Trump has been accused of stabbing Vance in the back by failing to condemn Nick Fuentes(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Donald Trump has been accused of having “shivved Vance in the back” by failing to condemn Nick Fuentes’ antisemitic and white supremacist views.
The president brushed aside concerns about conservative commentator Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with far-right activist Fuentes, which sparked a rift within the Republican Party. Trump defended Carlson on Sunday, saying the former Fox News host has “said good things about me over the years.”
“You can’t tell him who to interview. I mean, if he wants to interview Nick Fuentes, I don’t know much about him, but if he wants to do it. Get the word out. Let them. You know, people have to decide. Ultimately, people have to decide. So there you have it,” Trump told reporters.
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Fuentes appeared to appreciate Trump’s sentiment, posting “Thank you Mr. President!” alongside a video of his interaction with reporters. Fuentes is a fierce critic of JD Vance and has previously made racist comments about the vice president’s mixed-faith marriage to Usha Vance, who is Indian American.
When asked by Axios if the president condemned Fuentes’ racist and antisemitic rhetoric, the White House referred the outlet back to the president’s remarks. While Trump said he didn’t “know much about” Fuentes, who dined with him at Mar-a-Lago in 2022, he did not criticize the Holocaust denier.
Nick Fuentes’ interview with Tucker Carlson sparked a rift among Republicans(Image: AP)
The New Republic‘s Greg Sargent noted Trump’s comments hinder Vance’s ambitions during a podcast with Vox correspondent Zack Beauchamp on Tuesday. “Trump really, whether intentionally or not, shivved Vance in the back in a way here,” Sargent said.
The podcast host noted that Vance is weighing up how to harness the post-Trump MAGA movement for his own purposes.
“Vance wants to get away with what you might call a soft or veiled white nationalism. But Fuentes actually mocks Vance and makes racist comments about his wife,” Sargent said. “I think Vance would have preferred it if Trump sidelined Fuentes, but Trump basically dumped Fuentes on Vance to have to deal with later,” he added.
Fuentes has made racist comments about JD Vance’s wife, Usha (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Beauchamp agreed that Trump’s failure to condemn Fuentes now could come back to bite Vance if he makes a bid for the 2028 presidential election.
“I’ve got a personal theory that Trump has mostly checked out of the succession fight at this particular moment in time,” the correspondent said. “There’s a lot going on with him, a lot of things to wrangle. And the question of, like, how to deal with someone like Nick Fuentes is just not at the top of his agenda. He’s just answering it the way he would any other question. ‘I don’t know him. I’m not involved in this, I don’t know, Tucker’s business is Tucker’s business.'”
However, this puts Vance in a tricky position. Beauchamp explained: “That abdication, though, does put Vance in this position because he wants to—as you say, it’s very clear—be the Republican standard bearer in 2028. He wants to create a sort of very ideological version of MAGA.”
It’s not the first time Trump has been asked about Fuentes. Three years ago, he hosted Fuentes at a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort, along with the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
Trump at the time said he had not previously met Fuentes and “knew nothing about” him. Fuentes’ visit to Trump’s estate was condemned by numerous Republicans, including former Vice President Mike Pence, who said it was wrong for Trump “to give a white nationalist, an antisemite and Holocaust denier, a seat at the table.”
On Sunday, Trump told reporters that he didn’t know Fuentes at the time and that he didn’t know he was coming with Ye.