We’re three years away from the next presidential election, but Turning Point USA already knows it wants Vice President J.D. Vance as the Republican Party’s nominee.
Erica Kirk, leader of the powerful conservative youth organization, endorsed him on the opening night of its annual AmericaFest convention, drawing cheers from the crowd.
But the four-day meeting revealed more danger than promise for Mr. Vance or any other potential successor to President Donald Trump, and the apparent tensions portend the treacherous waters they will have to navigate in the years ahead. The Make America Great Again movement is unraveling as Republicans begin to consider a future without President Donald Trump, and there is no clear path to maintaining his coalition as different factions vie for influence.
After a weekend of debate over whether the movement should exclude figures such as anti-Semitic broadcaster Nick Fuentes, Mr. Vance joined the side of the open debate.
“I did not bring a list of conservative names to denounce or shoot down,” Mr. Vance said Sunday during the conference’s closing speech. He denounced “self-defeating purity tests” and said there was a place for you in the movement “if you love America.”
“We don’t care if you’re white or black, rich or poor, young or old, rural or urban, controversial or a bit boring, or somewhere in between,” Mr. Vance said.
He did not name Mr. Fuentes, but his comment came amid a growing debate over whether the MAGA movement should include Mr. Fuentes and his followers.
Post-Trump Republican Party?
The Republican Party’s identity has been entangled with Mr. Trump’s for a decade. Now that he is constitutionally ineligible to run for re-election, the party is beginning to think about the future without him in power.
So far, it appears that settling this issue will require a lot of fighting among conservatives. “The Turning Point” included arguments about anti-Semitism, Israel, and environmental regulations, not to mention rivalries between leading commentators.
“Who’s going to run it next?” asked commentator Tucker Carlson, summing up the key battle in his conference speech. “Who gets the machines when the president leaves the scene?”
Mr. Carlson said the idea of a Republican “civil war” was “completely false.”
“There are people who are angry at J.D. Vance, and they are bringing up a lot of this in order to make sure he doesn’t get the nomination,” he said. Mr. Carlson described Mr. Vance as “the only person” who supports “the basic idea of the Trump coalition,” which Mr. Carlson said is “America First.”
Andrew Colvitt, a spokesman for the Turning Point Party, portrayed the disagreement as a healthy debate about the future of the movement, an uncomfortable but necessary process for finding consensus.
“We are not bee-minded communists. Let it happen,” he wrote on X.
Turning Point supports Vance for president
Erika Kirk, who took over leadership of Turning Point after her husband, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated, said Thursday that the group wanted Mr. Vance elected “to the 48-member seat in the best possible way.” The next president will be the forty-eighth in the history of the United States.
Turning Point is a major right-wing force, with a national volunteer network that can be especially useful in early primary states, when candidates rely on grassroots energy to build momentum. In a surprise appearance, rapper Nicki Minaj spoke at length about Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance.
Mr. Kirk’s endorsement carried “at least a little weight” for Chiara Wagner, who traveled from Toms River, New Jersey, to attend the conference.
“If someone like Erica can support J.D. Vance, so can I,” Ms. Wagner said.
Mr. Vance was close to Charlie Kirk. After Mr. Kirk was assassinated on a college campus in Utah, the Vice President flew on Air Force One to collect Mr. Kirk’s remains and return them to his homeland in Arizona. The Vice President was assisted by uniformed service members in carrying the casket to the plane.
“I am honored to be a member of the Turning Point team,” said Mr. Vance.
Vance has Republican defectors
Not everyone in the Republican Party stands with Vance.
Senator Rand Paul, Republican from Kentucky. He said Mr. Vance represents a move away from the limited-government, pro-trade, low-tax orthodoxy that has defined the Republican Party for generations. He said the Republican Party should stick to its roots, and that’s not Mr. Vance.
“All these protectionists love taxes,” Paul said on ABC’s “This Week.” “So they tax, tax, and then brag about all the revenue coming in.” “That was never a conservative position.”
Mr. Vance appears to have a nomination advantage for 2028 as far as Turning Point attendees are concerned.
“It has to be J.D. Vance because he was so great when it came to any question,” said Thomas Morales, a videographer from Los Angeles. “There is no other option,” he said.
Mr. Trump has not chosen a successor, though he has praised both Mr. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, even suggesting they could make up a Republican ticket in the future. Mr. Rubio said he would support Mr. Vance.
When asked in August whether Mr. Vance was the “heir apparent,” Trump said “most likely.”
“It’s too early to talk about it, but he’s definitely doing a great job and is probably the favorite at this stage,” he said.
Any talk about future campaigns is complicated by Mr. Trump’s occasional musings about seeking a third term.
“I’m not allowed to run,” he told reporters during a trip to Asia in October. “It’s too bad.”
The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., is close to Mr. Vance and is pushing for him to seek the vice-presidential nomination in 2024. Mr. Trump Jr. echoed Mr. Vance’s vision for the United States to step back from its role in ensuring global security, and said immigration is negatively changing the nation’s identity.
“No country can survive when it imports people who do not share its values,” Mr. Trump Jr. said. “We don’t owe the world anything. We owe Americans their American dream.”
This story was reported by the Associated Press.