Mark Goldfeder, who resigned from the Heritage Foundation’s National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism this week, said the think tank — under the leadership of president Kevin Roberts — has completely lost its moral compass and betrayed its values by defending a platform for hate.
“This isn’t about cancel culture,” Goldfeder told Newsmax’s “Newsline” Friday. “It’s about responsibility.”
Goldfeder, CEO and director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, said he stepped down from the task force, also known as Project Esther, after Roberts refused to denounce Tucker Carlson for giving airtime to white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.
Roberts “blurred the lines of free speech” when he defended Carlson for platforming Fuentes — and then refused to condemn it, Goldfeder said.
“I thought it was important that there be a public statement saying this is not OK,” Goldfeder said.
“Any tent that includes neo-Nazis is too big for me — and too big, I think, for most of the American people.”
He stressed his move was about preserving the moral integrity of the conservative movement.
“Conservatism is about conserving enduring values, not opening the door to Nazis,” he said. “It’s the way to destroy the conservative movement.”
“There’s a massive gulf between canceling somebody or denying their free speech and giving a platform and a megaphone to a self-proclaimed Nazi,” Goldfeder said.
“Those are completely different things.”
When asked by Newsmax anchor Shannon Cake if Roberts should resign, Goldfeder’s answer was firm but measured.
“No,” he said. “I think Kevin Roberts should take this as a real opportunity to demonstrate leadership.
“He should say, I have a blind spot. I didn’t realize what I was doing, and now I’m going to use my platform to help others cure this unfortunate blind spot as well,” Goldfeder said. “It’s not about cancellation.
“It’s about responsibility.”
Goldfeder said Roberts’ failure to clearly denounce Fuentes and Carlson allowed hate to seep further into mainstream conservatism.
“The danger is not in recognizing that Nick Fuentes is a Nazi — he’ll tell you he’s a Nazi,” Goldfeder said.
“The danger is in allowing people like Tucker Carlson to try and bring this into the mainstream conservative movement.”
Goldfeder’s resignation came amid a wave of departures from Heritage’s antisemitism task force, which has now formally cut ties with the think tank.
Inside Heritage, there’s a massive revolt and the anger has reached a boiling point.
At a town hall meeting this week, staffers confronted Roberts over his refusal to repudiate Carlson and for describing critics as a “venomous coalition” — language many said invoked antisemitic tropes.
Several senior fellows demanded Roberts’ resignation.
One member said: “We, as an organization, have been unable to utter the words … Tucker is an antisemite — as we, as Heritage, do not want to associate with him.”
Roberts later apologized publicly — but never said what he was apologizing for. He still refuses to denounce Carlson.
Goldfeder says that silence speaks volumes.
“If you want to preserve the conservative movement,” he told Newsmax, “you have to draw a line.
“You can’t conserve anything worth saving if you normalize hate.”
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