2026-09-01T13:21:14.950Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/01/politics/vance-jewish-gop-2028
拉斯维加斯——
近几个月来，副总统J·D·万斯公开表达了美国国内对以色列日益高涨的怀疑态度，这让一些共和党犹太选民感到不安，即便没有公开表达担忧，也让这位有望成为下届总统选举共和党领跑者的人身处困境。
一些共和党犹太活动人士表示更支持国务卿马可·卢比奥，而其他有野心的共和党人则试图质疑万斯的亲以色列资质。其中包括参议员特德·克鲁兹，他近期表示，共和党尚未在2028年前团结在万斯周围，并称在此之前将就“共和党代表的立场”展开“全面讨论”。
万斯于周一晚间向共和党犹太联盟发表讲话，该联盟是由颇具影响力的政治活动人士和捐赠者组成的团体。就在几个小时前，他刚在密歇根州为美国参议院民主党候选人阿卜杜勒·埃尔赛义德的竞选活动发起攻击。
记者被安排在拉斯维加斯威尼斯人酒店万斯与联盟成员对话的楼层下方。CNN从出席这场由前明尼苏达州参议员、共和党犹太联盟全国董事会主席诺曼·科尔曼主持的约45分钟“炉边谈话”的人士处获取了万斯讲话的音频。万斯没有接受观众提问，但这场有主持人引导的对话数次触及敏感话题。
有一次，万斯提及“房间里显而易见的大象”，指的是年轻人中对美以关系日益增强的怀疑态度。万斯表示，共和党需要“切实走出去，向民众说明这符合美利坚合众国的最佳利益”。
随后谈到了塔克·卡尔森，他曾主张美国不应再将以色列视为盟友，科尔曼在被问及万斯如何选择出镜媒体平台时提到了他。科尔曼表示，卡尔森、梅根·凯利、乔·罗根以及尼克·富恩特斯“都为反犹太主义者提供了发声平台”。
“我知道在座很多人可能不同意塔克·卡尔森、梅根·凯利或乔·罗根的言论，”万斯说道，随后特别将罗根与富恩特斯区分开来，称他们是“非常、非常不同的人”。富恩特斯是白人至上主义者和大屠杀否认者，2022年曾被总统唐纳德·特朗普邀请到访其海湖庄园。
万斯为自己与这些媒体名人的互动进行了辩护，称共和党需要“愿意奔赴各处，向所有人传递我们的信息”。
共和党犹太联盟首席执行官马特·布鲁克斯周一早些时候对记者表示，该团体决定将此次活动设为私密活动，以便开展“开放且坦诚”的对话。他还表示，共和党犹太联盟也邀请了卢比奥和克鲁兹前来发言，但他们因各种原因无法到场。
这是万斯自2022年以来首次出席共和党犹太联盟的集会，当时他还是俄亥俄州参议院候选人，出席了活动但并未发言。自那以来共和党内部情况发生了诸多变化：2023年10月7日哈马斯袭击事件后以色列对加沙发动战争，以及美国和以色列近期对伊朗发动战争，这两件事导致跨党派的以色列公众支持率下降。
这对活跃的政治捐赠者和活动人士组成的共和党犹太联盟来说是一个令人担忧的趋势，该团体在挑选下届共和党总统候选人方面将发挥不成比例的重要作用。该组织与谢尔顿·阿德尔森遗孀米里亚姆·阿德尔森关系密切，后者是赌场大亨，也是特朗普2024年竞选活动的主要捐赠者，捐款超过1亿美元。
目前尚不清楚阿德尔森是否到场聆听了万斯的讲话，她曾出席过过去的共和党犹太联盟峰会。但会后接受记者采访的联盟领导人对万斯给予了好评。
“副总统今晚确实为自己加分不少，”前白宫新闻秘书阿里·弗莱舍现任共和党犹太联盟董事会成员，会后对记者表示，“他回答了很多人心中关于他立场初衷的疑问。”
并非所有人都如此印象深刻。一些与会者表示，他未能充分回应他们眼中的核心问题——卡尔森。
“他完全在回避，”Z世代犹太活动人士沙博斯·凯斯滕鲍姆说道，他预测卡尔森会“继续纠缠”万斯，就像密歇根参议院竞选中极左翼主播哈桑·皮克尔与埃尔赛义德有关联一样。
卡尔森未就万斯出席共和党犹太联盟会议的情况置评。但即便在特朗普因伊朗战争与这位前福克斯新闻主持人决裂后，万斯仍拒绝与卡尔森划清界限，称他“完全无关紧要”。卡尔森曾为支持特朗普道歉，并表示将不再支持共和党。
在6月的一档播客采访中，卡尔森表示他永远视万斯为朋友，并哀叹特朗普因发动与他们2024年竞选承诺相悖的外国冲突，将他置于“不可能的境地”。
“我为J·D·万斯感到难过，”卡尔森说道。
自万斯牵头推动6月达成、随后破裂的伊朗和平协议以来，他对以色列的立场尤其受到严格审视。万斯提及以色列政府官员在协议公布后批评该协议的报道，警告他们“不要攻击我在全世界仅剩的唯一强大盟友”。
几天后，在接受播客主持人乔·罗根采访时，万斯指责以色列政府中的一些人试图操纵美国舆论，以破坏该协议。
万斯经常谴责反犹太主义，并公开否认与富恩特斯为伍，称他是“十足的失败者”。但在2025年12月接受NBC新闻采访时，他表示不认为反犹太主义在右翼“泛滥”，而且他一直避免批评卡尔森，尽管卡尔森已成为许多共和党犹太选民的眼中钉。
“塔克是我的朋友。我和塔克·卡尔森没有分歧吗？当然有。我和大多数朋友都有分歧，尤其是那些从事政治工作的朋友，”万斯在2025年12月的播客采访中说道。
万斯周一晚间的回答并未进一步提及卡尔森，这让一些与会者感到失望。其中一位与会者表示，他本有机会与卡尔森划清界限，但他“完全回避了塔克的问题”，令“许多人”失望。
纽约电台主持人西德·罗森伯格也在X平台上批评了这一回答，称万斯的整体讲话“在以色列问题上力度不足”。当天早些时候，罗森伯格曾呼吁共和党犹太联盟的听众“给万斯一个机会”。
一位与会者将万斯的回应总结为：“我得去和这些人谈谈，我得去传递我们的信息。”这位与会者表示，即便没有完全解决卡尔森的问题，他们大体上还是认同这一论点。
来自加利福尼亚州的共和党犹太联盟成员斯图尔特·韦尔表示，听完万斯的讲话后，他觉得人们对万斯在以色列问题上立场的担忧被夸大了。
“我毫不畏惧支持J·D·万斯担任美国总统，”韦尔说道。
以色列前驻美大使、以色列总理本杰明·内塔尼亚胡的长期顾问罗恩·德尔默在峰会期间对万斯给予了显著好评。与此同时，德尔默回忆起2022年他们在耶路撒冷的一次午餐会面，当时万斯“问了我很多关于这为何符合美国利益的问题”。
“我毫不犹豫地做出了回应，”德尔默说道，“答案很简单，与以色列密切合作符合美国的利益，所以我当时一点都不担心。”
周一晚间聆听万斯讲话的人士中包括伊泰·陈的父亲鲁比·陈，伊泰·陈是一名遇害的以美籍人质。鲁比·陈去年曾与万斯会面。
“有幸见过乔·拜登总统，他从骨子里就支持以色列，”陈说道，使用了意第绪语俚语“kishke”，意为内脏或内心，“我认为特朗普总统在以色列问题上也有同样的本心。我觉得如果J·D·万斯成为总统，他会更从分析的角度看待这个问题，不管好坏。”
抵达拉斯维加斯数小时前，万斯前往密歇根州为参议院候选人迈克·罗杰斯助选，这场中期选举 arguably 是对共和党犹太联盟成员而言最重要的竞选活动。埃尔赛义德是穆斯林，他将批评亲以色列开支作为其初选竞选的核心内容，并指责以色列在加沙犯下种族灭绝罪，以色列政府否认了这一指控。
在底特律郊区的演讲中，万斯批评埃尔赛义德对3月底特律地区一座犹太会堂袭击事件的最初回应，并指出该会堂的拉比和保安人员正在出席周一下午的活动。埃尔赛义德近日就此事向该州的犹太民主党人道歉，他当时的回应是“受伤的人会做出伤人的事”。
尽管中期选举让共和党犹太选民情绪高涨，但周一人们不难感受到2028年总统初选的早期轮廓。
克鲁兹抨击卡尔森是“美国最危险的煽动者”，上个月，这位参议员的盟友发起了一个新组织“前线行动”，旨在打击右翼的反犹太主义，该组织帮助击败了佛罗里达州初选中的两名候选人。
共和党犹太联盟董事会成员埃里克·莱文表示，克鲁兹是“共和党人对抗卡尔森的完美范例”，但他也指出，已有“不少”共和党人发声反对卡尔森。
佛罗里达州共和党战略家、前共和党犹太联盟董事会成员加布·格罗伊斯曼承认，人们“担忧”万斯如何应对共和党内部这一棘手时刻。但他也表示，“很多人希望，尽管万斯的立场与特朗普总统可能存在细微差别或角度不同，但他对美国犹太社区依然非常坚定。”
“大多数人认为，当他真正需要表明立场时，”格罗伊斯曼说道，“他的立场会是让大家安心的。”
不过，格罗伊斯曼补充道，“这对他或其他任何人都不是板上钉钉的事。”
JD Vance confronts Jewish GOP skeptics ahead of a potential 2028 run
2026-09-01T13:21:14.950Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/01/politics/vance-jewish-gop-2028
Las Vegas—
Vice President JD Vance has in recent months given voice to a rising skepticism in America toward Israel, leaving some Jewish Republicans uncomfortable, if not openly concerned, about the expected GOP frontrunner in the next presidential election.
Some Jewish GOP activists have expressed a preference for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while other ambitious Republicans have worked to stir doubt about Vance’s pro-Israel credentials. Among them is Sen. Ted Cruz, who recently said the party has not coalesced around Vance ahead of 2028 and that there will be a “full discussion” about what the party stands for before then.
Vance addressed those criticisms Monday night with the Republican Jewish Coalition, a coalition group of influential political activists and donors, hours after he campaigned against Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic nominee for US Senate.
Reporters were kept one floor below the room at the Venetian in Las Vegas where Vance spoke with RJC members. CNN obtained audio of Vance’s remarks from a person who attended the roughly 45-minute “fireside chat” with Norm Coleman, the former Minnesota senator who is the national chairman of the RJC board. Vance did not take audience questions, but the moderated conversation veered into sensitive territory on a few occasions.
At one point, Vance raised “some of the obvious elephants in the room,” referring to growing skepticism of the US-Israel relationship among young people. Vance said Republicans need to “actually get out there and talk about the ways in which it is in the best interest of the United States of America.”
Then there was Tucker Carlson, who has argued the US should drop Israel as an ally and came up when Coleman asked about how Vance decides on which media platforms to appear. Coleman said Carlson, as well as Megyn Kelly, Joe Rogan and Nick Fuentes, “have platformed antisemites.”
“I recognize a lot of people in this room might disagree with things that Tucker Carlson or Megyn Kelly or Joe Rogan has said,” Vance said, proceeding to distinguish Rogan from Fuentes in particular, saying they are “very, very different” people. Fuentes, who was hosted by President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in 2022, is a White nationalist and Holocaust denier.
Vance otherwise defended his engagement with the media personalities, saying Republicans need “to be willing to go everywhere and bring our message anywhere and to any person.”
The RJC’s CEO, Matt Brooks, told reporters earlier Monday that the group decided to keep the event private to allow for an “open and honest” conversation. And he said the RJC also invited Rubio and Cruz to speak, but they could not make it for various reasons.
It was Vance’s first time coming to the RJC gathering since 2022, when he was a candidate for Senate in Ohio and attended the event but did not speak. Much has changed inside the GOP since then, with Israel’s war in Gaza following Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks – and the US and Israel launching the more recent war in Iran – coinciding with a drop in public support for Israel across party lines.
It is a concerning direction for the highly engaged political donors and activists who make up the RJC and could play an outsize role in picking the next GOP presidential nominee. The group is closely aligned with Miriam Adelson, the widow of the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and a leading donor to Trump’s 2024 campaign effort, giving more than $100 million.
It was unclear if Adelson, who has attended past RJC summits, was present for Vance’s remarks. But RJC leaders who spoke to reporters afterward praised him.
“The vice president really helped himself tonight,” Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary who is now an RJC board member, told reporters afterward. “He answered a lot of questions that people had about where his heart is.”
Not everyone was as impressed. Some attendees say he failed to fully address what they saw as a major issue – Carlson.
“He totally deflected,” said Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Gen Z Jewish activist, predicting Carlson would “continue to dog” Vance like the far-left streamer Hasan Piker has been linked to El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate race.
Carlson did not respond to a request for comment on Vance’s appearance at the RJC meeting. But Vance has declined to disavow Carlson even after Trump had a falling out with the former Fox News host over the Iran war and has called him “totally irrelevant.” Carlson has apologized for backing Trump and said he would no longer support the Republican Party.
During a June podcast interview, Carlson said he will always consider Vance a friend and lamented that Trump had put him in an “impossible situation” by pursuing foreign conflicts at odds with their 2024 campaign promises.
“I feel sorry for JD Vance,” Carlson said.
Vance’s views on Israel have been especially scrutinized since he took the lead in promoting an Iran peace deal that was struck in June but has since collapsed. Referring to reports of Israeli government officials criticizing the deal upon its unveiling, Vance warned them against “attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”
Days later, during an interview with podcast host Joe Rogan, Vance accused some in the Israeli government of trying to manipulate American public opinion to undermine the deal.
Vance regularly condemns antisemitism and has disavowed Fuentes by name, calling him a “total loser.” But in a December 2025 interview with NBC News, he said he did not think antisemitism was “exploding” on the right, and he has avoided criticizing Carlson as he has become anathema to many Jewish Republicans.
“Tucker’s a friend of mine. Do I have disagreements with Tucker Carlson? Sure. I have disagreements with most of my friends, especially those who work in politics,” Vance said in a December 2025 podcast interview.
Vance’s answers on Monday night, which did not address Carlson any further, fell flat with some attendees. One of them said he had the opportunity to disavow Carlson and disappointed “many” when he “ducked the Tucker issue altogether.”
Sid Rosenberg, a New York City radio host, also panned the answer in an X post that said Vance’s overall remarks were “not strong enough on Israel.” Earlier in the day, Rosenberg had urged the RJC crowd to “give Vance a chance.”
One attendee summed up Vance’s response as: “I got to go talk to these guys, I got to go carry the message.” The attendee indicated they were mostly sympathetic to the argument, even if it did not fully grapple with the issue of Carlson.
Stuart Weil, an RJC member from California, said he walked away from Vance’s remarks feeling that concerns about his positions on Israel were overblown.
“I have no fear of supporting JD Vance as the president of the United States,” Weil said.
Ron Dermer, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States and a longtime adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, offered notable praise for Vance during the conference. At the same time, Dermer recalled a 2022 lunch they had in Jerusalem where Vance “asked me a lot of questions about why this serves US interests.”
“I had no problem making that [case],” Dermer said. “There’s a simple answer to that, and that’s that Americans’ interests are served by working closely with Israel, so that didn’t concern me at all.”
Among those who watched Vance on Monday night was Ruby Chen, the father of a slain Israeli-American hostage, Itay Chen. Ruby Chen met with Vance last year.
“Having the privilege of meeting President (Joe) Biden, he felt about Israel in the kishke,” Chen said, using the Yiddish slang term for guts or stomach. “I think President Trump has that gene inside of him as well when it comes to the state of Israel. I think JD Vance, if he becomes president, he looks at it in more of an analytical viewpoint, for good or for bad.”
Hours before arriving here, Vance visited Michigan to campaign for Senate candidate Mike Rogers in arguably the most important race for RJC members in the midterms. El-Sayed, who is Muslim, made criticisms of pro-Israel spending central to his primary campaign and accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, an allegation the Israeli government denies.
Speaking in suburban Detroit, Vance criticized El-Sayed over his initial response to a March attack on a Detroit-area synagogue, noting the synagogue’s rabbi and security guards were attending Monday afternoon’s event. El-Sayed has spent recent days apologizing to Jewish Democrats in the state for that response, in which he said that “hurt people hurt people.”
As much as the midterm race is galvanizing Jewish Republicans, it was hard Monday to escape the early contours of the 2028 primary.
Cruz assailed Carlson as “the most dangerous demagogue” in the country, and last month, the senator’s allies launched a new group to fight antisemitism on the right, Front Line Action, that helped defeat two candidates in the Florida primaries.
Eric Levine, an RJC board member, said Cruz has been “a perfect example” of a Republican taking on Carlson, but noted there has been “no shortage” of Republicans speaking out.
Gabe Groisman, a Republican strategist and former RJC board member from Florida, acknowledged there were “concerns” about how Vance navigates this fraught moment inside the party. But he also said there is “a lot of hope that his position, while it is nuanced or may come at a different angle from President Trump, is still very strong on the American Jewish community.”
“Most people believe that when it is time for him to really express his positions,” Groisman said, “it’s going to be positions that people are comfortable with.”
Still, Groisman added, “it’s not automatic for him or for anybody.”