{"id":31222,"date":"2026-03-17T11:41:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T15:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=31222"},"modified":"2026-03-17T11:41:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T15:41:38","slug":"ted-cruz-accuses-tucker-carlson-of-hating-him-for-his-christian-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/03\/ted-cruz-accuses-tucker-carlson-of-hating-him-for-his-christian-faith","title":{"rendered":"Ted Cruz Accuses Tucker Carlson of Hating Him For His Christian Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Left: Gage Skidmore \/ Flickr | Right: CBN News \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Conservative infighting continues between those some are calling \u201cfar right\u201d or \u201cwoke right\u201d 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\u2019s 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<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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, <\/em>has now said that Carlson is \u201cnot MAGA.\u201d Senator Ted Cruz is the latest prominent conservative to openly condemn Carlson, warning the GOP against elevating his voice any longer.<\/p>\n

At the Republican Jewish Coalition\u2019s symposium on antisemitism<\/a>, Cruz called Carlson \u201cthe single-most dangerous demagogue in the country.\u201d Carlson received especial criticism for having white supremacist Nick Fuentes on his show<\/a>, where Carlson attacked so-called \u201cChristian Zionists\u201d like Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz. \u201cThe 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,\u201d Cruz told CBN\u2019s<\/em> David Brody<\/a>. \u201cNow, 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,\u201d Cruz insisted. He framed anti-Zionism as being against the idea that Israel should even exist as a country. \u201cThere 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,\u201d he added, insisting that Carlson wants Israel to become a Muslim country.<\/p>\n

The split couldn\u2019t 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\u2019s more concerning is that both Owens\u2019s and Carlson\u2019s 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 \u201clost his way.\u201d \u201cAll we can conclude is that Tucker Carlson has become, as President Trump has implied, a lost boy \u2014 lost to his father\u2019s legacy, lost to the cause of Israeli survival, lost to the Iranian people\u2019s struggle for freedom, lost to reason and the effort to make America great again by defanging a regime that for 47 years has vowed \u2018Death to America!\u2019\u201d he wrote.<\/a> \u201cThis does not make me hopeful for him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Conservative infighting continues between those some are calling \u201cfar right\u201d or \u201cwoke right\u201d 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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":31225,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTed Cruz Accuses Tucker Carlson of Hating Him For His Christian Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens face backlash as conservative leaders warn their rhetoric could deepen divisions ahead of key elections.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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