Key MAGA figures clash at Turning Point USA event, exposing deep divisions over leadership and direction after Charlie Kirk’s death.
PHOENIX: A major gathering of Turning Point USA has exposed deep fractures within the MAGA movement.
The event, intended to honour assassinated founder Charlie Kirk, instead became a stage for public feuds among influential conservative voices.
Podcaster Ben Shapiro launched a direct attack on former Fox News host Tucker Carlson during his speech.
Shapiro criticised Carlson for conducting an interview with self-described white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
“The conservative movement is… in danger from charlatans who claim to speak in the name of principle, but actually traffic in conspiracism and dishonesty,” Shapiro said.
He stated that Kirk had “despised” Fuentes and called building him up “an act of moral imbecility”.
Carlson later mocked Shapiro’s criticism from the same stage.
“Deplatforming and denouncing people at a Charlie Kirk event. I’m like, what? It’s hilarious,” Carlson told the audience.
The conflict highlights a brewing struggle over the movement’s future leadership after former President Donald Trump.
No candidates have formally declared for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination yet.
Potential figures discussed include Fuentes and congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who recently broke with Trump.
Vice President JD Vance received a significant endorsement from Turning Point’s new CEO, Erika Kirk.
“We are going to get my husband’s friend JD Vance elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible,” Kirk announced to cheers.
Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy acknowledged the internal debate.
“We’re at a fork in the road, and I think that there are competing visions for the future of the right,” Ramaswamy told AFP.
Carlson suggested the endorsement was the root of Shapiro’s annoyance, framing the fight as a battle for control.
“So there’s a lot of blood at stake here, as the question becomes, who gets to run it after, who gets the machinery when the President exits the scene,” Carlson said.
The public spat coincides with controversial claims from former Daily Wire host Candace Owens.
Owens is promoting unsubstantiated theories about French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife and a conspiracy involving Charlie Kirk’s death.
Erika Kirk addressed the divisions she says emerged after her husband’s assassination.
“When he was assassinated, we saw infighting. We’ve seen fractures,” she said.
