Brad Friedman]

Wow.

[Stephen Colbert]

Everyone's talking about this Stephen Colbert fella. Somebody that popular should get their own talk show. Anyway, anyway, I sent my piece last night. We made some jokes. It's what they pay me for. And I was ready to let the whole thing go until a few hours ago when my group chat blowed up. Because without ever talking to me, the corporation put out this press release, this statement. Now this is a surprisingly small piece of paper considering how many butts it's trying to cover in it. They say the late show was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting interview with representative James Talarico. The show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal time rule for two other candidates, including Representative Jasmine Crockett, and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled. The Late show decided to present the interview through its YouTube channel with on air promotion on the broadcast, rather than potentially providing the equal time options. Now, clearly this statement was written by, and I'm guessing four lawyers. Now, I'm not a lawyer and I don't want to tell them how to do their jobs, but since they seem intent on telling me how to do mine. Here we go, fellas. Fellas, I am well aware that we can book other guests. I didn't need to be presented with that option. I've had Jasmine Crockett on my show twice. I could prove that to you. I could prove that to you. But the network won't let me show you her picture without including her opponents. So I'll have to show you this picture of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein instead. They made me do it. I didn't want to. So we obeyed our network and put the interview on YouTube where it's gotten millions of views. And I can see why. Tallarico is an interesting guy. I don't know if he should be the senator, but it was a good discussion. I wish we could have put it on the show where no one would have watched it. But here's where I do want to tell the lawyers how to do their jobs. They know damn well that every word of my script last night was approved by CBS's lawyers, who, for the record, approve every script that goes on the air, whether it's about equal time or this image of frogs having sex. That's a true story, but for another time, very specifically. And this is never, in fact, between the monologue I did last night and before I did the second act talking about this issue, I had to go backstage. I got called backstage to get more notes from these lawyers, something that had never, ever happened before. And they told us the language they wanted me to use to describe that equal time exception. And I used that language. So I don't know what this is about. For the record, I'm not even mad, really don't want an adversarial relationship with a network. I've never had one. As I said last night in my interview with James Tallarico. Check it out, it's on YouTube. It's pretty good. I said to him, I am grateful to have worked for CBS for the last 11 years and worked with George and David and Amy and everyone at the network. The Sheldons of every age, the Matlocks of every sex. I'm just so surprised that this giant global corporation would not stand up to these bullies. Come on, you're Paramount. No, no, no. You're more than that. You're Paramount. Plus. Plus what? I guess we're all going to find out pretty soon. And for the lawyers to release this without even talking to me is really surprising. I don't even know what to do with this crap. Oh, hold on.

[Brad Friedman]

And Colbert takes a plastic doggy bag and wraps up that, that, that statement from CBS and throws it away.

Yeah, doggy doo bag.

Doggy doo bag. That was Colbert on Tuesday night. And this just in from the New York Post this morning. Texas Democratic Senate hopeful James Talarico raised two and a half million dollars for his campaign in the first 24 hours after the CBS Late show nixed the airing of his interview with Colbert. The state legislator's team boasted that the hall was, quote, the single largest fundraising day of his entire campaign.

Wow.

So if they were trying to, you know, shut him down, somehow, y' all failed. Apparently. Colbert's final show, he was canceled just after paramount Skydance bought CBS, is slated for May 21st. What does all of this mean? As noted earlier, I think there's going to be more to come to this story as we try to make sense of it all. For now, though, there is so much disinformation and opinion out there that I thought actual facts are important. I figured, as I often do, it was better for now just to make sure you understand those facts as they are known. We'll have plenty of time to make sense of it all together as things move forward. All right. And speaking of making sense of facts, Art Levine joins us next to discuss the antisemitism at the heart of the Republican Party and the MAGA movement. That's straight ahead. I'm Brad Friedman. This. This is the bradcast.

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Hey, this is Brad. You're listening to an encore presentation of the bradcast. Welcome back to the Brad cast. Brad Friedman from bradblog.com as I'm sure most of our listeners know, Donald Trump and the Republican Party rode to victory in 2024 based on, in no small part on repeated claims that protests against Israel's brutal and raging war on Gaza at the time exposed massive antisemitism among not just members of the far left, but of the Democratic Party as a whole. And not just the Democratic Party as a whole, but all of those perceived as supportive of them. From immigrants who joined in the protests, to universities that allowed the protests, to media which covered the protest, to the law firms that vigorously defended the protesters First Amendment free speech rights to protest. Ironically, many of those protesters were protesting the Democratic Party itself, as well as their standard bearers at the time, President Joe Biden and eventually presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. But the gop, and especially Donald Trump, they know a political wedge issue when they spot one and how to exploit it for political political gain. After winning and taking office, in no small part thanks to the internecine battles among those on the left over US Support for Israel, amid what many on the left regarded as a genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza, the Trump administration went about turning their electoral weaponization of what they characterized as anti Semitism among the left into a legal, well, pardon the pun, jihad against institutions on the left such as those colleges, universities, media outlets and law firms, on the basis that they were standing up for religious liberties and stamping out hatred of Jews among Democrats and those institutions on the left. And as far as I can tell you firsthand, coming from a family of Jews, many of whom supported the Republican Party's opposition to campus protests and their supposed, though, as I argued at the time, opportunistic support for Israel and Jewish Americans. The GOP strategy worked. The Republicans were here to save Israel and the Jews and would stamp out the scourge of antisemitism on college campuses and non governmental organizations and institutions. And yes, the Democratic Party itself once and for all, and a whole lot of folks both on the left and the right fell for it. But then, after nearly a year of Trump's second term in office, with white supremacy clearly on the rise, specifically white Christian nationalism very clearly on the rise, cracks a whole bunch of them. In that always risable premise, the idea that the Republican Party was ardently against antisemitism, well, those cracks became too obvious to ignore even among many on the right, as the anti Israel and yes, even pro Nazi elements of the GOP grew louder and louder and louder over the course of the year. The breaking point perhaps if in fact that is a breaking point seems to have emerged in the wake of the murder of Republican Christian activist Charlie Kirk of Turning Point usa, as Kirk ally and podcaster Candace Owens made claims of an Israeli Mossad supported plot to assassinate Kirk or something. The rift emerged deeper still after former Fox News host turned podcaster and white supremacist champion Tucker Carlson offered a softball interview to a well known neo Nazi podcaster, an interview that drew condemnation from elements of both the right and the left before the head of the Republican think tank the Heritage foundation refused to do so, refused to condemn the interview. That in turn led to an internecine battle among that organization and the Republican Party that had long worked in tandem with them at the beginning of a deep dive into what he describes as the MAGA meltdown over antisemitism in this month's Washington Spectator, investigative journalist and author Art Levine paints the picture this way. In front of over 30,000 young Christian devotees at the Turning Point USA America Fest held last December in Phoenix, a high profile firefight broke out among far right MAGA influencers including Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson, that could help shape the future of the Republican Party, the Christian right and their hold on Power in 2026. In the first gathering of young conservatives who helped power Trump into office in 2024 since St. Charlie Kirk's assassination in September, battle lines were drawn over how welcoming the movement and the broader GOP should be to overtly anti Semitic demagogues, as opposed to the routine acceptance of antisemitism and playing footsie with neo Nazis that has marked the movement and the party over the decades. This new tension, writes Levine, compounds the growing rifts and disenchantment with the MAGA base over everything from the Epstein files and the faltering economy to the fallout over ICE's execution of Alex Preddy in Minneapolis, the attack on the Second Amendment rights by elements of the Trump administration and Trump's newfound foreign interventionism. The internecine warfare also reflects jockeying over the leadership and future of MAGA and Kirk's army, with its more than 1 million Turning Point USA members now enrolled in 4,000 chapters in high schools and colleges. The bare knuckled infighting came amid the ongoing furor of Tucker Carlson's platforming of the Holocaust, denying Hitler loving white supremacist Nick Fuentes in late October, writes Levine, Fuentes is now reaching millions and getting even more media attention. This new attention to Fuentes and his so called groipers furthered a deepening split over Israel, Jews and antisemitism within maga. Meanwhile, almost no one on the right has dared to call out the Trump administration's own extensive ties to neo Nazis, such as FBI Director Kash Patel's regular appearances on Holocaust denier Stu Peters podcast before he took office, or Trump's own notable insensitivity to antisemitism. That lengthy litany includes such provocations as welcoming Fuentes and Kanye west for Thanksgiving dinner at his home and peddling antisemitic tropes about Jewish greed and their dual loyalty to Israel. On January 11th of this year, the New York Times published an interview with Trump in which he said of anti Semites in maga, quote, I don't think we like them, while declining to condemn anyone by name and pretending he did not even know who Fuentes was, leaving Trump untouched at the America Fest, or AM Fest as it's known. Back in December, Ben Shapiro, the founder of the influential Trumpist Daily Wire, sort of ripped off the artifice in his remarks to the crowd, declaring, for example,

[Stephen Colbert]

there is a reason that Charlie Kirk despised Nick Fuentes. He knew that Nick Fuentes is an evil troll and that building him up is an act of moral imbecility. And that is precisely what Tucker Carlson did. He built Nick Fuentes up.

[Art Levine]

Well, that.

[Brad Friedman]

That's nice. Remind me to pop some popcorn for this segment. Shapiro, who is Jewish, him stood almost alone among speakers in denouncing anti Semitism on the right at the event, observes Levine in the Washington spectator, Vice President J.D. vance, representing what has seemed to be the GOP's default position, declared, quote, president Trump did not build the greatest coalition in politics by running his supporters through endless self defeating purity tests. Purity tests. During the Amfest conference, ERICA Kirk endorsed J.D. vance for president in 2028, no matter his open door policy for, yes, neo Nazis. Though Vance did later denounce Fuentes in an interview with a British publication, largely because Fuentes had denounced him as a race traitor for marrying his Indian American wife. And it sure hurts when it hits home, doesn't it J.D. well, grab your popcorn because all of this has Even if outside of the hot spotlight of mainstream media, largely inside of the dark, if wildly popular back alleys of the right wing podcast bubble, all of this has continued to fester even as we enter a midterm election season in which Republicans were supposed to be celebrating their war on antisemitism for political gain once again, as the real antisemitism that has long festered inside of the party continues to rear its ugly intolerant creepy head. Joining us now is Art Levine, longtime prize winning investigative journalist, contributing editor of the Washington Monthly, published everywhere from Newsweek to the American Prospect to the Atlantic to Huffington Post and beyond. He is author of the recently published and acclaimed book Mental Health, Inc. And of this month's unsparing new piece inside the maga, Meltdown over antisemitism, charting, as the Spectator editor Hamilton Fish describes it, quote, the slow motion implosion of Trump's core constituencies, the sort that respond favorably to caricatures of the Obamas as apes. Oh, Mr. Levine, welcome back to the broadcast, sir. Congrats on this monstrous head first deep dive into the ugly white underbelly of Republican hate and infighting and yes, anti Semitism.

[Art Levine]

Thank you very much.

[Brad Friedman]

Delighted to have you here, my friend. I'm not surprised to see any of it, to be frank, but I want to get into what is going on inside the MAGA right here. But, but I, but I think I want first to acknowledge right off the bat that this is a very real movement on the left that the right has been able to capitalize on. As you describe it in your piece, quote, there have also been outbursts of anti Semitism on the left in the wake of the anti Israel, pro Palestinian protests. Data from the FBI reported. Anti Semitic hate crimes from across the political spectrum rose to an all time high in 2024, with Jews the target of nearly 70% of religious hate. Amid the Gaza campus protests, you write, it was widely reported that some Jewish students were left cowering inside their dorms and libraries. Meanwhile, a third of a third of Jewish students reported feeling unsafe or fearful of displaying things that would identify them as Jewish. So I, I don't want to minimize the very real elements of anti Semitism found among those considered to be on the left as well. But the notion, Art, that the response here in the US to the horrific war in Gaza was some sort of ripping away of a veil of antisemitism endemic only on the American left. It seemed laughable to me at the time as we saw Republicans, you know, weaponizing that for political gain, the campus protests against the war on Gaza. It always seemed ridiculously, laughably opportunistic to me. The Republicans here, you know, we're trying to stamp out antisemitism.

[Art Levine]

Well, well, it was opportunistic and it was also insanely hypocritical. So the concept is, I, although I don't use the term exactly in this article, essentially Donald Trump might be considered the anti Semite in chief because of his own overt symbolism. So if you're meeting, if you're inviting over to your home for Thanksgiving, Kanye west, who most recently had a Heil Hitler video on Twitter, and Nick Fuentes, who gets on just last December on Piersmore. This is after Thanksgiving, but he's an open Holocaust denier. You invite him over and then he allowed all of these controversies to occur. So, for instance, in other words, when. So when he put forward Ed Martin, who was the acting director of, he was the acting USA attorney to get a permanent position, it was already known that he was a controversial figure, but not controversial enough for Trump. So he had. There's a guy whose last name is Hale Cuccinelli and he basically sports a Hitler mustache. He was a 6 insurrectionist. So this guy Martin gives him a prize and an award and calls him a great guy at a ceremony at Trump's own New Jersey golf course. It's just nuts. But what I deal into, which did get attention is, and I kind of make fun of, but, you know, dig into it has to do with the Heritage Foundation's own anti Semitic task force that they issued a report that all the crazy stuff in terms of cracking down on the campuses which, which is law, it's very important to understand. Sick. Even though they're, they're shot through with neo Nazis, they're endorsing them in various ways throughout the ecosphere of the Republicans, it's still going on. So 60 campuses, over 60 campuses were cited for antisemitism. Billions of dollars were either halted or threatened across. And so your readers and listeners may only know about Columbia and Harvard, but it's so widespread and it hasn't stopped. Well, and what happened is a task force by Heritage issued a Project Esther report that basically created the framework, and it was released in the fall of 2024. It created the framework for the massive assault on the university system. That was always a. The claim of antisemitism was always due to, you know, to justify attacking a central element of civil society, the universities and also a good home for Jews.

[Brad Friedman]

Well, and they use this report, the administration used this report as part of their, you know, their war on these institutions. Institutions created by this task force within the Heritage Foundation. And yet when Tucker Carlson turns around and interviews a neo Nazi, Nick Fuentes, and really goes softball on him, it's not like, you know, he held his feet to the fire, he had him on. He basically gave Fuentes a platform. Well, the guy who now runs Heritage says, oh, that's okay with me, and refuses to, you know, condemn Any of this. When you had folks on the. Both on the right and left condemning Carlson, Kevin Roberts, the Heritage foundation president, refused to condemn him. All the people on that task force, essentially, that put together that report have left Heritage at this point because of it.

[Art Levine]

Yeah, yeah, they left and they quit. I liken it. I liken their discovery of anti Semitism on the right to Captain Renault and Casablanca going gambling. I'm shocked, shocked that there's gambling in Casablanca. And then the guy comes up, you're reading, sir. And so the point of it is, and here's how crazy it was, their unwillingness that it broke, in other words, their unwillingness to look at the role of conservatives having anti Semitic influences, which seem pretty obvious. They literally had in 2024, one of the members of that task force said, I can't. I totally disagree with the notion that there is anti Semitism among conservatives or the right wing. Well, I mean, that's what one of the members said. So it's so nutty that then they suddenly turn around and I cover this conference which is described where they had a conference on extremism that included a lot of the old leaders of what I call the old theological gang coming together for one last battle. So that included Ralph Reed and Tony Perkins of Focus on the Family and some others who were there. Basically, they were a mix of Christian nationalists, and many of those were also Christian Zionists. And they have their own hypocrisy about why they're so pro Israel. It's what the political research associates and journalist researcher Ben Lorber calls end times antisemitism. Yeah. And that is one of the sort of darkly amusing elements of it that these people, many of whom, but not all of whom, have this view that for Christ to return, then of course, Israel will have to be under attack and 144,000 Jews inside Israel will have to convert to Christianity. And then the others, unfortunately, will perish in the battle of Armageddon. And then Jesus will come back. Well, I have this great, go ahead.

[Brad Friedman]

The whole notion, especially among people, like I said, I'm from a Jewish family. And when I see Jews out there falling for this nonsense, coming from the evangelicals saying, oh, we support Israel, that that means they support Jews. In fact, you quote, David Haspel, great quote, veteran observer of the Christian right and a filmmaker who created the fundraising video for the US Holocaust Museum, who points out these manifestations of Christian Zionism have sinister overtones. He has famously said, quote, some might say Christian Zionists love Jews the way that cattle ranchers love their cattle. In other words, much of this support for Israel in the GOP has nothing to do with the Jews when it comes from the evangelical right. They claim to support Israel, but they're not really supporting the Jewish people as part of that support for Israel.

[Art Levine]

Yeah, they're not really. Another expert, Matthew Taylor, who is not qu here but he has pointed out that this, this philosemitism is essentially the flip coin of anti Semitism because the supposed love of Jews makes Jews not part of the regular human race but this utilitarian tool to be seen as, you know, the opportunity for Jesus to return. And Haspel also said in my article that since the 1970s the Israeli government has viewed the Christian support for them and Christian Zionists as them as useful idiots. And the Christian Zionists use the Israeli as useful idiots. That's the kind of transparent deal making that is actually going on but is not frankly acknowledged within either the Christian Zionist or the Israeli community that embrace all their support. You know, there's so much tourism from Christians and they even, you know, they even, they do touring and they set up, you know, tributes to ancient Israel. It's just crazy what the, what how much of this stuff is based in this nutty theological worldview on the Christian Zionist part. And I'm sure, and it's basic. I said I, I point out that it mixed in mixed company. They, the Christian Zionists don't openly say oh yes, we're there's, you know, hundreds of thousands of Jews are millions possibly die in the battle of or megadon. And, and we looking forward to that because then Jesus will come back. They don't say that at mixed company when Israeli officials are around or reporters or, or others. But that's, but I also point out, and there's this very, he's a well meaning guy and he's in the piece Demas Greco, a young pro Zionist Christian who is not a believer in this End Times worldview.

[Brad Friedman]

And, and he was, I think you cited him as one of the few people at the Turning Point USA America Fest that I started here with. One of the few people who was not playing along with that. Actually him and Ben Shapiro who I guess to his credit and I've sort of crossed swords with Shapiro over the years. I never thought I would say to Ben Shapiro's credit, but you described that the only speakers to denounce antisemites from the stage at Turning Point USA's America Fest, which is really sort of turning into sort of a latter day CPAC for younger generation, it seems to me, were Ben Shapiro, Shapiro and Vivek Ramaswamy, who is a Hindu. He's now the, a Republican candidate for governor of Ohio. And yet Shapiro, you observe, quote, after years of supporting the ugliest elements of the MAGA movement, was suddenly alarmed to discover that there are anti Semites in the MAGA movement again, you know what, Gambling in Casablanca. Why is, why is that only seemingly being discovered by, you know, longtime right wing media operatives like Ben Shapiro? Now surely he's a very smart guy. He's known. It's there has it just become too

[Art Levine]

obvious he had to speak out, but he also, and I believe had a, had a fire. Candace Owen, who is, who is. It's really important to understand how significant a figure she is. She is according to one of the top metrics in terms of he had a fire because she was getting so openly anti Semitic and you know, along with anti Israel when he's hawkish on Israel. But still she was actually at that time or, or subsequently would talk about the medieval myth of Jews drinking Christian blood. Okay. She, this is the kind of stuff that she puts out and want. So he knows very well how, how deeply in the right anti Semitism is they. So she had, she was also too anti Semitic for Charlie. She went, she went from Charlie Kirk's TPUSA Turning Point USA to Ben Shapiro's Daily Wire as a communications director. And essentially her overt anti Semitism was too much for them. But now she is outside of Ben Shapiro, she's essentially untouched. And I quote the excellent reporter Will Summer of the Bulwark, who's an expert on far right, saying she is now the most influential online figure in the right. And that's important to know because she has, when it comes to per episode views and downloads, she is among the top podcasters in the world. And at one point earlier this year, she was beating Joe Rogan on those metrics and she is putting out extreme, essentially literally Nazi propaganda. So when she attacked Ben Shapiro, she held up a fake book, a forgery from 1871 about the Talmudic conspiracy because Shapiro would call himself a Talmudic Jewish. So she holds it up and says this book proves that the Talmudist Jews want to kill us and murder us and steal from us. So do you want. And this literally was the exact same book that the Nazis used as part of their broader propaganda for the Holocaust.

[Brad Friedman]

And the irony here, and she's one. So she was making the case that it was Jews and Israel who were behind the, the, the, the Secret assassination plot of Charlie Kirk. I guess she's still standing.

[Art Levine]

But she's evolved since then.

[Brad Friedman]

Oh, yeah.

[Art Levine]

No, no. Well, she's mixing in. This is. The point is it's, it's hard to keep up with your assassination conspiracies without a plan, you know, a playbook. And, and Summer does the best job chronicling it. And also, so, so she is now, she's even gone to the point that she's more than subtly hinted that Erica Kirk and TPUSA staff was in on it or had foreknowledge of the murder. Okay, so she had a big, she had a big meeting with Erica Kirk. Now it's gotten so crazy that now this is. According to Summer. It's hilarious. People inside TP USA who are controlling conspiracy oriented are starting to believe Candace Owen. Okay, well, so they're, they're losing their jobs because they're raising doubts whether their boss, Candace Erica Kirk, was somehow involved in knowing about the killing of her husband. Okay, that's. That's the world we're in there on the right wing.

[Brad Friedman]

Yeah, we are. And you've been traveling through it and reporting on it, with which I hope you took a good shower afterwards after traveling through this world. One or two more points here, Art Levine, because Charlie Kirk himself, I mean, there's an irony, there's a lot of ironies to all of this, but Ben Shapiro was condemning antisemitism at an event of Turning Point usa, which was founded by Charlie Kirk. And after his killing last year, many, including top elected Republicans, sort of lionized this guy as a champion of religious liberty, when in fact, Kirk himself repeatedly used anti Semitic slurs and tropes. He described the Anti Defamation League as an anti Christian hate group, one of the most anti American organizations in the country. He echoed the long standing anti Semitic tropes about Jews controlling the Republican Party, quote, pushing open borders that undermine Western civilization, using the globalist code word for Jews to charge that they, quote, are destroying the nation state. So did it come as any surprise to you when nobody, it seems largely other than Ben Shapiro, was willing to actually speak out against the antisemitism at the heart of the Republican Party, at Charlie Kirk's own Turning Point USA organization? I mean, of course he was the only one.

[Art Levine]

Certainly. Yes. Certainly not on the. Yes, well, nobody was doing that. And Ben Shapiro. Here's the point. No, it is accepted as gospel, if you'll pardon the term, that Charlie Kirk is this unsullied saint when Tai Naishi Coates. If I'm pardon if I'm mispronouncing, had a big long story about all his racism and, and, and polarizing comments and the antisemitism. So there's no criticism of the, the far right polarization and, and demagoguery. That includes racism, anti Muslim, anti trans and anti Semitism. That was part of the stew of the Charlie Kirk organization. So there's no criticism of that. Now what is the number of people within the Republican Party willing to criticize in general? Antisemitism that's so obviously emerging is extremely tiny. And one of the things it's especially worrisome among the younger people, and I quote, a poll of, you know, younger people are increasingly anti Semitic and anti Israel. And then there was a poll by the Manhattan Institute, the right wing think tank, where they had these young, you know, focus group of gender Gen Z types and they were going, oh yes, Hitler was a strong leader and what an. And then they have a focus group, well, what's your views of Jews? You know, basic answer, unquestioned initially. You know, nobody else raised a force for evil. Yes.

[Brad Friedman]

Okay.

And these are because you cite support for Israel dropping, has been dropping sharply among younger evangelicals, down to just 34%. At the same time, antisemitism among all young people rising. Indeed. A public focus group, not a Hitler loving group. Chat with Gen Z Trump voters, talk to them. Right. That they were no longer finding that there were no longer any red lines against Nazism. Nazism. Art.

[Art Levine]

Yeah. In other words, the classic line is, you know, hypocrisy is the tribute that virtue plays, provides all that's gone, there's no more fig leaves. You know, all of the standard distancing modes between Republicans and antisemitism has dropped away. And then of course, we have the messaging out of DHS and ICE and Labor Department who are striking all of these tones, you know, even at like after Renee Goode's death, three days after the killing of the Labor Department, tweeted out a video using the slogan one homeland, one people, one heritage, which was echoing. And then it says, remember who you are, American. It was, it was very similar to Hitler's on the Ein Fuhrer. And then. Okay, then. Oh, was that just an accident? No, it wasn't an accident because then dhs, this is so crazy, had their ICE recruitment pitch and you can hear the song itself now with over 7 million views. They basically had a lyric taken from a pounding Marshall anthem that you have to hear that's loved by the proud boys called we'll have our home again. And when you hear it, it is basically, you know, like the Horse Wessel song. It's a pro. And it was an anthem adopted by the Proud Boys. And then the Trump administration said, oh, it's just another song. Why are you guys all getting upset about a song, you know, gaslighting us using an anthem of the Proud Boys to recruit ICE members? So is it. And they're, you know, the recruitment of ICE members is why in part, we have such of the horrors and tragedies we see saw in Minneapolis and all

[Brad Friedman]

of this inside an administration pretending to be stamping out antisemitism as we go into the midterm elections. I mean, it is also absurd, you know, that I'm wondering, frankly, how anybody has ever bought into any of this, even though these, you know, we're talking about things that have recently emerged. All of this has been around for years. How did anybody ever buy into this notion that the GOP is out there, you know, standing up for religious liberty, fighting against anti Semitism? All of that is a wonder, though I do feel like blaming the. The media today for a whole lot of that, though. Not you. Not you, Art Levine. I gotta get out, brother. I'm gonna point folks over to you.

[Art Levine]

And by the way, New York, New Yorker, New York Times has just platformed Ben Shapiro very respectfully without really digging into his own bigotry, of course.

[Brad Friedman]

Of course. Why should they have an opinion? Just let us know what's going on. Don't bother to call out these people. Anyway, yeah, I'm gonna point folks over when we, of course, when we post Today's [e-mail] to your story over at washingtonspectator.org headlined Inside the MAGA meltdown over antisemitism. A parade of Charlie Kirk wannabes, Nazi sympathizers, end time prognosticators, media grifters, and nostalgic evangelicals scramble for control of their imploding coalition. Sounds like fun. Cause it is. Art Levine, longtime investigative journalist, you can. I mentioned you can find his work washingtonspectator.org and you can find him on the blue skies at Art L, number seven, Art Levine. Great speaking with you, my friend. Look forward to the next time.

[Art Levine]

Thank you so much.

[Brad Friedman]

Thank you, brother. Okay, we have got to get out. I am running late as usual. So thanks to our producer, Desi Doyen to all of you for spending a portion of your day or night with us. If you missed any portion of today's show, want to share it with someone you know, Love or hate. You can do so for free at bradblog.com, a service supported by those of you kind enough to hit a donate button while you're there or go straight to bradblog.com donate drop me email if you like. Love to hear from you. I'm bradcastradblog.com and on the social medias you will find me at the bradblog. See you there. Until we see you here next time, I'm Brad Friedman and good luck world.

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