Tucker Carlson vs. Mike Huckabee: The MAGA Rift Over Israel, Antisemitism, and Christian Zionism

Straight White American Jesus

Axis Mundi Media: Bradley Onishi + Daniel Miller

News, Politics

4.7 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2026

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this brief episode of Straight White American Jesus, Brad Onishi dissects a revealing interview between Tucker Carlson and Mike Huckabee, using it as a window into the growing rift inside the MAGA coalition. At the center of the clash is a theological and political divide: Christian Zionism versus a rising strain of Christian anti-semitism - nationalist, isolationist populism that increasingly traffics in anti-Jewish tropes. Brad unpacks how debates over Genesis 15, biblical land claims, and U.S. foreign policy toward Israel expose deeper fractures—ones that pit older religious right leaders like Huckabee against a younger, more conspiratorial wing associated with figures such as Candace Owens and Marjorie Taylor Greene. The result is a struggle over theology, nationalism, and who truly defines “America First.” Brad also explores how the Epstein files, Gaza, and the language of “protecting children” are being weaponized within this intra-MAGA battle. On one side stands a Christian Zionist framework that collapses biblical covenant, modern nation-state politics, and unconditional U.S. support for Israel. On the other stands an isolationist populism that critiques foreign aid and military alliances but often slips into conspiratorial and antisemitic rhetoric. Neither camp, Brad argues, offers a healthy path forward. Instead, this moment reveals how theology, demographics, generational divides, and media ecosystems are reshaping the American right in real time—and why the consequences extend far beyond Israel policy alone. Subscribe for $3.65:⁠ ⁠https://axismundi.supercast.com/⁠⁠ Subscribe to our free newsletter:⁠ ⁠https://swaj.substack.com/⁠⁠ Order American Caesar by Brad Onishi:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/⁠⁠ Donate to SWAJ: ⁠https://axismundi.supercast.com/donations/new Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	AXIS Moondy
0:07.0	AXUS Moondy Welcome to Straight White American Jesus.
0:31.6	My name is Brad Onishi, author of American Caesar,
0:34.9	how tech lords and theocrats are turning America into a monarchy coming
0:38.7	in September and founder of Axis Moody Media. Today on this brief episode, I want to dissect
0:46.3	an interview from last week between Tucker Carlson and Mike Huckabee. And I think that this interview
0:52.9	is a chance for us to get a window into some of the riffs
0:58.0	that currently exist in the Maga Coalition.
1:02.0	Tucker Carlson, over the last couple of years, has taken what many would call an anti-Semitic turn.
1:09.0	He was given actually an award for anti-Semite of the year in 2025.
1:13.5	At Charlie Kirk's Memorial, he talked about how the Jews were the ones who killed Jesus,
1:18.8	or he at least alluded to that fact in his remarks. Those kinds of ideas and words and beliefs have a long history, a long anti-Semitic history.
1:30.6	The idea that the Jews killed Jesus has been used from medieval times till now to justify hatred of Jewish people.
1:39.0	He also infamously had Nick Fuentes on his program a couple of months ago.
1:43.5	Nick Fuentes is an open Nazi,
1:46.0	lover of Hitler, and somebody who has expressed Jew hatred over and over again.
1:52.0	Carlson created a stir when he hosted Fuentes, and it really opened a rift.
1:59.0	On one side, what I would call anti-Semitic Christians in the Maga Coalition. And on the other, I would call Zionist Christians. And that brings us to Mike Huckabee. Mike Huckabee is the man that he interviewed last week. Now, some of you are too young to know Mike Huckabee as anything other than Sarah Huckabee Sanders' dad. She, Sarah, is the
2:19.8	governor of Arkansas and was once a spokesperson in Trump's first term. However, Mike Huckabee was also
2:27.3	one-time governor of Arkansas. He is now the ambassador to Israel. And when he and Tucker spoke, Huckabee really put forth what I would
2:38.1	call a kind of classic religious right Christian Zionism. And Huckabee was of course appointed
2:44.8	to be the ambassador to Israel because he holds these views and the ways that he talks about
	...

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