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 discussed what he terms “far-right” antisemitism, attributing it to distinctively American forms of prejudice such as nativism, isolationism, and white supremacy. He likened these elements to “cords of a rope wound together,” which he referred to as “American antisemitism,” suggesting that populist and nationalist critiques often carry suspicious undertones.

Greenblatt swiftly turned his attention to a well-known figure, Tucker Carlson, asserting that the 2016 election helped bring such ideologies into the mainstream. He remarked that “Tucker Carlson has been problematic for years” and expressed concern about a “podcast-enabled world with no more guardrails,” which allows Carlson to “show up as his true self.” This highlights Greenblatt’s worries about the diminishing influence of traditional media.

He voiced concerns over the erosion of what he described as “editorial constraints” and the absence of legal and corporate “guardrails” on speech, arguing that “right-wing, far-right antisemitism has surged” in an unregulated media environment. Linking Carlson’s independent work and the grassroots discourse surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein case to “a form of conspiracism that creates a toxic mix,” Greenblatt suggested that populism and conspiracy theories have become more mainstream in unprecedented ways.

Greenblatt contended that many of “the loudest voices engaging in this kind of anti-elitism” often “look for someone to blame, and it is the Jew.” By associating populist skepticism of institutions, questions about Epstein, and critiques of foreign policy with antisemitism, he positioned much of the Trump-aligned Right under a shadow of prejudice.

Additionally, Greenblatt highlighted a recent interaction between Vice President J.D. Vance and a student at Ole Miss University, who raised concerns about Israel’s treatment of Christians. While he expressed discontent with the Vice President’s response, he was more disturbed by “the whooping and cheering” that followed what he termed a “bizarre question about Israel persecuting Christians.”

“People… pic.twitter.com/2vuGG7lUTp

— 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.