Tucker Carlson and Eric Metaxas Fight Over Bonhoeffer

MAGA fights over a greater man

Bonhoeffer is back in the news.

There is so much infighting right now among MAGA types that I can’t really keep up. One battle that caught my eye is a fight over Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Most of what is being said is wrong in one way or another, hence I want to rehearse some important points about the German theologian who was murdered by the Nazis.

So this starts with Tucker Carlson, a former Fox News talk show host who seems to like Russia a lot and platforms Nazi sympathizers on his new ultra far right talk show. The most recent such person was Nick Fuentes, an odious young man who declares his admiration for Hitler and Stalin (see the link for the background). Consistency isn’t his forte except that he seems to like murderous authoritarian dictators.

Although another interesting and important story, Carlson’s platforming of Fuentes was defended by Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts. The fall out continues on that mistake and has roiled Heritage Foundation and led to a number of resignations at the once-respected think tank. That story has been well-covered (e.g., Christianity Today).

Back to Carlson and Bonhoeffer. On a recent show, Carlson criticized Bonhoeffer for his alleged part in various plots to kill Adolf Hitler, saying, “To be Dietrich Bonhoeffer and sort of reach the end of reason, or even Christianity...Bonhoeffer decided Christianity’s not even — he was a Lutheran pastor — Christianity is not enough, we have to kill the guy.” This set off loads of indignation among MAGA supporters who are just sure that Bonhoeffer is on their side of every culture war issue.

But actually, none of this is really about Bonhoeffer. The man who jumped to criticize Carlson the loudest — Eric Metaxas — thinks a resurrected Bonhoeffer would be a Donald Trump supporter. During his painful evolution from thoughtful intellectual to MAGA talk show host Metaxas called Hillary Clinton “Hitlery” and Joe Biden “our Hitler” and then referred people to his book on Bonhoeffer. I don’t know which version of Bonhoeffer is more obscene, Carlson’s or Metaxas’s.

Let’s remember that Metaxas’ vision of Bonhoeffer was rejected by Bonhoeffer’s descendants. Back in October of 2024, 86 of Bonhoeffer’s descendants signed a statement lamenting the politicization of Bonhoeffer’s life by Metaxas and Christian nationalists. Carlson and Metaxas both create a Bonhoeffer they imagine and they do with it what they want. Carlson uses his version to burnish his new Nazi-adjacent credentials and Metaxas uses his Bonhoeffer to virtue signal to his MAGA audience.

Metaxas is just sure that Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and the Democratic Party are modern day Nazis and has no qualms marshalling the image of Bonhoeffer to advance his cause. Using Bonhoeffer as a prop is what both Carlson and Metaxas do. I say a plague on both of their häuser.

Bonhoeffer’s family reminded us in 2024 that Bonhoeffer didn’t belong to anybody but God. Let me close with an excerpt of the family statement.

The tasteless trivialization of Bonhoeffer’s legacy has encouraged this misuse: he was a complex thinker who was primarily concerned with ethical issues. Unlike the majority of Germans, he did not turn a blind eye to the disenfranchisement, oppression, and mass murder that took place under Nazi dictatorship. His quotes have been taken out of context and reduced to set pieces for all kinds of occasions. More recently, they have increasingly been used by many whose intentions are diametrically opposed to Bonhoeffer’s thoughts and actions; ranging from Project 2025 – the Heritage Foundation’s proposed program for Trump – to the German right-wing extremist Björn Höcke.

In a recent statement, theologians and historians who have studied Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his environment, have again spoken out against this appropriation. We are grateful for this. We descendants can bear witness to the attitude passed on in the family. We grew up listening to frequent talk and debate about resistance to National Socialism, its motives and consequences. At a time when intolerance, antisemitism and other forms of racism and xenophobia, nationalism and authoritarianism are on the rise around the world, we believe it is important to clarify publicly: Dietrich Bonhoeffer fought narrow-mindedness, oppression, and exclusion throughout his life.

Coming in 2026: The Christian Past That Wasn’t: Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths That Hijack History. Published by Broadleaf Books, available to pre-order for Kindle and hardcover at Amazon or wherever books are sold.

My first book Getting Jefferson Right: Fact-Checking Claims About Thomas Jefferson is only $4.99 (digital version) at Amazon.com right now.