PHOENIX — In his speech to Turning Point USA’s year-end conference Sunday, Vice President JD Vance never uttered the word that has been tearing the MAGA base apart: “Israel.”
Vance has come under mounting pressure in recent weeks to condemn and bar from the conservative movement Nick Fuentes, a young podcaster who peddles white supremacist views and antisemitic tropes — underscoring the Republican Party’s divisions over the rise of fringe activists who were barely known by the public until recently. Some conservatives have also pushed for Vance, 41, to rebuke his longtime friend Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, who hosted Fuentes on his show this fall and whose calls for the U.S. to reevaluate its support for the state of Israel have helped fuel a raging fight among President Donald Trump’s staunchest supporters.
