Arizona Tribune - MAGA civil war: How a white nationalist blew up the American right

But when US media star Tucker Carlson devoted two hours to interviewing white nationalist Nick Fuentes, the result was far more explosive -- splintering conservatives, triggering a reckoning over anti-Semitism and reviving a bigger question: who really owns the Republican Party?

From think tanks to influencers, Donald Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement has been plunged into open warfare -- a battle over extremism, loyalty and what comes after the Republican leader finally exits the stage.

When Carlson spoke to Fuentes -- a figure who has praised Hitler, denied the Holocaust and branded American Jews as disloyal -- he didn't steer the incendiary commentator away from these toxic claims.

The video was seen by six million viewers and blew open a door many conservatives thought was closed.

"This is someone that, even in the topsy-turvy world of right-wing media these days, was seen as someone you didn't really pal around with or promote or collaborate with," Will Sommer, who tracks the far-right fringe for The Bulwark, said on the political outlet's podcast.

"And Tucker now has opened that door up. And really... that sort of suggests that (Fuentes') politics now are acceptable within the Republican tent."

The MAGA flirtation with extremism isn't new -- Trump himself hosted Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago in 2022. But analysts believe Carlson's interview signaled something deeper: the normalization of once-taboo ideas inside mainstream conservatism.

- 'Superspreader' -

The backlash was swift. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, columnist John Podhoretz and Senate Republicans including Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham spoke out against giving Fuentes a platform.

But others rallied around Carlson. Kevin Roberts, president of the influential Heritage Foundation, called him "a close friend" and hailed his resistance to "cancel culture."

That defense quickly collapsed after internal outrage emerged. Roberts apologized, and five members of Heritage's anti-Semitism task force resigned in protest.

Then came Ben Shapiro, one of the right's most powerful voices, with 30 million social-media followers. In a blistering monologue, he branded Carlson "an intellectual coward" and "the most virulent superspreader of vile ideas in America."

But analysts say big media figures like Shapiro who have supported the rise of MAGA have to take some responsibility for the extremist fringe they are now fighting.

"I do feel like it's this weird scenario where there are people out there who helped kind of build this MAGA monster," conservative commentator Matt Lewis told MSNBC.

"And now they're (saying), 'Look what we've created.' It may be too late to stop at this point."

For many Washington-watchers, the Carlson-Fuentes saga has revealed an uncomfortable truth: the extremist ideas once confined to the fringes of Trump-era politics are no longer whispering at the edges -- they're knocking on MAGA's front door.

- 'Nazi streak' -

Fuentes himself started to gain a following in 2017 after taking part in the nationalist "Unite the Right" rally in Virginia, which was given a glowing review by Trump.

And Carlson's interview landed amid a series of more recent scandals linking Republican figures to Nazi imagery and racist ideologies.

Politico recently exposed young Republicans joking about gas chambers, Hitler and rape in private messages, while leaked chats showed Trump's nominee for a top federal watchdog post describing himself as having "a Nazi streak."

"In the last decade, we've seen the conservative movement... become basically infested with people who have illiberal ideas, who don't really buy into democracy," Lewis said.

And he fears the trend will only accelerate, with the extremists drowning out the more moderate MAGA figures.

"I was giving a speech last week, and a young man came up to me dressed like a young Republican -- he looked like he could have been a young Republican in 2005 -- and he said 'every single one of my friends listens to or watches Nick Fuentes,'" Lewis told MSNBC.

"They don't all buy into everything he has to say. But the problem, of course, is the exposure."

R.Garcia--AT