Conservatives Must Take A Hard Look At The Poison Being Spread By Their Own

Recently, Politico exposed a seven-month collection of Telegram chat conversations among 12 members of the Young Republican National Federation that were overtly hateful, racist, and anti-Semitic.

It's easy to try to dismiss this abhorrent chat group as an outlier of immature kids who have very little impact. (Most conservatives are not hateful, after all.) We want to believe that this report is just another example of liberal media bias -- especially when we, as Christian conservatives, are regularly demeaned and labeled as right-wing extremists, often called "white Christian nationalists" by those in the middle and left side of the political spectrum. In fact, Vice President J.D. Vance downplayed the story, saying that these chats paled in comparison to the outright violent rhetoric and actions of the Left.

While the vice president is right to point out that these 12 young Republicans are far less influential and violent than those on the Left like Antifa, Charlie Kirk's assassin, and the Virginia attorney general candidate, Jay Jones (a man who could potentially become the state's chief legal advisor and law enforcement officer), we should not disregard or excuse their disgusting words. 

Disturbingly, there is a growing trend of hateful language among young conservatives and even some other influential conservatives. What has typically been relegated to the "alt-right fringe" is pushing its way into normal conservative circles. This is something that we, as Christians, must stand up against and stop.

Thankfully, respected conservative influencers like Christopher Rufo, Rod Dreher, and Seth Dillon are drawing much-needed attention to this growing problem, pleading with real conservatives to immediately refute the hate coming from the Right and put an end to the extremists' influence.

Rod Dreher has researched hate and oppression in-depth, releasing a book in 2020 titled "Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents" in which he warns of "soft totalitarianism." He interviewed survivors of Soviet persecution and calls on Americans to learn from them so that we can remain free.

In June, Dreher wrote an article in The Free Press, warning Americans about the rise of the "radical right," saying, "I am now witnessing the deep inroads, in such a short period, that right-wing totalitarianism, expressed most often as antisemitism, has made, especially among a growing segment of right-wing males. And unlike so many who point this out, this community is not exotic or foreign to me -- this is my world." 

He explains that young white men are especially susceptible to racism and anti-Semitism after they have been told for years that they are evil and oppressors simply because they are straight, white, Christian males. They spend a lot of time online, reading alt-right conservative influencers and chatting in online groups, and they find fellowship and community with others who have been demonized simply for their identity.

Christopher Rufo, an expert on critical race theory and Marxism, is also calling out the rise of anti-Semitism and hate on the Right. He wrote in City Journal in September, expressing his concern with "a larger section of the Right that has proved vulnerable to three ideological trends: racialism, anti-Semitism, and conspiracism." Sadly and appallingly, these ugly sentiments are growing. He explains, "The last time I was in Washington, I had dinner with some young staffers who said that racialism, anti-Semitism, and conspiracism have gained a foothold among their Gen Z colleagues in Washington."

CEO of The Babylon Bee Seth Dillon has written satire for years, shedding light on the terrible ideas from the Left -- such as gender transitions, wokeism, and men playing in women's sports. However, now that he is seeing racism and anti-Semitism rising on the Right, some conservatives are asking him to be quiet. But, he makes clear, "Bad ideas are like cancer. If you don't deal with them quickly and decisively, they spread." We must speak the truth and stop evil, hate, and lies. Dillon says, "If unity means refusing to confront evil within our own ranks, then I don't want it. I won't lock arms with anyone who thinks bigotry, collectivism, or post-constitutional tyranny belongs under the banner of conservatism."

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) recently called the rise of anti-Semitism among young conservatives a "cancer," saying, "I'm here to tell you, the church is asleep right now. If I pick up my phone and send out a tweet, if I say good morning, within minutes I will have hundreds of blatantly anti-Semitic responses."

Nick Fuentes is a 27-year-old white supremacist who praises Hitler and says that the Holocaust was "exaggerated." He has been considered on the "fringe," alt-Right, and his views have been widely rejected by conservatives, including Charlie Kirk and Turning Point, for the past nine years. However, tragically, Fuentes has recently gained a larger following (called Groypers), now has one million X followers, and was just interviewed by Tucker Carlson on his show.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, "In a March 2023 livestream episode, Fuentes stated, 'I think the Holocaust is exaggerated. I don't hate Hitler. I think there's a Jewish conspiracy. I believe in race realism.'"

Fuentes also denies the mass murders, rapes, and kidnappings that happened on October 7, 2023, claiming that the attack was a lie created by Israel to "justify" their "unfolding regional war" with Iran. He has also claimed that Israel "allowed" or "participated" in the atrocity to kill their own people.

Besides being anti-Semitic, Fuentes also expresses racist and anti-immigration views (even legal immigration). During a livestream on February 6, he said that white people need to "preserve their culture" and live among other white people because the United States has become an "alien nation." In December 2023, he claimed that immigration has brought an "end of whites as a group, whites as a race. And it also spells the end of white civilization."

Tucker Carlson has 6.7 million followers on X and 4.91 million YouTube subscribers. A former Fox News host, he has in recent years expressed isolationist views, not wanting the United States to assist Ukraine or Israel in their efforts to defend themselves against violent regimes and terrorists. However, more recently, he has expressed disdain for Israel and Christians who support Israel. In fact, during his interview with Fuentes this week, he claimed that Israel has always "funded extremism throughout the Middle East, including Hamas." 

Carlson also told Fuentes that people he calls "neocons" have been "seized" by a "brain virus, and they're not Jewish. ... Most of them are self-described Christians." He specifically named U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Senator Cruz, John Bolton, President George W. Bush, and Karl Rove. He went on to say, "And then ... the Christian Zionists. Who are the Christian Zionists? Like, what is that? And I just say to myself, I dislike them more than anybody, you know, because like what? Because it's Christian heresy, and I'm offended by that as a Christian." 

Conservative podcaster Candace Owens has 7.3 million followers on X and 5.48 million subscribers on her YouTube channel. She used to be a voice of reason in response to Black Lives Matter rioters. However, sadly, she too has formed radical views, including anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Owens has questioned the reality and extent of the Holocaust, implying the public has been indoctrinated, and even claiming that it was the Allies that actually did an ethnic cleansing.

Having once been a friend of Charlie Kirk, Owens has claimed that Kirk talked to her in a dream and told her he had been "betrayed." She also has asserted that there was a federal conspiracy behind Kirk's assassination and has thrown out accusations against Israel and even Turning Point USA, asking why the organization's chief of staff, Mikey McCoy, was on the phone immediately after the shooting, implying that he may have been part of an assassination plot.

Kirk's friend, who was with him when he was assassinated, Christian apologist Frank Turek, responded to Owens's horrific allegations this week, saying, "There's a difference between a possibility and evidence for a possibility. You can speculate on anything you want, but unless you have evidence, shut up. Because all you're doing is causing dissension among the brothers, which is something the Lord hates. If you want to present a possibility and say, 'Well, this could be true.' Okay? It could be true. But don't accuse people [of] doing something for which you have no evidence."

The effects of these conspiracy theories are real and very dangerous. In fact, Seth Dillon received death threats in response to his article, "The Foolishness of 'No Enemies to the Right." On October 18, the Florida attorney general arrested the man who not only threatened to kill Dillon but three other Jewish conservatives as well. The 28-year-old followed only three people on X: one about the Dallas Cowboys, a neo-Nazi named Paul Miller, and Candace Owens.

Having lived through September 11, 2001 and October 7, 2023, one has to wonder why people such as Fuentes, Carlson, and Owens don't speak out against violent Islamist terrorists rather than Israel? It is radical Islamist terrorists, after all, who call Israel the "Little Satan" and America the "Big Satan" and want to eliminate both countries as well as all Jews and Christians. They indoctrinate children from a very young age to hate Jews and tell them that becoming a jihadist martyr is a high calling and a way to worship Allah.

Islamist terrorists are committing mass murders (including beheadings and burnings) of Christians in countries like Nigeria, and persecution of Christians is a worldwide crisis. Over 80% of the world's population lives in countries with high levels of governmental or societal religious oppression. If these conservative commentators really are Christians who believe that all human beings are made in the image of God, truly want peace, and want to strengthen and protect America, they should be drawing attention to this evil instead of speaking against legal immigration, Israel, and Jews.

Christians should boldly speak the truth in love, expose lies, and oppose evil as we love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. Conservatives should be doing everything we can to defend the values of the sanctity of human life, strong families, First Amendment freedoms, human rights, national security, and limited government. As Dillon explains, conservatives have been winning because we have "courage and conviction, not cruelty or coercion." He writes, "Conservatism has never been about power or tribal victory. It's about conserving what's good and true -- regardless of what's trending, or how much it might cost us."

Originally published at The Washington Stand