MAGA activists meet in Phoenix, President Trump addresses the nation and his followers, and Democrats grapple with how they misplaced in 2024.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
1000’s of conservatives meet in Phoenix this weekend for a Turning Level USA convention. It’s the group’s largest meeting since its founder, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated in September, and the occasion has highlighted rising divisions in what’s known as the MAGA motion. NPR senior contributor Ron Elving joins us. Ron, thanks for being with us.
RON ELVING, BYLINE: Good to be with you, Scott.
SIMON: The podcaster Ben Shapiro took the rostrum and blasted different audio system to come back as, quote, “frauds and grifters.” And later, Tucker Carlson stated that Shapiro was pompous. Is that this competition over what conservatism should be post-Trump?
ELVING: There is a extremely particular management vacuum right here. Charlie Kirk is gone, and nobody has begun to exchange him. His spouse, Erika, has taken a high-profile function after her husband’s loss of life, however she doesn’t but have the mobilizing energy her husband had. Neither does anybody else, which is why we see this management battle between the would-be champions of various components within the MAGA motion. Charlie Kirk might attain most all of them and supply a degree of connection for them. That features those that are most supportive of Israel and people most suspicious of Israel. The hazard for the motion is that this extremely seen preventing brings down the massive tent. It reduces the attraction for youthful voters in addition to some Hispanics and African People. A squabbling get together is a less-inviting get together.
SIMON: After all, all just isn’t amity amongst Democrats. Experiences this week that get together leaders is not going to publicly launch the post-mortem of why they misplaced the 2024 presidential election. What are the divisions right here?
ELVING: The identical want for unity applies to Democrats, and it has been traditionally elusive for Democrats. Tactically talking, their 2024 was a catastrophe as a result of when the incumbent Joe Biden pulled out of his personal reelection bid, it was far too late for the first course of, and that might have made Kamala Harris a stronger candidate or discovered a candidate stronger than Kamala Harris. And sure, Democrats have their very own coverage divisions, particularly on the Center East. Traditionally, the Democrats have been sturdy supporters of Israel. However lately, youthful Democrats and others within the get together coalition have proven growing sympathy for the plight of Palestinians.
Strategically talking, Democrats are as divided as ever as as to whether to hunt votes within the middle of the American political spectrum or play to their very own get together’s most passionate progressives. The trick is getting sufficient Democrats to unite the factions or to just accept some form of shared energy in order to really get some nationwide energy to share.
SIMON: President Trump addressed the nation in a primetime speech this week, and final evening he spoke to supporters in North Carolina. What have you ever observed?
ELVING: It is notable that he is making an attempt to be each the incumbent and the anti-incumbent, performing as if Joe Biden have been nonetheless president and accountable for the financial system. That is a troublesome promote proper there, however then Trump turns round and insists the financial system is nice. We did get a hopeful inflation quantity this previous week, nevertheless it was considerably suspect as a result of the federal government shutdown affected the numbers – solely gave us numbers for one month, not two. And whether or not inflation was 2.7 or really larger, crucial measure is the best way the voters are feeling. And proper now, probably the most trusted measure that we have now for shopper confidence reveals that confidence is all the best way right down to the place it was in 2009, the beginning of the Nice Recession.
SIMON: The Kennedy Middle in Washington, D.C., was designated by Congress as a residing memorial to President Kennedy in 1964, the 12 months after he was assassinated, after all. Yesterday, President Trump put his identify on the constructing too. Why?
ELVING: Effectively, it should not be a shock. We have identified for a while that Trump likes seeing his identify. Earlier this month, he put it on the U.S. Institute of Peace, now the Trump Institute of Peace. And now the president’s hand-picked board members have tacked his identify onto the Kennedy Middle. We should always add that there are nonetheless some questions on whether or not or not that is authorized, and members of Congress and the Kennedy household nonetheless need to withstand.
SIMON: NPR’s Ron Elving. Thanks a lot for being with us. Speak to you quickly.
ELVING: Thanks, Scott.
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional info.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts might range. Transcript textual content could also be revised to appropriate errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org could also be edited after its authentic broadcast or publication. The authoritative report of NPR’s programming is the audio report.
