New York Mag
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The hopes many conservatives had for a revitalization of the MAGA youth movement following the death of pundit Charlie Kirk have taken a turn, according to a new profile by New York Magazine, with the space becoming overrun by "darker forces" and "conspiracism."
The piece, published on Wednesday, explores numerous groups and individuals jockeying for influence following Kirk's death, but while his organization, Turning Point USA, has seen a surge in popularity in some parts of the US, the overall youth movement has become "engulfed" in the same "antisemitism and conspiracism" that has taken over much of right-wing politics. While Kirk's death was initially met with an "overwhelming show of unity," it has since "devolved day by day into something more like civil war."
Among those leading the conspiracy charge, author Simon van Zuylen-Wood noted, is Candace Owens, a long-time far-right activist and pundit who emerged as an "assassination truther," suggesting that Kirk's death was part of a large scheme orchestrated in some way by Israel. While this has made her a pariah in some corners of the MAGA movement, she has seen a rise in popularity overall, with her podcast creeping into the Spotify top 10 this past fall.
Speaking with Lesley Lachman, TPUSA chapter president at the University of Mississippi, van Zuylen-Wood said she "jokingly shushed" questions about her Jewish lineage and stressed that she was "staying away from Candace right now." She was also, however, "a conspiracy buff" who had become enmeshed in "a conservative political culture in which the thirst for conspiracism is bottomless."
The piece also relayed the story of another would-be college Republican activist, Auburn University freshman Brilyn Hollyhand, who faced "an ambush" of questioning after bringing his "One Conversation at a Time" show to the University of Mississippi. Attendees grilled him over "not being right wing enough" and seemed critical of his unwillingness to denigrate "immigrants who hoped to enjoy the American Dream by the book," in addition to "illegal" immigrants.
He also faced intense scrutiny for his support of the US-Israel relationship, as the audience at the event supported a complete end to the partnership in pursuit of an "America First agenda." Hollyhand was left "baffled" by the reactions, the piece explained, "as if the whole world had shifted underneath his feet in the few weeks since Kirk’s death."
The piece also details the increasing influence of Nick Fuentes over the MAGA youth movement: an avowed antisemite who has frequently called out everyone from Kirk to Donald Trump for not being right-wing enough. The encroachment of darker strains of conspiracy and antisemitism into the movement, the piece argued, was a mirror of earlier conflicts between TPUSA and Fuentes' supporters.
"The consensus among students I interviewed is that Fuentes is in everybody’s feed and there is no point in denying his influence," van Zuylen-Wood wrote.
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april 16, 2025,
By Steve Benen
Given Ed Martin’s recent record as the interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., it was difficult to imagine how he could become even more controversial. But a new Washington Post report makes matters worse for the hyper-partisan Trump loyalist and former “Stop the Steal” organizer.
Martin is now interim U.S. attorney for D.C. and Trump’s pick to serve full time in the role. But as a conservative activist and former Missouri Republican official, he appeared more than 150 times on [the Russian state television network RT] and Sputnik — networks funded and directed by the Russian government — as a guest commentator from August 2016 to April 2024, according to a search of their websites and the Internet Archive’s database of television broadcasts.
What makes a story like this so striking is that it’s really made up of three overlapping problems.
The first is that Martin agreed to appear more than 150 times on Russian propaganda outlets.
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The second is what Martin said during those on-air appearances: The Republican lawyer apparently had a knack for offering commentary that aligned with Kremlin talking points, including telling one host that there was “no evidence” of a Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s borders the week before the Russian military crossed those borders and began a war in Ukraine.
But every bit as important, if not more so, is the third problem: As part of his presidential nomination to serve as the U.S. attorney in one of the nation’s most important prosecutorial offices, Martin was required to disclose these media appearances to the Senate Judiciary Committee — and according to the Post’s report, at least initially, he did not. (The article has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News.)
“Martin’s office did not initially respond last week to questions about his appearances on RT and Sputnik, including why he did not disclose them to the Senate or whether he was compensated for them,” the Post added. The report went on to note that his spokesperson said Martin sent senators “a supplemental letter” disclosing the appearances he failed to mention earlier.
On Monday, a group of former Jan. 6 prosecutors and conservative attorneys asked a disciplinary board to investigate Martin, arguing that Trump’s right-wing nominee — who has no prosecutorial experience — has a “fundamental misunderstanding of the role of a federal prosecutor.” The letter, addressed to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel at the U.S. District Court of Appeals, said Martin’s actions “threaten to undermine the integrity of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the legal profession in the District of Columbia.”
Two days later, Martin’s nomination suddenly looks even worse.
For those unfamiliar with the Missouri Republican, Martin’s “greatest hits” package features misguided and unnecessary fights with the dean of Georgetown University’s law school, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, former President Joe Biden and Democratic Reps. Robert Garcia of California and Eugene Vindman of Virginia. During his brief tenure, Martin has also:
demoted multiple senior officials involved in Jan. 6 insurrection cases;
compared one of the criminal charges used against Jan. 6 defendants to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II;
falsely described himself as one of the president’s lawyers;
weighed in on a civil case involving the White House, which had literally nothing to do with his office;
intervened in a dubious Environmental Protection Agency investigation;
made a dubious decision in acase involving Republican Rep. Cory Mills of Florida;
launched the wildly unnecessary “Operation Whirlwind”;
also launched the wildly unnecessary “Project 1512” initiative;
also launched a wildly unnecessary “election accountability” unit;
made a creepy public vow to wield his prosecutorial powers against those who get in Elon Musk’s way;
engaged in brazen conflict of interest in a Jan. 6 case, in which he effectively took both sides of a criminal case;
and kicked off a radically unnecessary investigation into Jack Smith and a law firm that gave the former special counsel pro bono legal services.
In a piece for New York magazine, Elie Honig recently described the lawyer as Trump’s “dangerous and ridiculous prosecutor.” Martin seems to be going out of his way to prove his many critics right.
What’s more, The New York Times reported that Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have asked the D.C. Bar’s disciplinary counsel to investigate Martin, arguing that the Trump-appointed Republican has “abused” his prosecutorial powers.
The Senate has not yet scheduled a confirmation hearing for Martin, and the calendar is of increasing relevance: If he isn’t confirmed by May 20, his interim appointment will expire and he’ll have to be replaced at the U.S attorney’s office. Watch this space.
*This post updates ourrelated earlier coverage
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."