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Cruz on Possible War Path with VP Vance
as Trump Defends Carlson on Nick Fuentes
Ted Cruz Presses MLB in Gambling Probe
Capitol Inside
November 17, 2025
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz appears to be gearing for potential showdown with Vice-President JD Vance in the fight for the White House in 2028 with an escalating feud with conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson over an interview with a white supremacist that President Donald Trump defended on Sunday.
Cruz has attacked the former Fox News commentator during the summer over his opposition to Israel's part in the warring with Palestinians and aid that the U.S. has given the democratic nation of Ukraine in an ongoing battle with Russian communists who invaded it.
But Cruz ramped up rhetorical attacks aimed at Carlson for giving white nationalist Fuentes a platform with appearances on his podcast this year. Fuentes shares the same views as Vance on the the Israelis campaign in the Gaza strip - an issue that's ignited a civil war in Trump's MAGA base.
"We have a responsibility to speak out even when it's uncomfortable," Cruz said in a statement that the publication Axios published on Monday. "When voices in our own movement push dangerous and misguided ideas, we can't look the other way. I won't hesitate to call out those who peddle destructive, vile rhetoric and threaten our principles and our future. Silence in the face of recklessness is not an option."
But Trump came to Carlson's defense on Sunday amid criticism that he's piqued for giving Fuentes a stage to flaunt his racist and bigoted views to his largest audience yet. Trump suggested he wasn't that familiar with Fuentes even though he acknowledged that he'd attended a dinner at Mar-a-Lago in 2022 with rapper Kanye West.
“We’ve had some great interviews with Tucker Carlson, but you can’t tell him who to interview,” Trump said. "I mean, if he wants to interview Nick Fuentes - I don’t know much about him, but if he wants to do it, get the word out, let him. You know, people have to decide. Ultimately, people have to decide.”
Meeting people - talking to people - like for somebody like Tucker, that’s what they do,” the president added in an exchange with reporters. “You know, people are controversial. Some are, some aren’t.”
Vance has been a significant Carlson apologist - in sharp contrast - and the controversial television celebrity could be the middle of a verbal slugfest between the broadcaster and the junior senator from the Lone Star State. Elon Musk apparently doesn't see Fuentes as a threat - having reinstated his account on the social media site X.
A Nazi apologist who's fascinated with Adolph Hitler, Fuentes piqued Cruz's wrath with comments like those he served up on his podcast during the spring. “Jews are running society, women need to shut the … up, Blacks need to be imprisoned for the most part, and we would live in paradise. It’s that simple,” Fuentes said at the time according to a piece on Monday in the Washington Post.
Trump's defense of Fuentes may be surprising when considering that he branded the president's support for Israel as a "colossal disappointment and a catastrophic failure.”
“MAGA is dead,” Fuentes proclaimed last week.
But that didn't stop Fuentes from sharing a video with Trump's words about him on Sunday night, the Post reported. “Thank you Mr. President!” Fuentes said in response.
Cruz finished second behind Trump in the race for the presidential nomination in 2016. Cruz attacked Trump relentlessly at the time before rolling over amid a backlash from the right.
more to come ...
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