In an article for Salon published Sunday, writer Sophia Tesfaye argued that right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s killing has exposed and worsened existing fractures within the MAGA movement, even as many on the right race to canonize him and unite around his memory.
Tesfaye maintained that what began as widespread grief and praise for Kirk’s organizing has quickly shifted into a messy contest over who owns his legacy, and what version of the truth about his final days will dominate.
She observed that after Kirk was shot on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University, conservative media and political figures seized upon the event almost immediately as a unifying force. His legacy was sanitized — divisive rhetoric was downplayed, sharp edges smoothed out — and anyone who criticized or questioned aspects of Kirk’s work faced pushback.
This, she suggested, reflects a larger MAGA impulse: to turn potentially fracturing events into rallying points, enforcing cohesion through shared grief and shared narrative. But that impulse, she argued is colliding with the growing diversity and conflict of voices within MAGA media and politics.
One major line of tension Tesfaye highlighted is over the causes and meaning of Kirk’s death. Some, like conservative podcaster Candace Owens, are promoting theories that pro-Israel donors pressured him, or that his death had roots in his criticism of Israel, or that there were intervention attempts.
"Kirk’s memory is currently a casualty of a movement whose base he helped train to believe that every tragedy hides a lie and every death is a potential cover-up."
Others, including high-profile commentators like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, have echoed claims that Kirk was under pressure for his stance on Israel, pushing these theories publicly. At the same time, various figures have pushed back, denying blackmail or conspiratorial interference, creating competing narratives.
Tesfaye argued that these competing stories highlight that MAGA no longer has a stable, shared framework for authority or truth.
"In the aftermath of Kirk’s killing, it has quickly become apparent that the American right no longer has a shared framework for authority. The diversity of MAGA media appears to be undermining the conservative cohesion he spent his life organizing," she wrote.
"For his part, Charlie Kirk made a real effort to unify the conservative movement. Now, in death, he is surrounded by the very chaos he spent his career trying to contain. No amount of martyrdom can save his legacy from succumbing to the rot he festered."