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Tucker Carlson stars as villain at GOP antisemitism confab, with Vance the unspoken question mark

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12.03.2026

JTA — Nearly everybody called out Tucker Carlson at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s symposium on antisemitism.

Attendees clapped when Senator Ted Cruz of Texas called Carlson “the single-most dangerous demagogue in the country,” and speakers praised President Donald Trump for recently casting him aside as “not MAGA.”

There was no such praise for Vice President JD Vance, however, who has made no decisive statement on Carlson, nor on Candace Owens. The two media personalities have come to represent an emerging, anti-Israel wing of the Republican party that indulges in antisemitic conspiracy theories and is anathema to the RJC and its rank-and-file. Vance’s silence has drawn skepticism and growing impatience from some Jewish Republicans.

But no speakers offered direct criticism of Vance on Tuesday and, after the event, a top RJC official said in an interview that he has no concerns about the vice president.

“I have a concern about Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, but not JD Vance,” said Norm Coleman, national chairman of the RJC and a former US senator from Minnesota.

Coleman said he has known Vance for “many, many years” and has had discussions with him about Israel and supporting the Jewish people. He pointed to Vance’s 2024 speech at the Quincy Institute, an isolationist think tank, on why supporting Israel is in America’s national security interest.

“So he’s been there, he’s spoken out publicly, he’s walked into the lion’s den and kind of stood with the Jewish people and stood with Israel,” Coleman said. “He’s always done that in my conversations with him, and I got to believe it’s the same in his conversations with President Trump.”

Coleman did not mention Vance in his public remarks on Tuesday, which included heaps of praise on Vance’s boss.

In fact, the only direct mention of........

© The Times of Israel