Christian Zionism strikes back

The battle lines have been drawn, and they are theological.

On one side is the Nick Fuentes-Tucker Carlson wing of ethno-nationalism, which espouses a form of Catholic integralism or “blood-and-soil” traditionalism. On the other side is the most powerful grassroots force for evangelicals in the GOP: the dispensationalist Christian Zionism of figures like Pastor John Hagee and his organization, Christians United for Israel.

This dramatic rupture in conservative evangelicalism and MAGA politics is more than merely a “disagreement over foreign policy” as Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts has framed it. For Christian Zionists, this is not a policy issue; it is heresy.

In a previous analysis for BNG, I detailed the “No Enemies to the Right” philosophy that led Roberts to defend Tucker Carlson’s decision to platform avowed antisemite Fuentes.

This political strategy, which demands all firepower be directed “left,” has collided head-on with a seemingly unstoppable force and immovable object: the millions-strong, deeply funded and theologically driven Christian Zionist movement.

According to the view of Tucker and Fuentes, “Zionist Jews” are a secretive, invisible and subversive force for evil and “globalism.” In his interview with Fuentes, Carlson himself labeled the beliefs of Christian Zionists a “brain virus” and a “Christian heresy.”

This worldview is a de facto “Replacement Theology” — a belief that the Christian church (or, in this case, a white, “Christian” West) has superseded the Jewish people as the inheritor of God’s everlasting covenant of grace.

“Those are fighting words to Christian Zionists like Hagee.”

Those are fighting words to Christian Zionists like Hagee. In a recent interview with the Washington Reporter, Sandra Hagee Parker (John Hagee’s daughter) was asked about Replacement Theology. Her response was a direct, all-out declaration of war against the so-called “America First” right.

“Replacement Theology,” she asserted, “and those who believe in the same, are misguided at best, and heretical at worst.”

She then explicitly linked this doctrine not just to ancient history, but to its modern, violent expressions: “It is the same strategy used by the Crusaders, the Spanish Inquisitors, Martin Luther, the Nazis, the KKK, and now the far right.”

This is the theological core of the conflict.

For Christians United for Israel, the “far right” (Fuentes, Carlson) is not a “friend” to be protected under the “No Enemies to the Right” umbrella. It is the modern iteration of the KKK and the Nazis, promoting the same heretical lie that justifies antisemitism.

Hagee Parker lays out the scriptural case that is the bedrock of Christian Zionism, which is a direct refutation of both Fuentes and Carlson.

First is the “unbreakable covenant” God made with Abram (later renamed “Abraham) in Genesis 12:3: “I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who curse you.” For her, this is an unbreakable, timeless foreign policy directive that comes straight from the mouth of God.

Second is the rejection of replacement. She quotes the Apostle Paul in Romans 11:1-2: “I say then, has God cast away his people? Certainly not!” This is the central New Testament text used to prove that God’s covenant with ethnic Israel is eternal and separate from the church.

Finally, the so-called “prophetic” proof. In Isaiah 66:8, the question, “Can a nation be born in a day?” is seen by Zionists as a direct prophecy of Israel’s founding on May 14, 1948.

Hagee Parker is blunt: “If the modern state of Israel did not exist, then the Bible is a lie, and God is not real.”

This is why, for Christians United for Israel, the stakes are not merely political, as their own “War Room” updates show. They are tracking hostage negotiations, terror-linked flotillas, and Hezbollah attacks with eschatological urgency, for the end is nigh. Their fundraising appeals declare: “This Isn’t Just Israel’s War — It’s Ours Too.”

“This theological worldview has fueled a massive political counterassault.”

This theological worldview has fueled a massive political counterassault.

CUFI’s own website is actively promoting articles condemning Carlson. It features a piece from Jewish News Syndicate titled, “Is Tucker Carlson Normalizing Antisemitism on the Right?”

The article, written by CUFI-allied journalist Jonathan S. Tobin, argues Carlson’s platforming of Fuentes represents a “tipping point” and that “unless a line in the sand is drawn … it isn’t going to be possible to go on pretending that there is a tangible difference between the attitudes of the right and the left when it comes to antisemitism.”

This is a direct and total rejection of the Heritage Foundation and Kevin Roberts’s “No Enemies on the Right” logic.

CUFI also features commentary on Republican Sen. Ted Cruz’s recent speech at the Heritage Foundation — the very institution Roberts leads. There, Cruz crassly quipped: “Tucker Carlson is turning into Ilhan Omar.”

This political attack, racist undertones aside, is dumbfounding. In essence, Cruz has framed the “America First” isolationist far right as indistinguishable from the progressive “Squad” and left-wing activists who were largely responsible for the anti-Israel campus protests of 2023 and 2024.

The “No Enemies to the Right” strategy, originally designed to unite the GOP against the left, has instead ignited a civil war. It has forced a choice between two wings of the party that now openly label each other heretics.

The attempt to build a “big tent” that includes both Nick Fuentes and John Hagee has failed, and the prospect of such an alliance was laughable to start.

Contrary to Fuentes’ claim that the Groypers now run the party, the Christian Zionists who put Trump in office in the first place aren’t going anywhere.

 

David Bumgardner is a writer, theologian and educator living in Columbus, Ohio. He is a former BNG Clemons Fellow and a graduate of Texas Baptist College at Southwestern Seminary. He is a licensed commissioned pastor and holds an evangelism license through the Anglican Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Diocese of Boga, and Missio Mosaic, an ecumenical missional society and religious order. He is awaiting the conferral of his master of arts in practical theology degree from Winebrenner Theological Seminary. 

 

Related articles:

Russell Moore sounds alarm about evangelicals accepting Nazis

No Enemies to the Right? Inside the GOP’s new civil war | Analysis by David Bumgardner

The unholy alliance that’s OK with bringing back slavery | Analysis by David Bumgardner

Women are the problem, Carlson and Fuentes declare | Analysis by Rick Pidcock