I have said many times before that I view left wing antisemitism and right wing antisemitism as two different, if related, phenomena. Left wing antisemitism (if you call it that), in my opinion is largely anti-Israel sentiment based on Israeli policies (which can expand to anti-Zionism if one believes that current Israeli policies are inevitable, either because of the neighborhood in which Israel is located, or because Zionism itself believes in geographic expansion within that neighborhood). Right wing antisemitism, on the other hand, has been more typical antisemitism (whether it has a religious base, or from a belief that Jews want to or actually do control everything or whatever) and has existed along with right wing support of Israel as necessary for the fulfillment of what so many believe to be God’s promise, or God’s map of the future.

I think I have been correct when I have said that, but today, I am going to modify what I have been saying, largely (but not exclusively) because of what happened at last week’s Turning Point conference, the annual meeting of the members and supporters of the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point movement. The conference, in Phoenix, attracted about 30,000 (that’s right, 30,000) attendees. The conservative movement in general, whether it is MAGA, or Turning Point, or some other branch, has long maintained that it is not antisemitic because of its support for Israel. If particular conservatives were themselves antisemitic (as many were), that was their business. It just never came up in the meetings or pronouncements of the various conservative movements.

That has now changed. Prominent antisemitic conservatives apparently no longer feel the need to hide, or ignore, their antisemitism. Nick Fuentes, Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson and others are now telling it like they see it. At the same time, the conservative movement as a whole seems to be moving back from its universal, no questions asked, support for Israel and the Netanyahu policies. They are criticizing Israel more openly, they are describing Jews using various old time-worn antisemitic tropes, and they are conflating their views of Jews and of Israel, using criticism of one to bolster or evidence criticism of the other.

This obviously does not sit well with all of the members of the conservative movements, and did not sit well with all of the attendees at the Turning Point conference. The most prominent of these is Ben Shapiro, who has become very prominent over a period of years, wearing his black kippah, and blending his strong conservative positions with a strong and unquestioning support of Israel. Ben Shapiro is not happy with the falling support of Israel within his movement, and certainly is not happy with the broader evidences of anti-Jewish feelings. He felt it was time to attack these changes to make sure they did not continue and deepen, and he seems to have felt that some of the more prominent activists who seemed to be wavering in their support for Israel needed to be silenced within the conservative movement.

And he said so in his speech at Turning Point. He not only said so, but he said so in fighting terms. He said there was no place for either antisemitic or anti-Israel sentiments in the conservative movement, and no place for Israel related conspiracy theories about the death of Charlie Kirk, and he called out people by name, people really important in the movement, like Carlson and Steve Bannon and Megan Kelly.

I don’t know what Shapiro was expecting, but I know he didn’t get it. His speech led to a number of speakers,  like the Vice President, saying everyone was welcome in the movement, and there should be no “purity” tests. To many, these were talks supporting unity, to others they were talks supporting antisemites. What was clear from audience reactions is that Shapiro’s position had little support. It will be interesting to watch his next moves.

In the meantime, a group called Stop Antisemitism, about which I know nothing, but has been around for decades, has named Tucker Carlson as Antisemite of the Year 2025. This “honor” has been reported all over the Internet, it appears. I saw it first in a Facebook posting of the New York Post, as you know a very conservative newspaper. There were several thousand comments on the post, and I scrolled through the first hundred or so. Every one of them seemed to be supportive of Carlson and felt his new title really was an honor, something to be proud of.

So the conservative movement does have a problem. It is filled with antisemites. And Ben Shapiro didn’t help, at least in the short run. Nor does the apparent break between Israel (over Gaza and the West Bank) and so many conservatives help.

Vance wants a big tent. Of course he does. But big tents do lead to big problems..