Infighting at Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point shows how MAGA 'hobbled' itself with lies

The conspiracy theory civil war engulfing the late Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA shows how it and the MAGA movement overall are being "hobbled" by their own lies, according to an analysis from MS NOW.

In September, Kirk — founder of the far-right advocacy group, TPUSA – was shot and killed during a speaking event at a Utah college. While 22-year-old Tyler James Robinson was ultimately charged with the shooting, other figures in the MAGA and far-right political movements have increasingly claimed, without evidence, that his death was the result of a conspiracy. These theories, most popularly espoused by Candace Owens, allege that Kirk's killing was arranged by forces connected to Israel, or even by people within TPUSA.

According to a report from The Bulwark last week, a growing number of employees within TPUSA have begun to question the official narrative surrounding their old boss's death. One former employee, Aubrey Laitsch, alleged in a video that her recent firing was the result of her doing just that.

“I have a lot of concerns and a lot of questions about what took place that day and the events leading up to that day,” Laitsch said. “It is from my own experience that you can’t question the narrative and work at Turning Point. That is how I feel, that is how other people I’ve talked to feel.”

Analyzing the unfolding situation in a piece for MS NOW on Friday, Zeeshan Aleem wrote that this corrosion of trust and embrace of conspiracy theories within TPUSA is emblematic of right-wing politics overall, as the spread of disinformation has left it "hobbled" and at risk of being "cannibalized" by itself.

"We don’t know why Laitsch lost her job. But her insinuations illustrate how the right is being hobbled by its abject distrust in institutions," Aleem explained. "The very fact that Laitsch believes that considering conspiracy theories about Kirk’s death is what got her fired — and wants to share that information publicly — shows how the right is at risk of being cannibalized by its own brain rot. Premier MAGA organizations are being riven by an inability to achieve consensus reality even within their side of the political spectrum."

Aleem highlighted other prominent examples within the MAGA right, including the Heritage Foundation, which is grappling with "how much racism the right is willing to tolerate within its ranks." Donald Trump, he added, is "the political and intellectual epicenter" of this growing trend on the right, given his goal of "extinguishing the distinction between truth and falsehood."

"Politically convenient fabrications such as 'the 2020 election was rigged' aren’t the kind of political speech that a group can use only in 'moderate' doses and control purely for the benefit of its authors," Aleem wrote. "If normalized, it will infect an entire movement, rendering truth less important than who can win battles for attention using any claim that affirms the group’s basest instincts."

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