Newsweek senior editor-at-large Josh Hammer came under fire Wednesday after publishing a column that critics mischaracterized as calling for harm against Tucker Carlson — an accusation Hammer says is rooted in bad faith and deliberate misinterpretation.
In the piece, Hammer faulted Carlson for having an amicable interview with Holocaust-denying white supremacist Nick Fuentes, arguing that the move undermined “the forces of civilizational sanity on the MAGA Right.” Critics seized on one line in particular — a metaphor warning that “unless the fox is neutralized, the victim could be the entire extant GOP coalition itself.”
Nevertheless, several conservatives, including The Blaze host Jason Whitlock, denounced Hammer’s phrasing as “irresponsible,” arguing that it was inappropriate amid heightened concerns over political violence. Hammer’s criticism came after the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk — the subject of his op-ed — in which Hammer argued that Kirk, a supporter of Zionism, would be turning over in his grave at the thought of Carlson, who spoke at his eulogy, interviewing Fuentes just weeks later.
Hammer later responded on X, rejecting what he called “bad-faith” attacks. “One has to be truly stupid or willfully disingenuous to think that ‘neutralized’ means anything other than its most common usages,” he wrote, sharing a dictionary definition meaning “to make ineffective; counteract; nullify.” He emphasized that his remarks were political, not personal, and said he was calling for Carlson’s influence — not his safety — to be curtailed.
During their conversation, Carlson paused to reflect on his earlier criticism of Fuentes. In the midst of a discussion about the effects of pornography, he offered an apology for repeatedly referring to Fuentes as a “weird little gay kid” — remarks that had drawn attention at the time for their bluntness.
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