The recent eruption of open warfare at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest should wake every patriotic conservative up to a simple fact: our movement is at risk of imploding from within. Once a focused rebellion against the left’s cultural tyranny, MAGA is being pulled apart by a mix of grifters, conspiracy merchants, and ideological extremists who would rather sow chaos than build lasting power. Reporting from the event showed leading voices trading public barbs onstage, a spectacle that undercuts the unity we need to govern and win.
When senior figures start calling one another a “cancer,” that’s not colorful rhetoric — that’s a sign of a movement in crisis. The very language of internal devouring was on display as attacks flew from the stage and through social media, disfiguring the conservative brand and handing the media an irresistible narrative of collapse. We can’t let theatrical rancor become the story that defines us; hardworking Americans deserve a movement that fights for them, not for personalities.
The intellectual center-right cannot simply tolerate people who trade in lies and destructive theatrics because they grab clicks. Established voices like Ben Shapiro publicly denounced grifters and extremists who traffic in conspiracies and bigotry, and that debate—while painful—is necessary if conservatism is to survive beyond a series of viral tantrums. If we are serious about governing, we must stop elevating provocateurs who undermine the cause for cheap fame.
This moment is painfully sharpened by the assassination of Charlie Kirk in September, which has left a raw wound in the movement and made the cost of division brutally clear. Turning Point USA and its supporters have been forced into grief and heightened security, and the aftermath exposed how quickly wild speculation and factional blame can strain the conservative coalition. The last thing our country needs now is infighting that distracts from defending our communities and our values.
Leadership has a choice: tolerate the chaos for the sake of clicks, or demand discipline so MAGA can be a winning governing force in 2028 and beyond. Vice President JD Vance and other leaders are trying to navigate these choppy waters, attempting to hold the coalition together while urgent policy fights—like how we balance America First with global realities—get decided. We should back leaders who prioritize cohesion, competence, and clear conservative principles over personality cults and performative outrage.
Patriotism means more than loudness; it means loyalty to country, to constitutional order, and to the people who put us into office. That means expelling genuine extremists and marginalizing the grifters who traffic in antisemitism, nihilistic conspiracies, or any doctrine that calls our core principles into question. MAGA succeeds when it offers hope, prosperity, and common-sense policies to Americans, not when it becomes a carnival of outrage that scares away the middle Americans we must win.
If we want a conservative movement that lasts, we must be ruthless about one thing: removing the cancer of nihilism and grifting from our ranks while remaining merciless to the left’s cultural assault. That is not censure of dissenting ideas — it is refusal to enable those who trade in hatred and chaos for profit and clicks. We owe it to every veteran, small-business owner, and family who believed in putting America first to rebuild a movement of principle and purpose.
