Episode Overview

Title: Victor Davis Hanson: If Only William Buckley Was Around to Debate Nick Fuentes
Podcast: Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words (The Daily Signal)
Host: Jack Fowler
Guest/Commentator: Victor Davis Hanson
Date Recorded: November 2, 2025
Date Released: November 4, 2025
Main Theme:
This episode critically examines Tucker Carlson’s controversial interview with Nick Fuentes, a far-right, openly antisemitic commentator. Victor Davis Hanson discusses the historical and ideological context of right-wing antisemitism, reflects on why such figures are platformed, analyzes the principle of "no enemies to the right," explores parallels with the left, and considers Israel’s strategic alliance with the U.S. The episode also touches on the legacy of William F. Buckley Jr. and the role of public intellectual debate.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Tucker Carlson's Interview with Nick Fuentes

Timestamps: 03:39 – 08:13

• Jack Fowler opens by characterizing Nick Fuentes as a "Stalin admiring, Jew hating racist" (00:56).
• Victor expresses confusion and concern over why Tucker Carlson chose to platform such a figure without robustly challenging his positions, especially given Tucker’s adversarial interview style with others (03:39 – 06:31).
  • "If Tucker Carlson wants to be an adversarial or a William F. Buckley host with a unfriendly guest, he can really pin him to the wall." (04:42)
• The hosts ponder whether this signals a shift in right-wing media or a tactical decision in the broader culture war.
• Victor highlights the danger of treating vicious hatred toward Christian Zionists and Jews as somehow debatable or tolerable in mainstream discourse.

2. The Nature and Comparison of Antisemitism on the Right and Left

Timestamps: 08:13 – 26:06

• Victor traces the history of right-wing antisemitism ("Christ-killing" tropes, blood libels, pogroms) and contrasts it with left-wing antisemitism rising in the Democratic Party and on university campuses (08:13 – 18:12).
  • Mentions media and campus incidents, e.g., targeting of Jews at Stanford, Cooper Union, a Senate candidate with SS insignia tattoo, celebrity antisemitism.
  • "The right comes out and says, ah, the left controls all the media, they control all the popular culture... They won't say anything because to do so they would have to go after Ilhan Omar and the Squad and they're not going to do it." (19:37)
• Victor asserts that recent demographic changes and the rise of identity politics (DEI) have changed the dynamics and acceptability of antisemitism across the spectrum.

3. Platforming Extremists: Lessons from William F. Buckley

Timestamps: 27:31 – 34:11

• Victor and Jack recall Buckley’s approach on “Firing Line”: he platformed odious figures not to normalize them but to publicly challenge and rebut their ideas, e.g., George Wallace, Eldridge Cleaver, William Shockley (27:31 – 31:34).
  • "The purpose was to bring people that the public was aware of. But Buckley wanted to inform the public that these people are extremist and they could be dangerous and so I'm going to show you how inconsistent, illogical and wrong they are." – Victor (30:34)
• The expectation of responsible hosting: If you give a platform to extremists, you should rigorously interrogate their arguments for the benefit and protection of the public (31:34 – 34:11).

4. The "No Enemies to the Right" Dilemma

Timestamps: 35:57 – 44:11; 45:23 – 54:53

• Jack questions why figures like Nick Fuentes are classified as “right-wing” or “conservative” at all, given their idiosyncratic or fundamentally un-American views (40:36).
  • "Why should we concede that he is quote, unquote, to the right? Why should we embrace the general Milley implication that white supremacy is something inherent to conservatives…" – Jack (40:36)
• Victor emphasizes that American conservatism is about constitutional principles, not racialism. He describes how figures like Fuentes often have incoherent ideologies and questionable motives.
• He strongly opposes the idea of unconditional right-wing solidarity, arguing it leads to the legitimization of destructive outliers.

5. Israel, American Interests, and Political Realignment

Timestamps: 47:02 – 53:53

• Victor defends strong U.S.-Israel ties, reasoning from both pragmatic and cultural perspectives (47:02 – 52:30).
  • Israel is framed as a functional, democratic, technologically innovative, and reliable ally—the “frontline” against radical Islam.
  • Critiques those (including some on the right) who treat this alliance as a liability.
  • "I don't understand why this is a bad deal... They have done so much for the world. I don't get this at all." (51:34)
• Notes that Gallup polling shows strong Republican support for Israel versus rapidly declining support among Democrats (53:53).

6. Gaza, Hamas, and the Difficult Problem of Palestinian Sentiment

Timestamps: 56:52 – 61:16

• Jack cites a Palestinian poll revealing strong post-October 7th support for Hamas. Victor rapidly assesses its implications for peace and Israeli security (56:55 – 57:49).
• Victor is deeply skeptical about the prospects for liberalization or reconciliation in Gaza when over 50% of the population supports Hamas’ violence (57:49 – 61:16).

7. On Netanyahu and Leadership

Timestamps: 61:58 – 68:53

• Victor shares personal anecdotes about meeting and speaking with Benjamin Netanyahu, painting him as intellectually curious, physically resilient, and transformational as Israel’s economic reformer.
  • "He was trying to explain that there was a kibbutz mentality in Israel … and he broke that up. … He was the most responsible for that." (62:34)
• Draws parallels between Netanyahu and Trump in their resilience and the vitriol they receive from adversaries.

8. Reflections on Tucker Carlson

Timestamps: 68:53 – 77:25

• Victor describes his prior appearances on Tucker’s show, recalling a much different tone on foreign policy and Israel.
• He notes the shift in Carlson's orientation from a critique of interventionism to ambiguous alliances with more toxic elements of the online right.
  • "If you had talked to him or heard him a year ago or two years ago, you could say that he was a kind of Robert Taft conservative… But he wasn't a Lindbergh conservative." (76:53)

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On Carlson’s Interviewing Style:
  "If Tucker Carlson wants to be an adversarial or a William F. Buckley host with a unfriendly guest, he can really pin him to the wall." — Victor (04:42)

• On Buckley’s Firing Line Doctrine:
  "The purpose was to bring people that the public was aware of. But Buckley wanted to inform the public that these people are extremist … and so I'm going to show you how inconsistent, illogical and wrong they are." — Victor (30:34)

• On Antisemitism’s Acceptability:
  "When you have a DEI component and says that if you're black or you're non white, you can't be anti Semitic. These all conspire to lower the bar of what is acceptable." — Victor (19:03)

• On White Nationalism’s Intellectual Poverty:
  "He keeps talking about white, white, white, white, white, white. Fuentes does. His father is half Mexican. So I thought, wow, according to your own logic, you would have to... cut yourself in half." — Victor (44:11)

• On U.S.-Israel Relations:
  "I don't understand why this is a bad deal... They have done so much for the world. I don't get this at all." — Victor (51:34) "They're at the front lines of this fight that is critical to us. They're our allies in the fight against our enemies and the fight for Western civilization." — Jack (52:30)

• On the Difficulty of Gaza’s Future:
  "It's going to make it very, very hard what to do in the post the ceasefires … Are you going to have an election and … they'll vote in Hamas again. That'll be one election, one time, just like they did in 2006." — Victor (58:23)

Segment Timestamps

• 00:56 Tucker Carlson Interviews Nick Fuentes
• 03:39-06:31 Christian Zionists, media responsibility, Tucker’s interviewing style
• 08:13-26:06 Right- and left-wing antisemitism, campus incidents, DEI
• 27:31-34:11 Platforming extremists: Buckley’s Firing Line legacy
• 35:57-44:11 “No enemies to the right”; what does “the right” mean?
• 47:02-53:53 Israel as an ally, Republican/Democratic support, strategic context
• 56:52-61:16 Gaza, Hamas, and the polling dilemma
• 61:58-68:53 Netanyahu: economic reformer and leader
• 68:53-77:25 Tucker Carlson’s evolution and the dangers of new right-wing alignments

Tone and Language

• Tone: Analytical, passionate, historically informed, critical but fair.
• Language: Erudite but accessible, with references to historical and contemporary events, personal anecdotes, and sharp distinctions between opinion and fact.

Summary Takeaway

This episode presents a robust, historically grounded, and interdisciplinary critique of antisemitism's reappearance on both right and left. Victor Davis Hanson calls for intellectual honesty in media, especially regarding platforming hate, urges clarity in defining what conservatism stands for, and underscores the American interest in supporting Israel as a reliable, democratic, and innovative ally. The legacy of public intellectuals like William F. Buckley is held up both as a standard and a warning: debate extremists, don’t indulge or normalize them. As Victor concludes, the current moment tests whether the guardians of American intellectual and moral life will rise to that challenge.