Turning Point USA, the organization co-founded by slain political activist Charlie Kirk, held an event over the weekend that highlighted a growing rift among members of the conservative movement after speakers made various jabs at one another. CBS News' Fin Gomez has the latest.

Washington

A recent Turning Point USA conference in Arizona, the organization's largest since the assassination of founder Charlie Kirk, revealed significant divisions within the conservative movement. The event featured public disputes among high-profile conservatives, including Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, and Megyn Kelly, with accusations of promoting conspiracy theories and calls for unity amid the infighting.

Without Kirk's unifying presence, many attendees described the atmosphere as more contentious than in previous years. Erica Kirk, Charlie Kirk's widow, endorsed J.D. Vance as a potential leader, while Vance and others emphasized the need for unity as the Republican Party looks toward future elections.

Breaking down growing rift among conservatives after TPUSA event

There are growing concerns from some within the Republican Party after some infighting played out at a national conference of thousands of conservatives in Arizona. On Sunday, Turning Point USA wrapped up its largest meeting since the assassination of its founder, Charlie Kirk. Kirk's widow, Erica, opened the event Thursday and she said the audience might not agree with all of the views they'd be presented with. Here's a sample of what was said over the four-day conference. So you may not agree with everyone on this stage this weekend and that's okay. Welcome to America. Today, the conservative movement is in serious danger. It is in danger, not just from a left that all too frequently excuses everything up to and including murder. 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. I just got here and I feel like I missed the first part of the program. I hope I didn't miss anything meaningful. To hear calls for like de-platforming and denouncing people at a Charlie Kirk event, I'm like, what? This is hilarious. I didn't bring a list of conservatives to denounce or to de-platform. We have far more important work to do than canceling each other. CBS News Executive Director of White House and Politics, Finn Gomez, is in Washington covering this. So Finn, some of the soundbites have gotten a lot of attention. How did things seem to you? Pretty bad. It got pretty ugly, like WWE, old school WWE ugly. I mean, a lot of insults being hurled at that stage at a certain point, USA's annual AmericaFest conference that highlighted this rift that you talked about, Lindsay, in the conservative movement that's emerged really since the assassination of the group TPUSA's co-founder Charlie Kirk back in September. Yes, over that four-day conference, that divide really played out in real life, publicly in real time, with speakers openly attacking one another by name. You saw Ben Shapiro there, the conservative commentator attacking Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, and Megyn Kelly, saying they were promoting conspiracy theories, calling them, quote, frauds and grifters. Shapiro also went after Carlson for what he said was platforming far-right influencer Nick Fuentes, calling Nick Fuentes a, quote, Nazi-loving extremist who should not be given a platform. He's also a Holocaust denier. Steve Bannon fired back in his own remarks, calling Shapiro a, quote, cancer on the conservative movement and warning of a looming power struggle inside Turning Point USA because of him. Many attendees said that the infighting felt new and unsettling without Kirk's unifying presence. But, you know, you did hear J.D. Vance, the vice president there, really call for unity. We'll see if that sticks. Was there any reaction that Vice President J.D. Vance had to Erica Kirk's calls for him to be the next Republican nominee and president? And do you think that some of these divides are also sort of lending to maybe a possible power struggle emerging about who's going to lead the party? Well, you know, he's clearly tried to— And, you know, you saw that, stressing that the conservative movement needed to be unified going into these future elections. And I do think that Erica Kirk endorsing him a couple days ago this early on gives him a significant boost. I mean, we're not even officially into the midterm cycle, of course, Lindsay, but clearly not only the MAGA conservatives, but establishment-based Republicans are also looking to J.D. Vance as a potential leader post-Trump of the movement and of the party, as well. Vic Gomez, thank you. Thanks, Lindsay. Miami and Alabama.

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