The situation is symptomatic for the Christian right universe: On October 27, two competing campus events will take place that both claim the legacy of Charlie Kirk who had an outsize impact on young conservatives in the United States.
One at Louisiana State University organized by the late activist’s advocacy organization “Turning Point USA”, and one at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville by 19-year-old Brylin Hollyhand, hailed as Kirk’s “protégé.
So, who is the real heir to Kirk’s legacy? His widow Erika who now runs his organization or the rising star among conservative youth?
Hollyhand who calls himself “the internet’s youngest voice of reason”, lost no time to announce a ten-stop campus tour “to be bolder than ever”, eight days after Kirk was killed while speaking to supporters at Utah Valley University.
His tour would be sponsored by “Turning Point USA”, Hollyhand declared on his website, and a continuation of the legacy of Kirk whom the young activist looked up to as his mentor.
But that might have been too much. Hollyhand triggered the fury of “Make America Great Again” world at a promotional video filmed from a private jet as he flew to his first campus speaking event at the University of Arkansas a couple of weeks ago.
The video of himself, posted on X, is showing the Alabama teenager sitting on a private jet while wearing a striped golf top and an expensive-looking watch. It has since ricocheted across conservative social media.
Critics laid into Hollyhand suggesting the college freshman was out of touch with MAGA grassroot activism and more of an overachieving rich kid.
Sending a “dude on a private plane to talk to broke kids. Funny,” was just one comment on X.
Even worse: Trump loyalists suspect Hollyhand to try to turn back the clock and direct the movement toward the old school Republican establishment.
And they are distancing themselves from Hollyhand.
“FYI: Turning Point USA is absolutely NOT sponsoring campus tours for young men flying around on private planes,” posted conservative influencer Nick Sortor on X. “This is such an unnecessary distraction from the ACTUAL campus tour, which honors Charlie,” he added. And then: “Ignore the grifters.”
Yet, MAGA luminaries like Laura Loomer, a close Trump ally, defended Hollyhand who is by no means a newcomer.
The conservative wunderkind, political commentator and bestselling author, who didn’t respond to several Euronews requests to be interviewed for this article, has emerged as a conservative force in his own right.
His rise to stardom started in 2018 when the then-11-year-old launched a conservative political website and a podcast on which Charlie Kirk himself appeared as a guest.
“He didn’t need to go on the Brilyn Hollyhand Show with a fourth grader, but he did and he gave me that opportunity,” Hollyhand told the New York Post.
“My goal is not to be Charlie, it’s to be Brilyn and to do what the Lord has given me the opportunity to do,” he added.
Yet, the controversy over his role within the MAGA movement comes at a time when conservative activism is on the defensive. There are other cracks that burst out into the open.
Differences have recently emerged among some MAGA figures like former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, one-time Trump aide Steve Bannon and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene critical of the Trump administration over the lack of a healthcare strategy, its strong support for Israel, as well as its strikes against Iran.
Another significant point of contention within the movement is the refusal by the Trump administration to release more information about the case of Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier who was facing charges of sex trafficking until he was found dead in his jail cell.
Racist messages by Young Republican leaders
Then, this week, the conservative universe was shaken when press reports exposed racist messages sent by leaders of Young Republican groups on the platform Telegram.
The leaked chats strewn with racist epithets and hateful jokes drew widespread condemnation from both sides of the political spectrum and prompted the resignation of several local leaders.
The members of the almost 28,000 offensive messages called Black people “monkeys” and “watermelon people”, used slurs for gay, Black, Latino and Asian people, made disparaging comments about Jews and women and jokingly celebrated Adolf Hitler.
Involved in the group chats were several state chapters, including New York, Arizona, Kansas and Vermont.
The Young Republican National Federation went immediately into damage control.
On X, it declared it was “appalled by the vile and inexcusable language revealed” in media reports. “Such behavior is disgraceful, unbecoming of any Republican, and stands in direct opposition to the values our movement represents,” it added.
The political opposition piled on after the conversations became public.
In Washington, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described the chats as “revolting” and “disgusting”.
Democratic Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus launched a frontal attack against the entire MAGA movement.
“When we say white supremacy is thriving on the right, they call us reactionary… Give me a break. The future of the Republican Party proudly embraces bigotry that belongs in the past, and every American needs to recognize how dangerous that is,” she wrote on X.
The scandal involving Young Republicans might be embarrassing for the party at large, but it sheds light on one of the most intriguing recent political trends in the US: the growing support for Conservatives among young people.
Once a reliable source of overwhelming support for the election of Barack Obama, a rising share of the youth vote is trending towards candidates such as Donald Trump.
According to AP VoteCast, a survey of the 2024 electorate, 47% of voters aged 18-29 opted for Trump, while 51% went for Democrat Kamala Harris.
But that was a much narrower gap than in 2020, when Joe Biden outpaced Trump 61% to 36%.
Visualizing this trend were conservative activists like Charlie Kirk and their mass audiences across the country.
Speaking at the Republican National Convention in 2024, Kirk praised Trump as an economic master and argued that Gen Z voters could not afford another Democratic administration.
“Democrats have given hundreds of billions of dollars to illegals and foreign nations, while Gen Z has to pinch pennies just so that they can never own a home, never marry, and work until they die, childless,” he said.
Speaking directly to his generation, Kirk said, “You don’t have to stay poor. You don’t have to accept being worse off than your parents. You don’t have to support leaders who lied to you and took advantage of you for your vote.”
That resonated with many youngsters whom Kirk had taught conservative values: lower taxes, smaller government, private enterprise, school vouchers, reduced gun control laws, market-based health care, border security, strong national defence or, last but not least, personal responsibility.
Will young voters still flock to Republican candidates now that Kirk is dead and Trump in his last term?
“Turning Point USA has developed a powerful brand independent from Trump that will continue to be a platform for Christian nationalism,” Matthew Boedy told Euronews, a professor of rhetoric at the University of North Georgia.
“And young people will stay involved in politics mainly because of the culture wars,” he added.
But will there be one solid MAGA movement?
"Extremist movements, including the MAGA movement, have a tendency to grow more radical over time and as well, I think, to fracture," said Matthew Dallek, a professor of political management at George Washington University.
Right now, the movement is a mix of factions and conservative influencers with huge followings – and they are rivals when it comes to defining what it means to be MAGA.
