Conservative infighting continues between those some are calling “far right” or “woke right” and so-called establishment conservatives. Two former conservative darlings that have become increasingly divisive over the last few months are Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens. Owens, who formerly supported President Trump, has distanced herself from him, calling him a disappointment and calling on her followers to no longer support him or his agenda, particularly the war on Iran, which she calls a proxy war for Israel. She has also enraged base conservatives with accusations against Erika Kirk, the widow of slain conservative Charlie Kirk, implying Erika is somehow involved in Charlie’s death and associated with trafficking for Jeffrey Epstein. The accusations have earned her outright condemnations from many conservatives, particularly her former boss, Ben Shapiro, at The Daily Wire.

Likewise, Tucker Carlson, once a steady and powerful voice in conservative circles, has earned condemnation for his soft stance on Islam and alleged antisemitic beliefs. Like Owens, Carlson has condemned the war in Iran and insinuated that President Trump is a puppet of Benjamin Netanyahu. President Trump, who has largely supported Carlson since his ouster from Fox News, has now said that Carlson is “not MAGA.” Senator Ted Cruz is the latest prominent conservative to openly condemn Carlson, warning the GOP against elevating his voice any longer.

At the Republican Jewish Coalition’s symposium on antisemitism, Cruz called Carlson “the single-most dangerous demagogue in the country.” Carlson received especial criticism for having white supremacist Nick Fuentes on his show, where Carlson attacked so-called “Christian Zionists” like Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz. “The target of this operation is you and me. It is Evangelical Christians. Tucker Carlson has said there is nobody he hates more on planet Earth than Christian Zionists, and he names specifically me and Mike Huckabee,” Cruz told CBN’s David Brody. “Now, why does he hate me? He hates me, number one, because I’m a Christian, and that is my faith, and I’m not going to run away from it or apologize for it. But he hates me, number two, because I’m a Zionist,” Cruz insisted. He framed anti-Zionism as being against the idea that Israel should even exist as a country. “There are 50 Muslim nations in the world. There’s one Jewish nation. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for the Jews to have one homeland when there were 50 Muslim nations,” he added, insisting that Carlson wants Israel to become a Muslim country.

The split couldn’t come at a worst time for the GOP as they face midterm elections and struggle to pass the highly-favored SAVE Act, which would require voter ID across the country. What’s more concerning is that both Owens’s and Carlson’s anti-Israel rhetoric is resonating with younger conservatives. Clifford D. May, founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), who has known Carlson for years and worked with his father, has said that Carlson has “lost his way.” “All we can conclude is that Tucker Carlson has become, as President Trump has implied, a lost boy — lost to his father’s legacy, lost to the cause of Israeli survival, lost to the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom, lost to reason and the effort to make America great again by defanging a regime that for 47 years has vowed ‘Death to America!’” he wrote. “This does not make me hopeful for him.”