A New Turning Point?

What does AmericaFest 2025 tell us about the future of the American right?

When Charlie Kirk was murdered on September 10th—shot through the neck by the coward and degenerate Tyler Robinson—it seemed the terrible nature of the problem facing the American right would finally be recognized, and everyone would come together and pull in the same direction.

As if further evidence were needed after the attempts on President Trump’s life, here at last, it seemed, was confirmation of the stakes of the political game today, of what it really means to lose.

Your opponents will do whatever they can to beat you.

They will kill you to win.

They’ll kill you if you have a wife and young children, and they’ll kill you if you don’t.

They’ll kill you in front of the world.

And what’s more, they won’t feel bad about it. They won’t call it a “necessary evil” or feel guilt—not a drop. They’ll call it “good” and they’ll laugh and dance on TikTok.

That confirmation came not only in the act itself—the brutal murder of a young husband and father, an inspiration to millions, as he engaged in open dialogue with people whose viewpoints he radically opposed—but through the sickening response to the act from celebrities, commentators, school teachers, students, military personnel, lawyers, bureaucrats and politicians.

Charlie Kirk’s murder should have been proof of the wisdom and timelessness of those famous words of Benjamin Franklin’s, uttered 250 years ago.

That if the American right do not hang together, most assuredly they will all hang separately.

Of course, that’s a paraphrase. Back in 1776 there was no “American right,” nor indeed was there a United States of America. But the price of failure was just the same.

And then (after Charlie Kirk’s death)—what happened? Things fell apart, with frightening rapidity. A matter of weeks.

Ever since the election, there was talk of the “MAGA coalition” and its potential fault lines, but focused on the unlikely, uneasy alliance between Big Tech—especially Elon Musk—and the populists, the one representing the high aspirations of unbridled innovation at any social cost, and the other the humble dreams of ordinary hard-working Americans to get their country back, for themselves and for future generations.

That alliance was already strained before Trump even entered office, when perhaps a little too much Christmas brandy got the better of Elon Musk and he told critics of the H-1B program to “TAKE A STEP BACK AND F*CK YOUR OWN FACE;” and Vivek Ramaswamy, after removing his socks and getting comfortable on the couch, Tweeted that white Americans deserved to be replaced by infinity Indians because white Americans spend too much time watching Saved by the Bell and hanging at the mall instead of going to math camp, getting stuffed in lockers and learning how to play “Für Elise” robotically and without feeling.

The cracks were papered over— until Musk stepped away from DOGE and started calling President Trump a big fat pedo.

Now, with Charlie Kirk shockingly removed from the equation, the split came much closer to the heart of the movement.

We can argue about how much of a unifying figure Charlie was, and about whether the grievances and animosities we’re seeing were ever really hidden.

One thing that’s undeniable, though, is that infighting threatens to engulf the MAGA movement less than a year into this vital second Trump term, when the survival of America really is at issue. This is a gift to Trump’s enemies and the enemies of the American people—how could it not be?—and could very well derail the entire Trump agenda if it helps the Democrats win the midterms.

The grievances and animosities were on full display last week at AmericaFest 2025, Turning Point USA’s first mega-event since its founder’s murder.

Ben Shapiro, true to form, landed a sneaky first punch, taking to the podium on the opening day to accuse conservatives of “cowardice” for refusing to condemn Candace Owens and her lulu theories about Charlie Kirk’s murder and its connection to Brigitte Macron’s penis. He singled out his “friend” Megyn Kelly, but the newly crowned “Antisemite of the Year” Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon were the main targets of his ire.

Kelly, when it was her chance to speak, put little Ben nicely in his place.

“I found it kind of funny that Ben thinks he has the power to decide who gets excommunicated from the Conservative movement, which shows a wilful blindness about his position in it,” she said.

Carlson said Shapiro was trying to deplatform him, and accused him of waging a proxy campaign against the Vice President, JD Vance, the man most likely to succeed President Trump.

The hardest response came, as we might expect, from the mighty Steve Bannon, who wielded his words with all the strength and subtlety of an ancient Irish gallowglass. He called Shapiro a “cancer” on the right, one that’s in danger of “metastasizing” and consuming Turning Point.

Bannon predicted Shapiro would try to “take over” the organization, as he had “tried to take over Breitbart” and David Horowitz too.

“This is not about speech,” Bannon said.

“It’s not about deplatforming. This is about power politics and what Charlie Kirk believed at the core of his being—that America makes decisions for America, and Americans make decisions for America. That was Charlie Kirk.”

Which nation might be making decisions for America, with Ben Shapiro’s approval, Bannon didn’t need to say.