Tucker Carlson is to J. D. Vance as Hasan Piker is to Abdul El-Sayed
The analogy isn’t perfect. But I think it’s a good one:
Vance’s strength is his wit, intellect, and gift for political framing. He’s a verbal sharpshooter who decimated Tim Walz in their vice-presidential debate, and Jewish Republicans surely applauded his withering takedown of El-Sayed. …
Vance came across as reasonable, sincere, fair-minded, and respectful. He acknowledged Israel’s importance to American foreign policy, praised it as an ally, and connected the rise of antisemitism to unchecked Third World immigration — traditionally, one of the GOP’s most unifying issues.
Best of all, he did it without pandering.
But on the other hand, Vance failed to separate himself from Tucker Carlson, whom many Jewish Republicans feel is just as much of a dangerous antisemite as El-Sayed. The event’s emcee, ex-Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), gave him a golden opportunity to denounce Carlson’s rhetoric.
Vance declined, opting to pivot to Nick Fuentes and Joe Rogan …
By failing to cleanly separate himself from Hasan Piker, El-Sayed has shot himself in the foot. He’s now dogged by Piker everywhere he goes — and every time Piker says something offensive, El-Sayed is back on his heels. …
But what’s true about Piker is also true about Carlson: He monetizes outrage and controversy to stay in the headlines, too. That’s his business model as well.
Which means, JD Vance and Abdul El-Sayed share the same political vulnerability.
It’s puzzling why Vance refuses to bandage his wound. It wouldn’t take much. Just two or three sentences.
All he’d have to say is that Carlson has changed — and as a Christian, Vance prays for Carlson’s redemption — but OF COURSE he vehemently disagrees with Carlson about Trump being the antichrist, a slave, and/or Israel “destroying” the United States.
Carlson isn’t some quiet personal friend of Vance’s, he’s a major figure who is (or used to be) on the right, and he is a disgusting blood-libeling Jew-hater who is vocal about it nearly on a daily basis. Vance’s refusal to even criticize him in that regard is very telling, in my opinion.
Vance sometimes utters words that indicate he’s an Israel-supporter, but he has also said many things having nothing to do with Tucker Carlson that show a compromised support of Israel which is sometimes more like the position of a politician on the left than one on the right. I’ve written about it before; please see this from about a month and a half ago. In that post, I quote Lee Smith, who had written:
During his grievance-fueled performance on Rogan’s podcast, Vance lashed out once again at the Jews, alleging, among other things, that there’s an Israeli-funded plot to undermine his negotiations with Iran; some Israelis want war indefinitely for the sake of endless war; and the U.S. government has probably destroyed evidence that Jeffrey Epstein was a Mossad operative. …
Now that the Iran deal that Vance favored has blown up and he’s taking heat for it, he’s showing that no one puts baby in a corner. So, he resurrects Epsteingate, predictably inspiring the dumbest people in America, and around the world, to flood social media with details from an information operation targeting Trump.
I also think Vance has shown some naivete about Iran.
I am assuming that Vance’s motive for all of this is to not alienate the Tucker wing of the GOP. That’s the kindest interpretation.
I used to like TC. Anyway, I asked Grok AI: “how big is the Tucker wing of the GOP?” It was to long for here (especially since I was unsure of the info) — so, Grok: “How can I retain all that info in a condensed blog comment?”
Midterms soon—two years until 2028…
I likes JD at the start, but his refusal to condemn Tucker is a Big No for me. I like Rubio a lot. If these two start battling it out in 2028, the Dems will win.
Just saw a video of DeSantis, so I will ad his name to what I said about infighting in 2028
@neo: I am assuming that Vance’s motive for all of this is to not alienate the Tucker wing of the GOP.
I was pretty solid on Vance until this Tucker business.
Signed,
Confused
As someone who was very impressed with Vance early on, I have to say that this has gone on long enough that even if Vance tries to distance himself from Tucker, or even completely denounces him, I’ll have to wonder if he did it because he really disagrees with Tucker’s insane rantings, or because it was politically demanded of him.
Not sure I’d trust any kind of conversion or “come to Jesus” moment at this point.
Of course, if he’s the Republican nominee in 2028, those concerns certainly aren’t enough to convince me to stay home or [shudder] vote Democrat, but unless something significant occurs to change my mind, I’m thinking my vote in the Primary is going to go to someone else. At this stage, most likely Rubio.
I cannot support this position. Vance has not declared much of anything about Carlson. And the demand that he – or anyone – denounce someone else is too much like the Left’s tactics for my sake.
My view is go by what people actually say, and do not read in what one wants to read in. The latter course is almost always wrong, as it’s just reinforcing one’s prejudices. Too much is made over this.
One common denominator of the MAGA coalition is, uhhh, *disaffection* with the coastal, Left-wing, DEI-pushing, woke elites in academia and media.
Which is exactly the camp most American Jews built, live in, and identify with. Generations of American Jews were willing poster-children for progressivism, and sneered at the white Christian mainstream and its values.
People like Ben Shapiro are a literal drop in the bucket against decades of this branding.
The young men drawn to Vance are especially aggrieved by this elite, their narratives, and their policies.
It’s not necessarily anti-Semitic to be weary of liberal Jews playing the victim card generations after they (freely!) climbed America’s economic and social ladder…. especially if your political context is general pushback against the many groups flashing their victim cards to push ahead of you, and the unfair rigging they’ve constructed to stymie *your* way up the ladder.
It’s not anti-Semitic to feel that the Holocaust is your (great-) grandparents’ story… or to judge Israel based on current realities, and not its scrappy beginnings as remembered by your parents. Time has indeed marched on.
It’s not anti-Semitic to notice the dissonance when (ignorant, assimilated) Jews who vigorously undermine the Judeo-Christian tradition suddenly cry “antiSemitism” to silence criticism of their completely secular revolution…
In both actual fact and PR framing, Donald Trump is extremely Jewish-adjacent. A not-very-pious Christian New Yawker with Orthodox Jewish daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren who has embraced Israel and visited it many times.
In contrast, JD Vance is a founding-father Anglo Protestant prole raised away from the coasts, without much personal connection to Jews.
**Vance balances the ticket and adds credibility for many not-so-philosemitic MAGA patriots.**
As an American Jew living in Israel, I have no doubts about Vance’s support for Israel – and I understand why it is framed in actual strategic benefit rather than emotion. His rejection of a litmus/purity test on Israel may shock people of my generation, but it plays well with the target market whose political activity is motivated by the loathing of the woke ideological arm-twisting that it suffered.
And we must face the historical fact that people who are under 40 in 2026 have a different perspective on Israel and a more distant recollection of the Holocaust. The visceral horror that shut up many anti-semites for past 70 years was bound to fade with time.
MAGA means what it says – America first. That is not anti-Semitic. Neither is JD Vance.
A further way to look at Vance is that he is strategizing for the Post-Trump world and trying to avoid a hard split with the anti-interventionist, America First wing.
Might be a good plan, but the devil is in the execution. That’s a hard needle to thread. Vance might end up not pleasing anyone.
Thanks for your helpful comment, Ben David.
I admit I prefer Rubio at this point.
One point of difference between Piker on the left and Carlson is that Carlson isn’t campaigning with any Republican candidates that I know of. He’s not even a Republican any more.
Agree with SHIREHOME. Never liked Vance. Didn’t dislike him to a great extent but I just didn’t think much of what he says. He’s obviously very intelligent and has a lovely family (which should be irrelevant to his being Vice-President and his positions or speeches. El Sayed obviously doesn’t know this, nor do his supporters I assume). But back to SHIREHOME’s comment, I like Rubio A LOT. He’s very experienced, and seems to grow ever more wise. He has handled a lot of roles in this Administration – and done so well. He also doesn’t shy away from explaining WHY he believes something or taken various actions. I hope JD isn’t coronated as Pres. candidate for 2028 by virtue of being Vice-President à la Kamela.
Rubio is pretty clearly the Swamp’s preferred choice if they must suffer someone from the GOP. He’s doing a great job, taking orders and direction from Trump. That doesn’t mean he’d do a great job being at the top himself.
He has, for example, most emphatically been part of the problem when it comes to immigration. Now he’s in an Executive branch role where he is supposed to support a policy of enforcing the laws we have and not creating more loopholes and end-runs around them. He’s doing well at it, but that doesn’t he would have done same things had he been in charge of setting the policy.
Niketas:
Rubio is not just taking orders from Trump. He was saying good things on these issues long before he had anything to do with Trump.
Rubio does seem to have changed his mind since the Gang of Eight episode. I find it hard to believe his forceful statements as Sec. of State, and his actions, are just because Trump told him what to do.
Another outstanding executive is Ron DeSantis.
@Kate:I find it hard to believe his forceful statements as Sec. of State, and his actions, are just because Trump told him what to do.
He’s not a robot, certainly; he could have used his role to undermine what Trump wanted him to do, and he hasn’t done that, quite the opposite.
I’m not trying to deny him credit for what he’s done, but working ably under someone else is quite different from being at the top, and he’s not an unknown quantity before his current role.
Vance has been very disappointing re Carlson. Although I still think highly of him, maybe it would be best if we waited a while for JD. After all he just recently turned 40. He can still be a viable candidate 20 years from now. The biggest disappointment for me is that DeSantis will probably never be president due to almost zero charisma even though (IMO) he is by far the most capable one out there. No one is even close. Damn!!
huxley wrote: I was pretty solid on Vance until this Tucker business.
Beat me to it. I used to assume Vance would succeed Trump. Now? No.
I get the impression attention is starting to focus much more on Rubio.
I like Rubio over Vance and DeSantis over both of them, but will gladly vote for any of the three over anyone on the Dem side.
Naive and ambitious. I’m not surprised JD hasn’t figured out his old friend Tucker is poisonous, but I am surprised Usha either hasn’t or hasn’t persuaded him yet.
There is a lot of truth in what you say, Ben David. But you underestimate the Tucker factor, especially in the context of a sobering rise in antisemitism even if it is mostly coming from the left at this point.
Yes American Jews of my generation have had it pretty cushy. But 4000 years of history have taught us not to get too comfortable. German Jews were successful and assimilated and it didn’t do them much good either.
“It’s not anti-Semitic to feel that the Holocaust is your (great-) grandparents’ story… or to judge Israel based on current realities, and not its scrappy beginnings as remembered by your parents. Time has indeed marched on.” BenDavid
To what “current realities” do you refer?
“Time has indeed marched on.”
Arguably, the Holocaust was the most horrific example of evil yet seen in the world. Oct. 7th demonstrated to anyone with eyes to see that, that level of evil is still fully active in this world. Oct. 7th is also proof positive that another Holocaust is entirely possible. Time marches on but the dark side of human nature remains.
At the very least, Vance’s refusal to publicly reject Tucker’s slander of Trump and Israel raises serious concerns as to his judgement.
Tucker has become so toxic that Vance, as Vice President and Trump’s announced heir (currently) has a moral obligation to make unmistakably clear that he rejects Tucker’s views. Not to do so is in effect, a covert admission of agreement.
‘Loyalty’ that excuses or ignores evil views becomes, however tangentially, complicit in those views.
Political calculation, at best a generous explanation for Vance’s silence, speaks to a fundamental lack of character. Character, is doing the right thing when it will cost you to do so. And the greater the cost to do the right thing, the surer the indication of an upright character.
More than any other quality, character counts most in a Presidential candidate.
Even before this Tucker Carlson hullabaloo, I found myself unconsciously concluding that I was definitely preferring Marco Rubio to JD Vance.
Add Ron DeSantis to the mix, and I’m perfectly happy with him; he was who I wanted in 2016 [ten years ago already???].
Rubio is a serious man and comes off as a serious man (ditto for DeSantis), Vance is sometimes a bit too flippant for me.
So I find I’m pretty much with bill (5:49 pm), who writes, “I like Rubio over Vance and DeSantis over both of them, but will gladly vote for any of the three over anyone on the Dem side.”
Me? — I’ll vote for virtually anyone this side of sanity “over anyone on the Dem side.”
Some of those “Dem” guys/gals — let’s be fair — do exist in varying degrees of sanity, but when the chips are down, as they so often are, we know quite well what they’ll defend and support, whether they actually believe in it or otherwise.
I will vote for Vance over whatever lunatic the Dems put up but I prefer Rubio or DeSantis at this point. Vance’s Tucker problem isn’t going away. It’s not just that Tucker is rabidly anti-Israel and incredibly naive about foreign policy, he is just plain nuts. His belief that man did not create nuclear weapons but instead were given them by demons is just insane and there will be plenty more where that came from. The crazy train that Tucker is on is going to have a bad ending and JD’s inability to see that shows poor judgement.
I doubt if Vance actually hates Israel or Jews, as such. On the other hand, I suspect he sees the Middle East in general as Not Our Problem, and he’s profoundly wrong about that.
— Niketas Choniates
This^^^.
I’ve observed before that Rubio ought to be deeply grateful to Donald Trump, because Trump giving Rubio the SoS job has been Rubio’s chance to redeem himself after sponsoring the Gang of Eight Immigration Amnesty back in 2013.
It’s almost impossible to overstate had badly he damaged himself with that. It haunted him in 2016, it haunted him in 2024! I was very nervous about Rubio’s appointment. So far, Rubio has been one of the biggest pleasant surprises of Trump II.
But the jury is still out on both Vance and Rubio. It’s only 2026, we’ve still got the midterms to get through yet, and a lot can happen in 2 and a quarter years. We don’t have to make our final choices yet for 2028.
Great comment by BenDavid on September 2 at 1:57 pm! Thank you!
I never cared about Tucker Carlson, and I still don’t.
HC68 wrote “It’s only 2026, we’ve still got the midterms to get through yet, and a lot can happen in 2 and a quarter years. We don’t have to make our final choices yet for 2028.”
Exactly! Vance, Rubio, DeSantis, Ted Cruz, or …? I will make that decision in 2027 or 2028, depending on events, dear boys and girls!
Geoffrey Britain
1. You don’t have to convince me – my impression is that this blog skews to mature people, and everything you wrote is obvious to us (except of course for the many grey-haired hippies on the Left who lived through what we did, received the same education, and still see the world and Israel through the lenses of identity politics and “colonialism”…)
2. If you are a non-Jew under 40 you became politically aware – and aware of Israel – when Israel was already an economic and military powerhouse rather than an underdog. Even if you are feeling your way towards conservatism, the “colonialist” label applied to Israel during your education still probably leaves residue. Your reality provides no reasons for a “special” relationship with Israel, beyond mutual interests.
If you are a non-Jewish MAGA under 40 – and especially a young man drawn to Vance – the initial spark and continued mainspring of your political awareness is angry rebellion against the woke DEI regime and its heavy-handed thought control… this is why you patronize Rogan and podcasts instead of establishment media…
You may not know who Jews like Norman Lear or Gloria Steinem were -or be able to parse the difference between them and, say Ben Shapiro – but you’ve suffered the results of their revolution, and now you are angry. Absent personal relations with Jews, the liberal coastal-academic Jews you have seen and heard of are associated with everything you reject….
… so the Podcast generation is all about skepticism of The (now progressive!) Establishment. They favor no-holds-barred discussion, and are not disposed to kowtow to self-proclaimed PC victims telling them they “must” denounce someone else… that’s what the Marxist dorm monitors at uni tried to get you to do…. And you don’t yet have the historical perspective to sort out why this hatred is particularly dangerous.
None of this is anti-semitism.
This administration is a wrecking ball breaking open American minds… but live-and-let-live Conservatives always wake up late to the venal Marxist march through the institutions, and we are in a race to keep the Preference Cascade going. G-d forbid it could all come screeching to halt with these midterms…
Many of us all appreciate Trump *because* he’s a populist doer, focused on success rather than ideological purity. His methods work and the MAGA message is snowballing.
It’s a long-term goal.
The Trump administration understands that Vance and the young men attracted to him are essential to the long-term success of the MAGA renewal. They will mature into fine liberal-minded Westerners and patriotic Americans – and much-needed fathers – if we can just keep changing the many minds already formed by Lear, Steinem and others over decades.
Very good points BenDavid. I shall consider this if it comes to Vance vs. sitting out 2028.
The money behind Tucker Carlson’s show came from a Muslim – Omeed Malik – $15,000,000.
Guess who just put on the RNC biggest donor dinner starring JD Vance- Omeed Malik – $5,000,000.
Putting Israel aside, you can choose America or Islam but not both. I do not trust Carlson or Vance.
Carlson – it isn’t just his Jew hating. What about praising the “world class” “historian” who claimed Churchill started WWII. Carlson belives this $chitt.
I will still take DeSantis over Vance or Rubio. Best Governor in the US.
I hope Vance falls flat on his face.
Speaking of Tucker Carlson and Abdul El-Sayed, it seems the former just endorsed the latter in Michigan’s US Senate race, saying that El-Sayed is “America First.” I just can’t see why any conservative would believe Tucker Carlson is on our side.
Tucker Carlson on Mike Rogers: “I wouldn’t vote for Mike Rogers at gun point.”
Carlson on El-Sayed’s America-first campaign: “It’s literally Trumpian.”
https://x.com/adamwren/status/2095479585559163350
________________________________
Vance had better start thinking faster.
As Joe Walsh might put it:
The Tucker You Think
The Playered You Get 🙂
I’ve put up this new post on Carlson’s praise for El-Sayed and condemnation of Rogers.