The conservative media machine is currently discovering, to its evident horror, that it has no idea how to shut one of its biggest creations. Candace Owens was handed a megaphone by the late Charlie Kirk, feted by Donald Trump and praised by Focus on the Family as one of “the many Black giants of the conservative movement.” Now she is being called a vampire and a schizophrenic by the very people who built her platform. And she keeps growing.
With Kirk’s assassination at a Turning Point USA event in Utah last September, the MAGA movement faced a genuine tragedy. His widow, Erika Kirk, stepped in to lead the organization. But within weeks, before the grief had even begun to settle, Owens began publicly questioning the circumstances of Kirk’s killing and spinning conspiracy theories on her podcast. As a former TPUSA communications director — she resigned in 2019 after praising Adolf Hitler — Owens knew her voice had special resonance. What started as insinuation soon metastasized into a serialized spectacle: “Bride of Charlie,” a multi-episode YouTube series targeting Erika Kirk personally.
