commentary
The killing of the Turning Point USA founder didn’t unify the base — it triggered infighting
Published
November 24, 2025 6:45AM (EST)
Donald Trump and Charlie Kirk at America Fest 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. (JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)
The shooting death of Charlie Kirk was supposed to be a galvanizing moment for the MAGA movement. Mere hours after an assassin’s bullet tore through the neck of the Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder on Sept. 10 on the campus of Utah Valley University, right-wing leaders and media figures, including President Donald Trump, were declaring Kirk “a martyr” and insisting his death was the opportunity to destroy the left once and for all. His memorial a week and a half later was an enormous event, filling an Arizona stadium while speakers proclaimed that “Charlie Kirk died for all of you!” and predicting that his killing would “awaken a generation and save a nation.” Vice President JD Vance spoke, observing, “This is not a funeral but a revival.”
Now, a little more than two months later, the predicted wave of new recruits to the MAGA cause has not manifested. Trump’s approval ratings have declined a couple points, hitting a new low in his second term. In the immediate aftermath of Kirk’s assassination, large numbers of people were fired or harassed, as conservatives targeted private citizens for perceived insults of their slain hero. But after the public outcry that followed ABC’s attempted termination of late show host Jimmy Kimmel for a mild joke related to the shooting, the campaign to use Kirk’s death as an excuse to silence dissent largely fizzled out. As Russell Payne reported for Salon in October, groups that formed to target progressives for abuse after Kirk’s death have already started to fold.
But even in the early days, there were signs that Kirk’s death was not leading to the authoritarian takeover his fans had envisioned. Less predictable, though, is what came next. Far from unifying the MAGA movement, Kirk’s death opened the door to increasingly ugly infighting, as various right-wing influencers vie to fill the power vacuum left by the TPUSA leader. Conservative media figures like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro have been sniping at each other online, flinging accusations of dark conspiracies and anti-semitism, some of which even appear to be true. The immediate cause of the strife is a growing divide over U.S. support for Israel, but there’s little doubt that the feuds are fueled by unchecked ambition: To exploit Kirk’s death to get more followers — and more power — in the toxic MAGA media ecosystem.
While Kirk was never the mega-celebrity the right now pretends he was, it does seem he was powerful enough within MAGA to keep a lid on the burgeoning desire that exists in some circles to embrace overt anti-semitism and even Nazi sympathies.
While Kirk was never the mega-celebrity the right now pretends he was,