Behind the Curtain: GOP future foretold

1. Turning Point-MAGA integration: Look at Monday's appearance by Vice President JD Vance as guest host of a memorial edition of "The Charlie Kirk Show" as an early step in the further meshing of Trump's political operation with Kirk's group.

• Turning Point USA was the brainchild and reflection of Kirk. His loss is a major personal and political blow to Trump and his political team, which relied on his organization to convert, amp up and turn out young voters.
• "We have four years to turn Trump voters into Republican voters," a top Trump adviser said. "And a big part of that was Charlie. He was the heart of that. Charlie would want us to carry on with his work. And we're going to."

2. JD as heir apparent: Vance, the GOP's most likely 2028 nominee, is expected to leverage his star power by crisscrossing the country ahead of next year's midterms — a platform in which he'll cast himself as a warrior against the left.

• Vance, 41, is building his political network as finance chair of the Republican National Committee, putting him in the room with top donors and state power brokers nationwide.

3. Marco Rubio as potential V.P.: Rubio, 54, is the most powerful secretary of state since Henry Kissinger — who, like Rubio, simultaneously served as national security adviser. After the slaying of Kirk, Rubio flexed his ministerial muscle by announcing he'll revoke the visa of any immigrant who mocks or celebrates Kirk's death.

• Moves like that, Rubio's mammoth policy portfolio, his sense of humor and his depth of both governmental and football knowledge (he's a Miami Dolphins fan) have made him a favorite of Trump's, and a constant presence in the West Wing.
• Trump sometimes likes to muse about Rubio or Vance or both running for president to succeed him. It's hard to see them running against each other right now: They're friends from the Senate, as are their staffs.
• But Rubio ran once before, in a brutal 2016 contest against Trump. So don't count it out. He could just as well bide his time and strike a deal with Vance and become his vice-presidential running mate. No one knows.
• "The question is: Does Marco run, and what does that look like?" said one person close to Rubio. "I don't know. No one knows. We're not sure if Marco knows. And anyone who says they know is lying."

4. Susie Wiles keeps running the show: Vance has told others he'd like her to manage his campaign, as she did Trump's with Chris LaCivita. If there's a Vance-Rubio ticket, instead of a fight, it probably gets her a lot closer to yes.

• Wiles has made it clear that her future in the White House, and what comes after Trump's term, is up to the president. So whether she stays past the midterms is firmly in the hands of the most mercurial mind in Washington.
• If she left, the favorites to succeed her are two White House deputy chiefs of staff, Stephen Miller and James Blair.

5. Don Jr. is a JD guy: Donald Trump Jr., 47, was Vance's biggest cheerleader in the 2024 veepstakes, and there's no reason to believe he won't be behind Vance again come 2028.

• Don Jr. and Vance share an inner circle and were both close with Kirk. The Don-Vance ecosystem is more powerful than ever.

6. Family stays deeply involved: The president's son, Eric Trump, 41, has a book coming Oct. 14, "Under Siege: My Family's Fight to Save Our Nation," with a foreword by his dad. Eric Trump is a frequent family messenger on Fox News, and the book will keep him in the conservative conversation.

• Lara Trump — former RNC co-chair and Eric's wife — has a Saturday night show on Fox News and is likely to remain a MAGA influencer past 2028.

7. Podcasts and podcasters as center of gravity: President Trump's marathon appearances on male-oriented shows made 2024 the first "podcast election." That'll be even more true. Fox News' Greg Gutfeld said on "The Five" while discussing Kirk's death: "The media is dead to us on this story. They built this thing up. We're dealing with it. We are going to act. We don't care what the whataboutism is anymore. That s**t's dead."

• Alex Bruesewitz, the young Trump adviser who was the architect of the podcast strategy, has become a principal himself — a coveted guest for shows and events.

8. Even more combative MAGA: Vance used his time at the Kirk show's microphone to exhort MAGA supporters to expose liberals "celebrating Charlie's murder."

• "Call them out — hell, call their employer," Vance said.
• Vance showed he plans to carry on Trump's legacy of combative politics — and potentially even kick it up a notch. Vance took on liberals aggressively, asserting that "most of the lunatics in American politics today are members of the far left."

The bottom line: Susie Wiles sent a clear message about MAGA's future posture during a rare public appearance, speaking on MAGA megaphone Scott Jennings' radio show the day after Kirk was killed.

• "I called everybody in before they went home last night and said: 'Go home, hug your children, hug your spouse, be careful, take precautions,'" Wiles recalled. "'And don't let your voice get softer. Charlie would want everybody to speak as they had been — and more.'"

Go deeper: "Behind the Curtain: Four ominous trends."