Republican Jewish leaders are claiming Tucker Carlson’s influence is collapsing, but warnings persist that dismissing a potential presidential run from the former Fox News host would be a serious mistake.
Six months ago, Florida Republican Randy Fine called Tucker Carlson “the most dangerous antisemite in America.” On Sunday, at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s glitzy Manhattan gala, he walked that back — sort of.
“I don’t know that that’s true anymore,” Fine told the crowd, per The Jerusalem Post, citing Trump’s public distancing from Carlson and the primary defeat of Israel critic Rep. Thomas Massie as proof the GOP was cleaning house.
RJC CEO Matt Brooks declared that Carlson, Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes’ “influence and credibility is less than it’s ever been.”
But not everyone is popping champagne. The debate has intensified as prominent Republicans, including Senator Ted Cruz, warn about Carlson’s growing influence within the party.
The Anti-Defamation League’s Oren Segal warned it would be “absurd” to count Carlson out as a presidential contender. NYU professor Scott Galloway went further on his New York Magazine podcast Pivot, arguing there is “an enormous lane” for a candidate with Carlson’s conservative values, massive media platform and anti-Trump, anti-Iran war positioning.
Owens, speaking on Russian state television from St. Petersburg, was more direct: “I would love for him to run. I would gratefully get behind someone like Tucker Carlson.”
Carlson himself? Unmoved — at least publicly. When Piers Morgan pressed him on White House ambitions in March, he scoffed: “The whole idea of, ‘I’ve been a successful cable news host, I should be president!’ — that whole way of thinking is disgusting to me.”
Jewish conservative activist Shabbos Kestenbaum was equally dismissive, noting Carlson’s endorsed candidates keep losing. “His endorsements mean absolutely nothing,” he said.
While Carlson has not announced any plans to run for president, his massive online audience, populist appeal and willingness to challenge both Democrats and traditional Republicans have fueled speculation about a potential 2028 bid.
And, in the age of Trump, stranger things have happened. Much stranger.
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