Candace Owens And Tucker Carlson Have A Network That Beats Legacy Media

Whatever bad things you might otherwise say about Salem Nedia, which owns PJ Media, Instapundit, RedState, and other alt outlets, the one thing they haven't done has been to hop onto the Joe Kent bandwagon. That bandwagon includes various conspiracy theories that are never fully articulated, but they hint at broad Israeli involvement, not just in prompting the US to attack Iran, but in being somehow behind both the Charlie Kirk assassination and even tbe attempted Butler, PA assassination of Donald Trump.

In fact, Salem's Instapundit linked to this X post, which I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else:

𝗛𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚.𝗔𝗜 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗝𝗢𝗘 𝗞𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗜𝗡 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟 𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘. 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗬 𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗 𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗘𝗕𝗔𝗧𝗘.

Joe Kent goes on Tucker Carlson. Within minutes — not hours, minutes — the same clip, same… https://t.co/fOP7qwmZFO pic.twitter.com/TEF2OVLlz5

— M.A. Rothman (@MichaelARothman) March 20, 2026

It points out that almost simultaneously with Thursday's Joe Kent interview on Tucker Carlson, the identical clip was on Russian state TV (RT), Iranian state media (HispanTV), Hamas-aligned Quds News Network, 🇹TRT (Turkish state broadcaster), Sputnik Brasil, Jackson Hinkle, Candace Owens, MTG, and Max. The following day, he was on Megyn Kelly, whose interview is embedded at the top of this post. Then a whole series of alt YouTubers, including Micheal Lebron, who posts as Lionel, Mark Dice, Shawn Ryan, Tim Dillon, and Ian Carroll, had good things to say about Kent.

Thursday night, Candace Owens featured him at a Catholic Prayer For America Gala in Washington sposored by the group Catholics for Catholics (CFC):

Although CFC had announced Kent would be interviewed on stage by Candace Owens, the far-right podcaster and influencer, his actual five-minute appearance at the black-tie affair — which C-Span interrupted its regular programming to broadcast — turned out to be rather anodyne. Kent briefly repeated his anti-Iran War views. When pressed by CFC president John Yep, Kent added a religious flourish: “Having faith, I was able to hear God’s voice. . .”

lthough Kent says he's Catholic, at least insofar as his baptism is concerned, his past statements in political camapaigns have been in questionable conformance with Catholic teaching.

At a 2022 town hall, Kent agreed with a Christian nationalist in the audience who asked whether the far-right extremist would support a 20 year ban on nearly all immigration to the United States, in part to combat “demographic replacement.”

Now [2023], more than a year after the initial reporting, Republicans’ top choice for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District is claiming he never agreed with the idea of a 20 year immigration ban, and is threatening legal action against the paper.

Candace Owens appears to have been one figure with foreknowledge of Kent's resignation. At the first link above,

After Kent announced he was leaving the Trump administration on Tuesday, Owens immediately seized on it for her own purposes. Within an hour of Kent posting his resignation letter on X, Owens quote-tweeted it, calling him “an American hero, patriot and veteran.” She disparaged Trump as “a shameful president,” adding: “May American troops take his lead and look into conscientious objection to Bibi’s Red Heifer War. Goyim stand down.” . . . The next day, Catholics for Catholics announced she would be interviewing Kent at their gala.

Candace Owens herself is a recent Catholic convert. At the same link,

Two years ago, [Catholics for Catholics] celebrated Owens’ conversion, which coincided with her firing from right-wing podcaster Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire over her antisemitism. Along with Catholics for Catholics, many on the online right rallied behind Owens after her departure from Shapiro’s organization, praising or sanitizing her antisemitism.

Owens also has a history of brief affiliations with conservative organizations, which don't always end well. According to Wikipedia,

On November 21, 2017, at the MAGA Rally and Expo in Rockford, Illinois, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk announced that Owens had been hired as the organization's director of urban engagement. Turning Point's hiring of Owens occurred in the wake of allegations of racism at Turning Point. In May 2019, Owens announced her departure as communications director for the organization.

. . . Owens left PragerU in 2020 to host Candace, a show on The Daily Wire. The show premiered on the platform on March 19, 2021. Its episodes were filmed in front of a live studio audience and aired weekly. Notable guests included Donald Trump, UFC president Dana White, and U.S. Representative Jim Jordan.

Jeremy Boreing announced Owens would be leaving The Daily Wire in March 2024, a move believed to be related to a string of comments considered to be antisemitic, culminating in Owens liking a tweet referencing blood libel. There had also been months of tensions with co-host Ben Shapiro and other Daily Wire staff.

Shapiro himself, of course, is an ambitious self-promoter. But it's significant that the current Candace-driven controversy over Joe Kent seems to stem in large part from her campaign against Erika Kirk, which in turn seems to stem from a lingering complaint against Turning Point USA:

Owens said Tuesday [December 16, 2025] that her suspicions about certain employees at Turning Point USA, the conservative organizing group Kirk co-founded and where she once worked, hadn’t been assuaged by her meeting with Erika Kirk and other Turning Point staffers. Owens heavily implied that she believes Israel had something to do with Kirk’s death, promoting an unsubstantiated theory that Israeli officials have denied and that some of her critics say is evidence that she is boosting antisemitism.

Owens’ campaign following Kirk’s September 10 assassination has driven deep divisions within the MAGA influencer world. Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and comedian Dave Smith have all defended her to some degree, while Tim Pool and Ben Shapiro have both described Owens’ actions as “evil,” and Nick Fuentes has said she’s a narcissist hurting America.

. . . Owens has instead suggested France, Israel and Egypt might have been involved; that Charlie Kirk was “betrayed” by people close to him; and that state and federal law enforcement are covering up a bigger crime.

It's hard to avoid thinking that Joe Kent's resignation played into a larger conspiracy framing that was driven even before the February 28 attacks on Iran by preconceptions formed primarily by Candace Owens, apparently with the assistance of Tucker Carlson. Then, between them, they seem to have controlled a larger, MAGA-affiliated group of podcasters and commentators, especially Megyn Kelly. But Joe Kent is their creation.