Turning Point USA: When the Roadmap Went Missing
Turning Point USA events have always served a clear purpose. They were built to energize young conservatives, offer a roadmap, and send people home ready to act. Attendees were supposed to leave inspired, focused, and equipped with a plan. Learn something. Organize something. Take momentum back to campus or community and build.
That expectation hung over this weekend, too. But this year, the roadmap never arrived. Instead of clarity, the conference delivered confusion. Instead of direction, it offered drama. With Charlie Kirk gone, the event lost its gravitational center. And rather than closing ranks, many of the biggest names on stage chose to take swings at each other.
The right is fucking cooked.
Megyn is doubling down on Candaces retarded fake questions and TPUSA cant do anything to stop it.
How fucking pathetic https://t.co/FEolO1DYrx
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) December 20, 2025
What unfolded felt less like a strategy summit and more like a dysfunctional Southern family reunion. The kind where everyone shows up smiling, hugs politely, and pretends everything is fine. Then someone brings up an old grievance. Another relative jumps in. By the time the food comes out, the room buzzes with accusations no one planned to say out loud. This weekend, conservative media figures aired their dirty laundry in public, and the audience watched it happen in real time.
The speakers at @TPUSA disgraced the legacy of Charlie Kirk by using the main stage to attack one another.
It’s revolting and reprehensible.
To all the self aggrandizing media whores who weaponized their speaking slots, you are the problem with the GOP and our movement making…
— George Santos (@Georgesantos) December 21, 2025
When Personality Replaced Purpose
TPUSA was never meant to host that kind of spectacle. It was designed to elevate the movement beyond personality and into purpose. This year, personality swallowed the purpose whole.
The tension centered on familiar figures. Ben Shapiro positioned himself as a defender of credibility and restraint, openly criticizing fellow speakers for what he sees as reckless amplification. Tucker Carlson misread the room entirely, pressing ahead with a lecture that landed in silence and exposed how far out of sync he was with his own audience. Megyn Kelly no longer sounds grounded in reality. Her confidence has curdled into self-absorption, and it shows. I stopped listening to her months ago.
These disagreements were not quiet or constructive. They played out on stages meant to unify an audience. The message to younger conservatives was impossible to miss. Instead of learning how to persuade voters or build institutions, they watched influential figures argue over who gets to control the movement’s moral boundaries.
That is not harmless theater. It creates confusion. It trains the next generation to treat politics as brand warfare rather than strategy. When leaders fight publicly, followers do not learn discipline. They learn loyalty tests.
What the Weekend Was Missing
Before going any further, take a minute to watch the video in this X embed from Dennis Michael Lynch. I had never heard of him before this clip, but he immediately stood out as someone worth paying attention to. He’s a conservative commentator and documentary filmmaker who built his audience outside the usual media bubble, and it shows. This is grounded, direct, and not performing for applause. Dennis is spot on here, and I’ll be paying closer attention going forward.
Conservatism collapses @ AmFest as rich, overrated podcasters—oblivious to the avg person’s challenges—soil Charlie’s message w/infighting. Bless Erika & TPUSA for trying, but speakers’ narcissism shows “the movement” needs new voices to convey our values (family, freedom, faith) pic.twitter.com/jq58W5mMWR
— Dennis Michael Lynch (@TrustDML) December 20, 2025
The Cost of Letting the Room Run Itself
This is where leadership matters. Erika Kirk now carries the responsibility of keeping Turning Point USA focused and credible. That role demands more than stewardship. It demands authority. Conferences like this cannot operate as open mic nights for unresolved grudges. Someone has to set expectations. Someone has to remind speakers why they are there.
If TPUSA wants to remain a serious force, it cannot allow its flagship event to drift into spectacle. Inspiration without discipline turns into noise. A roadmap cannot emerge when every speaker grabs the wheel and yanks in a different direction.
But the problem on display this weekend did not originate at AmFest. The conference did not create it. It revealed it.
This is no longer a grassroots movement. It is the conservative media economy. Personal brands run the show. Attention is the currency. Truth becomes optional. Accountability becomes a threat. Disagreement risks income, so criticism turns into betrayal, and correction gets dismissed as censorship. This is not leadership. It is self-promotion.
That dynamic explains why unity feels fragile right now. It also explains why this conference exposed tensions rather than resolving them. Events do not create problems. They amplify what already exists. This weekend amplified ego, rivalry, and uncertainty about leadership.
And yet, people still showed up. Thousands fill the rooms because they want something more than outrage cycles and online feuds. They want direction. And they want seriousness. The movement should be about values over applause. These “media personalities” should be embarrassed and offer everyone an apology.
The Choice in Front of the Movement
What this weekend revealed is not collapse. It showed an unsettled movement at a crossroads. Conservatives can continue drifting toward personality-driven conflict, or they can demand discipline, structure, and leadership that puts mission ahead of ego.
If this pattern continues, the consequences will not stay confined to conferences. It will bleed into campaigns, fracture coalitions, and weaken trust with voters who already view politics as unserious. Movements that cannot manage internal conflict rarely persuade anyone outside their own rooms. While this plays out, Democrats are not arguing. They are organizing.
The most useful moment I saw was not a feud. It was Greg Gutfeld explaining how ego warps everything, including politics and comedy. He talks about resentment, status anxiety, and the temptation to chase approval. Then he does the thing most speakers cannot do. He stays controlled. He keeps the room focused. Compared to the rest of this weekend, that looks like leadership.
Charlie Kirk’s absence would challenge any organization. Stepping into that vacuum was never going to be simple, especially in a movement built around outsized personalities.
Turning Point USA once specialized in sending people forward with purpose. This year, it sent a warning instead. Without leadership, even the most energized movement can lose its way.
The question now is whether anyone steps up to put it back on course.
Feature Image: Charlie Kirk/CPAC 2018/Gage Skidmore/Flickr/License CC BY-SA 2.0
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