Erica Kirk, Turning Point USA, and the Machinery Behind the MAGA Afterlife

Erica Kirk and Turning Point USA continue a highly unusual national tour, one that increasingly feels less like political organizing and more like the early stages of a post-Trump succession campaign. At a recent Turning Point rally, Kirk addressed the crowd with a message focused not on mourning, policy, or reform, but on long-term power consolidation.

She told supporters that Turning Point is investing in states rather than individual races, emphasizing Arizona, Nevada, and New Hampshire as part of what she called a new “red wall.” She pledged to secure Congress for Donald Trump for four years and then pivoted quickly to endorsing JD Vance as the 48th president of the United States. The crowd’s reaction was telling: loud, enthusiastic, and arguably louder for Vance than for Trump himself.

That moment matters. It signals where this movement believes its future lies.

JD Vance as the Next “Strongman”

JD Vance has become an increasingly central figure in the orbit surrounding Erica Kirk. Unlike Trump, Vance lacks charisma, celebrity, or broad appeal, but he represents something far more durable: ideological rigidity combined with youth. Where Trump functioned as a personality cult leader, Vance is being positioned as an ideological heir — a younger, sharper, and more disciplined vessel for the same movement.

This transition has not been subtle. About a month ago, Kirk and Vance shared a conspicuously intimate embrace onstage, sparking widespread commentary. Around the same time, Vance’s wife, Usha, appeared publicly without her wedding ring, while Vance himself delivered notably restrained statements regarding immigrants and immigrant families. None of these moments prove anything on their own, but together they form a pattern that observers have understandably scrutinized.

The Joy Reid Moment and MAGA Evangelical Condescension

Kirk escalated the discourse by singling out Joy Reid, responding to criticism of the onstage embrace with a patronizing remark suggesting Reid “just needs a really good hug.” Kirk even joked about touching the back of Reid’s head — a comment that many found unsettling rather than humorous.

This rhetorical move is familiar. White MAGA evangelical women often respond to criticism not with rebuttal, but with condescension: “We’re praying for you,” or “You just need love.” It is a performance of moral and cultural supremacy, cloaked in faux compassion.

What makes this moment particularly striking is context. Kirk’s husband was murdered in an act of horrific violence. Yet since his death, she has not once publicly advocated for gun reform or addressed gun violence as a policy issue. Instead, her rhetoric frames the tragedy through spiritual warfare — evil forces versus righteous ones — absolving systems, laws, and weapons of any responsibility.

This worldview rejects reality-based problem-solving in favor of Iron Age-style magical thinking, where demons, Satan, and “spiritual enemies” replace evidence, policy, and accountability.

Media Complicity and the Barry Weiss Problem

This detachment from reality is reinforced by a media ecosystem that increasingly functions as propaganda rather than journalism. Barry Weiss is a central figure in this ecosystem.

Weiss gained renewed prominence after CBS rolled out a week-long promotional blitz centered on her interviewing Erica Kirk — a move that reportedly failed to attract viewers and coincided with a significant ratings drop. Weiss’s outlet, The Free Press, continues to frame reactionary narratives as intellectual inquiry.

A recent article highlighted “shocked” Jewish parents confused by their children’s progressive or pro-Palestinian politics, framing dissent as brainwashing rather than moral reasoning. As journalist Ryan Grim pointed out, being surprised that a civil-rights attorney refuses to support a politician accused of sexual harassment reflects a stunning detachment from morality and reality.

This is not journalism. It is ideological grooming.

Corporate Sponsorship and Manufactured Backlash Against Women

Weiss’s upcoming town hall tour includes a panel titled Has Feminism Failed Women? — sponsored by Bank of America. The irony is glaring. Feminism is precisely what allowed women to have bank accounts, credit cards, careers, and financial independence in the first place.

The sponsorship is not neutral. It provides institutional backing for a narrative that invites sexism to rebrand itself as “serious discussion.” It gives people permission to believe women were given too much power — and that rolling back those gains is reasonable.

That Weiss herself is a lesbian woman who has benefited enormously from feminist and LGBTQ+ activism only deepens the contradiction. Again and again, movements like this elevate individuals who climb the ladder on collective struggle and then pull it up behind them.

Epstein, Hypocrisy, and the Moral Collapse of Gatekeepers

The rot extends further. Legal scholar Alan Dershowitz — whom Weiss has suggested should be elevated as a pundit for younger audiences — has long been entangled in the Epstein scandal and once publicly argued that the age of consent should be lowered to 15. The idea that such a figure should be repackaged for Gen Z is not provocative; it is obscene.

Similarly, New York Times columnist David Brooks recently criticized what he called an unhealthy fixation on the Epstein files — only for new photos to surface showing Brooks attending events with Epstein himself. This is precisely why the public no longer trusts institutional voices. The moral scolding always seems to end where personal exposure begins.

The Endgame: Power Without Accountability

All of this — Erica Kirk’s tour, JD Vance’s grooming, Barry Weiss’s propaganda, corporate sponsorship, and media hypocrisy — serves a single purpose: power without accountability.

Trump himself is increasingly irrelevant to the long-term strategy. He is not a policy thinker, nor a legacy builder. He is a vehicle. The real danger lies in those who come next — younger, more disciplined, and far more committed to dismantling democratic norms.

But there is agency here.

People cannot impeach Trump on their own. They cannot force Congress to act. What they can do is withdraw consent — and money. Viewers can stop watching. Consumers can close accounts. Sponsors can be pressured. Media outlets that trade truth for access cannot function without audience trust and financial support.

These movements are not sustained by faith or ideology alone. They are sustained by dollars.

And those dollars are optional.