PHOENIX — For a second day in a row, a long-brewing internal fight among MAGA influencers spilled onto the stage of Turning Point USA's first annual conference since the September slaying of Charlie Kirk, the organization's co-founder.
Podcaster Ben Shapiro, speaking on the AmericaFest convention's opening night Thursday, ripped into right-wing broadcasters Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, Candace Owens and Megyn Kelly, as well as white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
At the core of his argument is a case that Owens has peddled conspiracy theories, without objection from Kelly and other prominent conservatives, about Kirk's assassination. Those theories include suggestions that foreign governments — including Israel's — and employees of Turning Point USA could have been involved. Prosecutors in Utah have charged Tyler Robinson, 22, in the killing and are seeking the death penalty. He has yet to enter a plea.
"The conservative movement is also in danger from charlatans who claim to speak in the name of principle but actually traffic in conspiracism and dishonesty," Shapiro said. "Those of us with a microphone have a moral obligation to call that out by name."
He condemned Carlson for hosting Fuentes — whom he called "a Hitler apologist, Nazi-loving, anti-American piece of refuse" — and Bannon for "maligning people that he disagrees with" by accusing them of "loyalty to a foreign country."
Bannon fired back on Friday night from the same stage, accusing Shapiro of wanting to take over Turning Point USA and putting Israel's interests ahead of the United States.
"Ben Shapiro is like a cancer, and that cancer spreads," Bannon said to cheers from the crowd of thousands at the Phoenix Convention Center.
The back-and-forth amounts to a flashpoint among conservative influencers over U.S. policy toward Israel and a sign that leaders of the MAGA movement are jockeying for power as President Donald Trump’s final term progresses and the next presidential election nears.
“This is a proxy on ’28,” Bannon, who was a top adviser to Trump during the 2016 campaign and the early days of his first term, said Friday night, adding that Kirk was an opponent of "this concept of greater Israel and Israel first."
In the months before his death, Kirk at times questioned America's backing for some of Israel's policies. He asked his followers on X in June whether the U.S. should "get involved in Israel's war against Iran."
The issue has divided the MAGA base for much of the last year.
"There was a rift even before we lost Charlie," Kelly said Friday night during a conference talk with conservative influencer Jack Posobiec, "and it revolves around Israel."
Carlson responded in his own remarks Thursday night to the AmericaFest audience by questioning the appropriateness of Shapiro using the forum to try to cow people with whom he disagrees.
"To hear calls to deplatform," Carlson said Thursday, "at a Charlie Kirk event?"
He repeated several times, "I am not an antisemite" and ultimately urged the attendees to unify rather than divide.
Kelly responded to Shapiro's calling her a coward during her conversation with Posobiec.
"I found it kind of funny that Ben thinks he has the power to decide who gets excommunicated from the conservative movement," Kelly said. "It reminded me when the girl who was the head of our middle school chorus told me she was going to take all of my friends away from me."
And, noting that Shapiro had called her a friend, Kelly said, "I don’t think we are friends anymore."
Several attendees said in interviews that they believe it's healthy for leaders who disagree to express themselves, even as they lined up on one side or the other.
"I think there’s a lot larger split," said Scott Whitely, who was attending the conference from Oregon. "I think if anything, Israel has their issues as well, just like the USA does. And I think if anything, though America, if anything, needs to pray for the land of Israel and the people of Israel.
Taylor Winston of Nashville, Tennessee, said he also believes the battle among conservative luminaries is part of a proxy war over Israel.
"I do think it creates more divide," Winston said of Shapiro's message in an interview with NBC News. "A lot of people are trying to choose a side."
He added that he wants "full transparency in what happened with Charlie Kirk."
Despite the bitterness, Posobiec said in a brief exchange with NBC News before his sit-down with Kelly that there is an upside for AmericaFest and Turning Point USA in the rhetorical warfare.
"I thought it was great," Posobiec said. "Got a lot of clicks."
