So, I'm really curious about what this will actually mean, across a number of different vectors. I don't think we are on the verge of civil war or anything like that, however I can see three things playing out
1) Charlie Kirk was the head of TPUSA, arguably the biggest activist core the GOP has. In doing so, he was obviously a bit of a king maker, its why noone of note has a bad word to say about him: He made their careers. People who do shit on him are people like Fuentes or Tucker who don't meaningfully matter anymore. So, who will make a play for the crown?
2) However, TPUSA was also functionally the current iteration of college republicans, which makes things interesting. Young people are 1) going more rightward in general 2) just saw their guy assassinated 3) Not exactly fans of institutions with the DEI cutting them out in both jobs and education.
3) While everyone is calling him a Moderate, I won't go that far. He was a mainstream republican, with all that entails in the current age. Both sides have gotten more polarized, and I'm not sure many people here could find someone on the left who they could call moderate. But, he did have rather mainline views about most things, and where he got edgy, he got edgy in the way your uncle got edgy after a few drinks on Thanksgiving. Not exactly shifting the Overton window. While most people might not like Uncle Walter going on all liquored up, they very much know he's a good guy and don't want him dead. The fact that I can point to an archtype that most families have is incredibly humanizing, and makes all the grave dancing more ghoulish.
2026 just got incredibly more interesting in how things end up shaking out
