Sorry, folks, if you think that the big tent of the conservative movement should include Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and even Nick Fuentes, you are dead wrong.
That's true not just for moral and principled reasons, but also as a practical matter of politics. These groypers and groyper-adjacent "pundits" are moral and political poison, and have adopted and are spreading ideas that have nothing to do with conservatism as I understand the word.
The case against Fuentes is the easiest to make, so I won't bother making it. Enough has been written about this Nazi grifter who doesn't even pretend to be conservative that there is not much point. His shtick is inciting people to rage and making money off the clicks.
But Tucker and Candace have both been fixtures in the conservative movement for years, and Candace even did a stint at the Daily Wire, which is unabashedly a leader in the culture war against the modern Left. (For the record, I never liked her much and thought she brought down the quality of their excellent Backstage roundtables.)
Candace has obviously veered into pushing insane clickbait conspiracy theories in which Erika Kirk or her associates decided to murder Charlie because he was souring on Israel or something. French assassins are stalking the land, looking to take her out, and Emmanuel Macron married his crone wife because he secretly loves gay sex or something. That's some crazy s**t right there, yet she has one of the most popular podcasts in the world.
WTF?
The battle for the future of the Republican Party is underway.
— Tucker Carlson Network (@TCNetwork) December 22, 2025
Who will control the GOP once Donald Trump leaves office? Someone who believes in America First, or a globalist like Ted Cruz? And what about the Democrats? Would they really nominate Gavin Newsom?
Matt Gaetz joined… https://t.co/7KxIKcAxCu pic.twitter.com/fB2Jbi8hgL
The battle for the future of the Republican Party is underway.
Who will control the GOP once Donald Trump leaves office? Someone who believes in America First, or a globalist like Ted Cruz? And what about the Democrats? Would they really nominate Gavin Newsom?
Matt Gaetz joined The Tucker Carlson Show for a round of predictions, analysis, and breakdown of government coups, the return of identity politics, and more.
And Tucker? He's suddenly a fan of feudalism, Sharia law, the price of groceries in Russia, and Stalinesque architecture. And the man who is complaining bitterly about being canceled by Ben Shapiro is attacking Ted Cruz, using an image of two famous Jews to imply that Cruz is not really loyal to America, but to Israel.
“Feudalism is so much better than what we have now” says Tucker Carlson with Auron MacIntyre in agreement.
— not (parody) 🇺🇸 (@mentalyentil) August 21, 2025
Auron follows up by saying we are “well beyond” what the founders set up, so “what options are left?” pic.twitter.com/t1FFY6wWCn
Tucker is attacking conservatives for their skepticism of Islam, leaning into the accusation that he has become a propagandist for Qatar of all places.
🚨 BOMBSHELL at AmFest: Dead silence from the TPUSA crowd as Tucker Carlson spends his entire speech shilling for Islam
— Reverend Jordan Wells (@WellsJorda89710) December 19, 2025
- Calls Muslims “mostly good”
- Says it’s “evil” to be anti-Islam
- Compares being Muslim to being black (as if it’s not a chosen ideology)
Zero cheers.… pic.twitter.com/eLtWfP7ZOm
Does Tucker Carlson know that the rape rate is zero in Muslim countries because if women report the rape they are… executed?!
— Jaimee Michell (@JaimeeUSA) November 2, 2025
I’m not going to be gaslit into believing defense of Sharia law is a normal or sane position for a conservative to hold. Sorry.pic.twitter.com/5aU1qSxhDB
It is ironic that Tucker took to the stage at, of all places, TPUSA's AmericaFest to defend Islam and attack its skeptics as immoral bigots. Charlie Kirk spent much of his career warning against Islam.
🚨 LISTEN TO CHARLIE KIRK: "I cannot see a single Western country that has become more Islamic and has become a better place to live that is happier or freer."
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 14, 2025
"I think it's SUICIDAL to import MILLIONS of them."
"Is macro Islam compatible with Western values, macro? Of course,… pic.twitter.com/vOhbL8D6pZ
"I think it's SUICIDAL to import MILLIONS of them."
"Is macro Islam compatible with Western values, macro? Of course, it's NOT. There are 3 major reasons why."
"Islam does not believe in freedom of speech, Islam does not believe in freedom of religion, and Islam does not believe in separation of mosque and state."
"Those three things are antithetical to the West. In a Muslim-majority country, most Muslim-majority countries, you cannot criticize the prophet Muhammad. In most Muslim-majority countries, you do not have the same robust freedom of religion protections."
"And finally, whereas we in the West are very careful to try to intermix religion and state, they are commanded to actually go into the state and try to change the state to be more Islamic around the core pillars of Islam."
"The question that we need to reckon with the West is, is Muhammadism compatible with the teachings of Blackstone? Is it compatible with the legacy of Wilberforce and the great thinkers that have come from this country?"
"And I will say, no, there's a reason why when you go to these Islamic countries that you're not going to see the equal protection of rights, that you do not believe in universal human equality, that you do not believe the same things that we believe in the West."
The problem with Candace and Tucker is not that they are heterodox; it's essential to have heterodox views even within a larger movement. If we cannot examine our principles, we can't really say we hold them so much as chant them. I say some things that put you guys off, such as that I don't believe that most Muslims are bad people, even though I share Charlie's view that Islam and Western values are incompatible.
There is a reason why the West used to be called Christendom, and most Muslims will admit that the values in the Koran are incompatible with Western values. In fact, many will proudly say so, and Tucker's praise of Sharia law suggests that he believes that too.
Richard Dawkins, an avowed atheist, is more conservative than Tucker Carlson on this matter. Tucker proudly flaunts his "Christian values," while the most prominent atheist in the world is actually more sympathetic to actual Christian values than he.
Richard Dawkins now defines himself as a 'cultural Christian'
— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) April 1, 2024
Yes, that Richard Dawkinspic.twitter.com/0E5InTYGqa
Tucker and Candace are as conservative as NeverTrumpers are Republicans. They may have been once upon a time, but no longer. Calling them conservatives today is as legitimate as saying that George Conway and David French are spokesmen for Republicans.
Now, for those who say "we need a big tent to win" and therefore we should still embrace these guys, let me point out that the winning margin in elections always comes down to Independents. Base Republicans will vote, which is what makes them the base. But the bases of either party are about 30-35% of the voting public, and with leaners, probably about 45%. That last 10% is the group you need to win over to win elections.
Democrats have been alienating those folks by being whacky socialists who want to chop off kids' genitals. The last thing we need to do is alienate them by embracing feudalism and Sharia law. The sudden rise of antisemitism on the right, even if it is a small fraction of the actual conservative movement, is getting promoted by the Pravda Media as our core.
It will become the new "Russia Hoax."
Our basic principles on which we all agree are winning in the public sphere. Let's not let the fringe define us.
