America is still an experiment. For 250 years, this experiment has forced the world to change the relationship between government and its citizens. Few countries enjoy the liberties, economic abundance, and security that ours does. Most people on this planet would choose to live here if they could.
We created a decentralized federal government to avoid single-party rule. We abolished slavery before most of the world did. We helped lift much of the world's population out of extreme poverty. We liberated the world from chronic fascism and communism. Yet, most of the world's population is still controlled by theocracies, socialism, and totalitarian regimes.
Within our party, we are seeing a new threat. That threat comes from several anti-American forces that focus on Jew-hatred, oppose Israel, and include self-proclaimed white supremacists. Moreover, some embrace Hitler.
It is tragic that Candace Owens suggested Israel was involved in Charlie Kirk's assassination, and that Tucker Carlson platforms neo-Nazis such as Nick Fuentes, who repeatedly praises Adolf Hitler and denies the Holocaust.
Nick Fuentes is currently the worst parasite intruding in our movement. He has 1,000,000 followers, most of whom are young and raised in the internet age. Fuentes regularly attacks Trump. He was rebuked by the RNC in a formal resolution. He is poison, yet millions are deeply influenced by him.
We cannot ignore this threat. William F. Buckley began his career by ridding the early conservative movement of antisemitism. Hatred of Jews will not go away. Democrats failed to challenge Jew-hatred over the past 10 years. Now, hatred of Jews is becoming mainstream within parts of the Democratic Party.
We need to take a firm stand and remove this disease everywhere and at all times from our movement.
We must reject it with the same clarity and force that Buckley showed. No compromises, no tolerance for “edgy” memes that slide into Holocaust denial or Hitler admiration. It's about whether the American experiment survives with its soul intact. Antisemitism is not conservatism.
It’s the same old poison that has destroyed every society foolish enough to swallow it. We beat it back before. We must beat it back again, or we betray everything this 250-year experiment was built to defend.
Shawn Steel
