It’s nice to see Vice President Vance trying to pitch a big tent — at least in theory. His efforts were warmly applauded over the weekend at Turning Point USA’s annual AmFest conference, where he was called up to deliver the last word. Mr. Vance’s address appeared to solidify his position as a leader in the effort to form an inclusive Republican message for the midterms and for the next presidential election. It’s a newsworthy effort.   

It’s not going to be an easy task, though, when Mr. Vance quails from condemning the likes of Tucker Carlson. Once considered a mainstream, establishment conservative journalist, Mr. Carlson has emerged in recent years as a champion of conspiracy theories and an ally to rabid antisemites. While speaking at a memorial service for Charlie Kirk, he parroted the canard that the “hummus eaters” at Jerusalem — code for Israelis — were somehow behind his murder. 

The following month Mr. Carlson sat down for a friendly interview with a 27-year-old white nationalist influencer and self-proclaimed admirer of Adolf Hitler, Nick Fuentes, during which he described Christian Zionists as infected by a “brain virus.” Mr. Fuentes calls himself a “fan” of Stalin. Mr. Carlson was rewarded for his offenses over the weekend when he was crowned “Antisemite of the Year” by a group dedicated to holding antisemites accountable.

In its announcement of the award, StopAntisemitism charged Mr. Carlson with helping to “drag antisemitic ideas back into the mainstream” by “platforming and praising Holocaust revisionists and Nazi apologists” to his millions of followers “while hiding behind irony and plausible deniability.” It characterized him as “obsessed with Israel” and equally so with spreading “blatant lies” about its people.

The award was unveiled the same day that Mr. Vance stood before the Amfest confab and denounced the use of “purity tests” for inclusion in the conservative coalition. A couple of hours later, Unherd published an interview in which Mr. Vance called it “frankly absurd” for one to suggest that Mr. Carlson’s views are “somehow completely anathema to conservatism” or that “he has no place in the conservative movement.” 

When asked about the rise of figures like Mr. Fuentes, Mr. Vance suggested that “What is actually happening is that there is a real backlash to a consensus view in American foreign policy. I think we already had that conversation … Most Americans aren’t anti-Semitic. They’re never going to be anti-Semitic, and I think we should focus on the real debate.” Meaning that the vice president is blaming Israel for antisemitism.

The journalist who has been prepared to step up on this issue is Ben Shapiro. At the same conference, speaking a few days before the vice president, Mr. Shapiro issued a clarion call for truth and accountability within the conservative movement. He warned that the coalition “is in serious danger” not just from the left but from the “charlatans who claim to speak in the name of principle but actually traffic in conspiracism and dishonesty.” 

Mr. Vance may believe his approach to the big tent will strengthen the Republican party’s electoral prospects. What a contrast to the movement that gathered under President Reagan’s big tent. It brought in anti-communist Democrats from the labor unions* fighting the Soviet Union. It brought in veterans of the civil rights movement. It brought in towering anti-communist intellectuals and glittering movie stars.

It also brought new thinkers about economics, who built a campaign against onerous taxes and inflation. It’s impossible to imagine any of them putting the gloss on Hitler and Stalin, as some of Mr. Vance’s friends are doing. We get that Mr. Vance is a brilliant man and a powerful writer. It is tragic to see him muddy his message of inclusion. If Mr. Vance does not take a stand now, he may invite into his tent those who would destroy it.

* One of which was the Screen Actors Guild, where Reagan got his start.