Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt is sounding the alarm about the populist Right and openly calling for establishment Republicans such as Sen. Ted Cruz to “win this battle” for the soul of the GOP against Trump-aligned populism and rising skepticism of U.S. support for Israel.
In a recent podcast appearance, Greenblatt delved into what he terms “far-right” antisemitism, which he believes is deeply entwined with distinctly American prejudices such as nativism, isolationism, and white supremacy. He likened these ideologies to “cords of a rope,” collectively naming this phenomenon “American antisemitism” and portraying populist and nationalist critiques as inherently questionable.
He swiftly shifted focus to a familiar figure in this context, Tucker Carlson, asserting that the 2016 election facilitated the mainstream acceptance of these ideas. Greenblatt criticized Carlson, stating that he has been problematic “for years.” He expressed concern that in today’s podcast-driven world where traditional media constraints are disappearing, Carlson can now exhibit his “true self,” highlighting Greenblatt’s unease about the diminishing control of legacy media.
Greenblatt expressed regret over the erosion of what he termed “editorial constraints” and the absence of legal and corporate “guardrails” on speech. He argued that “right-wing, far-right antisemitism has exploded” within a media landscape where “anything goes.” He connected Carlson’s independent ventures and grassroots conversations around the Jeffrey Epstein case to a rising “conspiracism that creates a toxic stew,” suggesting that populism and conspiratorial thinking have become more mainstream than ever before.
In Greenblatt’s view, those who vocally engage in anti-elitism often search for scapegoats, with “the Jew” frequently becoming the target. By linking populist distrust of institutions, queries about Epstein, and critiques of foreign policy to antisemitism, he suggested that much of the Trump-aligned Right might be tainted by bigotry.
Greenblatt also pointed to a recent interaction involving Vice President J.D. Vance and a student at the University of Mississippi, who questioned Israel’s treatment of Christians. While he disapproved of Vance’s response, he was more disturbed by the enthusiastic reaction from the audience to what he described as a “crazy question about Israel persecuting Christians.”
He stressed that this incident occurred at Ole Miss, not at a place like Harvard or a Middle Eastern studies department, describing it as both “terrifying” and “alarming.” This episode highlighted his worry that criticism of Israel, especially among younger conservatives, is no longer confined to the expected left-wing academic settings.
— Chris Menahan 🇺🇸 (@infolibnews) December 9, 2025
Greenblatt lamented the decline of what he called “editorial constraints” and legal and corporate “guardrails” around speech, arguing that “right-wing, far-right antisemitism has exploded” in a media ecosystem where “anything goes.” He tied Carlson’s independent work and grassroots discussion of the Jeffrey Epstein saga to “a kind of conspiracism that creates a toxic stew,” and claimed that “populism and conspiracism have kind of been mainstreamed in ways that are new and novel.”
According to Greenblatt, some of “the loudest voices who engage in this kind of anti-elitism” inevitably “look for someone to blame and it is the Jew.” By linking populist skepticism of institutions, Epstein-related questions and criticism of foreign policy to antisemitism, he placed much of the Trump-aligned Right under the shadow of bigotry.
Targeting JD Vance Supporters and Campus Questioning of Israel
Greenblatt also singled out a recent exchange between Vice President J.D. Vance and a student at Ole Miss University who questioned Israel’s treatment of Christians. He said he “didn’t like the way the Vice President answered the question,” but was more alarmed by “the whooping and the cheering” for what he called a “crazy question about Israel persecuting Christians.”
He emphasized that this occurred at Ole Miss, “not the Harvard Yard” or a Middle East studies department, saying he found the moment “terrifying” and “alarming.” The episode underscored his concern that criticism of Israel, especially from younger conservatives, is spreading beyond the stereotypical left-wing campus environment.
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt says the student at Ole Miss who asked JD Vance about Israel made him “worry.”
“The whooping and the cheering that happened as he asked this crazy question about Israel persecuting Christians and whatever—it was terrifying!” https://t.co/9OdXSayoHB pic.twitter.com/nZXRBNMAOe
— Chris Menahan 🇺🇸 (@infolibnews) December 9, 2025
ADL Chief Backs Cruz, Bush-Era ‘Principled Conservatism’
Greenblatt ultimately made clear that his solution is an anti-populist counteroffensive inside the GOP itself. Citing figures such as Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, he praised “very responsible voices on the right” who are “push[ing] back” and described the moment as “a battle for the soul of the Republican Party.” In his view, the key question is whether the party “will…yield to these forces of populism, conspiracism and toxicity or will it again revert back to the kind of principled conservatism or movement conservatism” associated with Barry Goldwater, William F. Buckley, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.
Greenblatt explicitly linked Tucker Carlson to the John Birch Society, the Ku Klux Klan and Father Coughlin, contrasting them with establishment gatekeepers “like Buckley and Reagan and by the way George W. Bush who said no way.” He closed by saying he hopes “voices like Ted Cruz and others prevail” in this intra-GOP struggle and declared, “We need them to.”
Greenblatt’s intervention comes after the Trump administration removed the ADL from federal law-enforcement training pipelines amid concerns that the group was conditioning personnel to see white people, Christians, Trump supporters and conservatives as potential extremist threats. In that context, his praise for Cruz as a needed counterweight to MAGA populism underscores why populist conservatives view the ADL’s agenda as fundamentally at odds with their movement.
