type: timeline_event
Princeton professor Robert P. George resigned from the Heritage Foundation board of trustees over President Kevin Roberts' defense of Tucker Carlson's interview with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. George stated he "could not remain without a full retraction" of Roberts' October 30 video calling Carlson "a close friend of the Heritage Foundation" and dismissing critics as "the globalist class."
Roberts' defense triggered a cascade of resignations. Trustees Shane McCullar and Abby Spencer Moffat resigned in December, followed by Darryl Owens and Virginia "Ginger" Heckman. Heckman's departure was particularly significant as the granddaughter of Ed Noble, one of Heritage's founding donors in the 1970s. The Moffat family had made the largest pledge in Heritage Foundation history.
More than a dozen staff members also left to join former Vice President Mike Pence's organization, Advancing American Freedom. Departures included leadership of Heritage's Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, leading economic policy scholars, and Josh Blackman, editor of the Heritage Guide to the Constitution. Jewish conservative groups associated with Heritage's antisemitism task force, including the Zionist Organization of America, threatened to cut ties.
Roberts later apologized for "some of what he said" but could not offer a full retraction, leading George to conclude "we reached an impasse." The exodus represented the fracturing of the conservative movement's flagship institution, which had provided the intellectual foundation for Project 2025. The implosion demonstrated how the MAGA coalition's tolerance of white nationalism was alienating traditional conservatives.