Evangelical Christian Zionist leader Laurie Cardoza-Moore condemned conservative commentator Tucker Carlson after images surfaced over the weekend showing him posing with President Donald Trump and Elon Musk at the White House.
“Tucker Carlson’s antisemitism does not reflect the values of the Trump administration,” said Cardoza-Moore on Monday, adding that Carlson “is the slightly savvier mentor of Candace Owens, peddling a new woke-right, fake-Christian form of Jew-hatred.”
Cardoza-Moore, host of the syndicated television show Focus on Israel, which reaches billions of viewers globally, said she had been “inundated with calls from concerned Jews and Christians” following the images of Carlson wearing an oversized MAGA hat alongside Trump and Musk.
“We, the people, elected President Trump with an overwhelming majority and with a mandate to stand with Israel and our Jewish brethren against the rise of antisemitism, anti-Israelism, and anti-Zionism,” she said.
“Under the Biden administration, his policies incited violence against our Jewish communities on higher-ed and K-12 campuses, in synagogues, and places of worship. Our 47th president is without any doubt Israel’s greatest friend in the White House ever, but Tucker Carlson’s antisemitism is appalling.”
Accused of amplifying antisemitism
Cardoza-Moore further accused Carlson of using his platform to amplify antisemitic voices. “Following the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, Tucker has chosen to platform Holocaust revisionists, Jew-haters, and fake Christian leaders on the Palestinian Authority payroll,” she said. “He peddles conspiracy theories against God’s Chosen and libels the Israel Defense Forces by falsely claiming they deliberately target civilians.”
Concluding her remarks, Cardoza-Moore directly appealed against Carlson’s presence in Trump’s political circles. “Tucker Carlson should not be allowed anywhere near the White House,” she declared.
“Carlson’s positions on Jews are demonic and in violation of the Ninth Commandment, bearing false witness against your neighbor. America was founded upon Judeo-Christian values, which have made us what we are today. We can put America First and Make America Great Again without false prophets like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens.”
Carlson has been widely criticized for his rhetoric on immigration and racial demographics, with his comments often aligning with the far-right Great Replacement conspiracy theory. He has claimed that mass immigration has made the US "dirtier, poorer, and more divided."
He has accused Democrats of using immigration to alter the country's racial makeup to their electoral advantage. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other organizations have condemned his statements as promoting white nationalist narratives, despite Carlson himself denying that he supports the Great Replacement theory. His views have also been linked to rhetoric espoused by white supremacist mass shooters.
Carlson's platforming of controversial figures, such as Kanye West, has further fueled criticism of his stance on race and antisemitism. In a 2022 interview, Carlson aired an edited version of an interview with West, omitting the rapper’s antisemitic statements and his embrace of Black Hebrew Israelite ideology.
Critics accused Carlson of sanitizing West’s remarks to align with his narratives. More recently, Carlson's stance on Israel has evolved, as he has shifted from supporting Israeli military operations to calling for American neutrality in the Israel–Hamas war, even accusing Israel of committing war crimes. Commentators have identified him as part of a growing faction within the Republican Party that is skeptical or outright opposed to Zionism.