The Death of MAGA (and Charlie Kirk): A thesis for the upcoming book

MAGA has its Roots in the “Ron Paul Revolution”

It is 2012. I am a Congressional delegate for Ron Paul in Colorado. Mitt Romney is hand-selected by the mainstream media as the Republican candidate to face off against incumbent Barack Obama. Presidential candidate Ron Paul led an exciting, energetic campaign that secured almost half of the 1144 delegates required to gain the nomination at the Republican National Convention for President. The establishment did not let Ron Paul win, and Ron Paul supporters notoriously told neoconservative Mitt Romney supporters, “enjoy your loss to Barack Obama.”

Ron Paul consistently polled higher than Barack Obama throughout this election cycle, yet the neoconservative crowd refused to listen to its base. Instead, they bowed to their elitist donors, who would continue to put America on the path toward cultural and economic destruction.

After Mitt Romney’s predictable loss to Barack Obama, the GOP establishment knew they had a serious problem. The 2008 and 2012 Ron Paul revolutions were palpable and effective. They knew they had to harness this energy for two reasons:

1. We cannot have a real tea party revolution that would uproot the corruption in Washington, D.C. and lift the rug up on the fiscal crisis created by the Federal Reserve banking system.
2. We must harness this energy so that we can create a consensus, a new movement that will pacify the public, but also help us reach our geopolitical and financial goals.

We then watched as Donald Trump ascended down the escalator at Trump Tower to announce his run for the Presidency. In short, “Restore America Now” will become “Make America Great Again.” And, for those who knew the plan, “Make America Great Again” had nothing to do with an “America First” agenda; it was actually about realizing the goals of the neoconservative think tank “Project for a New American Century–Rebuilding America’s Defenses.”

The Project for a New American Century policies outlined in their whitepaper “Rebuilding America’s Defenses,” were the strategic guidelines for both the Presidencies of Barack Obama and Donald Trump. The neoconservative thesis advocated for an aggressive, preemptive U.S. foreign policy designed to ensure American global hegemony, prevent the rise of rival powers, and maintain a “Pax Americana” through massive increases in military spending and expanded military presence. In short, it outlined which countries should be targeted for regime change to enforce this “Pax Americana.”

To reach these goals, America was lacking the necessary catalyst to “inspire” the American people to take action. The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) whitepaper, Rebuilding America’s Defenses (September 2000), stated that the process of military transformation would be slow, “absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor”.

One year later, the neocons got what they wanted when two planes rammed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Since then, we have seen almost every country listed for regime change in the document fall to American intervention:

Primary Targets for Regime Change

Iraq: PNAC’s most consistent and urgent focus. As early as 1998, members lobbied President Bill Clinton and Congress to remove Saddam Hussein from power. They argued that the U.S. could not rely on UN sanctions and must take unilateral military action to ensure regional stability and access to oil resources. (George W Bush, Complete)

Iran: Targeted as a “rogue state” that threatened U.S. interests and allies. PNAC members, including John Bolton, explicitly advocated for military confrontation or regime change in Iran after the expected success in Iraq. (Donald Trump, In Progress)

Syria: Identified alongside Iran as a candidate for military action or severe pressure if it failed to comply with U.S. demands. PNAC members categorized Syria as part of a “hostile” axis in the Middle East. (Complete, Donald Trump)

Other Countries and Regions of Interest

Afghanistan: Following the 9/11 attacks, PNAC urged immediate and “necessary military action” against the Taliban regime. (Complete – George W Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Joe Biden)

North Korea: Listed as a state that should not be permitted to challenge American leadership or threaten the U.S. homeland. (TBD)

China: PNAC’s 2000 report, Rebuilding America’s Defenses, emphasized the need to “cope with the rise of China to great-power status”. They advocated for a permanent military presence in Southeast Asia and other parts of East Asia to contain China’s influence. (TBD)

Libya: Frequently mentioned in the context of “rogue” nations requiring containment or intervention. (Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton, Complete)

The Balkans: The group advocated for continued U.S. leadership and military presence in the region to prevent the unravelling of NATO and European stability

The policies advocated by neoconservatives directly conflict with the noninterventionist ideas of conservative libertarian types, like Ron Paul. Largely, we can see these ideas are not minority opinions: Americans resoundingly rejected the war in Iraq and the current war in Iran.

The RNC Rule Change for Donald Trump Ensures We Will Never Have Another Ron Paul Movement

After Ron Paul successfully garnered a large amount of delegates at the RNC, Republican leaders were motivated to never allow a grassroots candidate to gain a foothold again. In 2024, the Republican Party tightened control over delegate allocation, favoring the front-runner by establishing winner-take-all systems in more states to prevent a contested convention, according to Politico. This should have been the first red flag for conservatives about what this entire movement was all about.

The Rise of Charlie Kirk

Ron Paul had a strong base of young, energetic supporters. Overall, Charlie Kirk’s rise stemmed from this movement. A large swath of young conservative voters who felt they had been ignored helped inspire his decision to start Turning Point USA to foster political discourse on college campuses. Charlie Kirk advocated for Ron Paul to be appointed as Federal Reserve chair on February 10, 2025:

Ron Paul would make a great next Chairman of the Federal Reserve. No other institution in American life has so eroded the purchasing power of working Americans as the Fed, and as a longtime critic and skeptic, Ron Paul would be a living and breathing forcing function to bring… https://t.co/DRUB7UJxWJ

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) February 10, 2025

Charlie Kirk Vehemently Opposed Intervention in Iran

While Bibi Netanyahu was in President Trump’s office 7 times last year to push for his new war, Charlie Kirk was also meeting with Trump in attempts to quell Israel’s effort to fight their wars for them:

He was also not shy of relaying his opinions to the public regarding a potential war with Iran:

Keep the pressure up. Regime change in Iran would be a catastrophe. https://t.co/qol3thn9re

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) June 18, 2025

During this time, as exposed by Candace Owens, he was receiving threats of financial ruin for Turning Point USA if he did not support Israel’s cause:

Within months of these attacks, Charlie Kirk was assassinated on September 10, 2025, for the whole world to see. It was a public execution America hasn’t seen since JFK. JFK also spoke out against a “Pax Americana” foreign policy:

Oddly, both men spoke or acted upon restricting Israel’s influence in American foreign policy:

https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2016-04-21/concerned-about-nuclear-weapons-potential-john-f-kennedy

Where do we go from here?

With what we now know, it is time to ask serious questions and demand real answers supported by truth. We must take stock of the last 10 years, how we got here, and what we have lost along the way. We must understand why the greatest political movement of the last 30 years was stifled, and what for?

This book will highlight the MAGA movement’s road to destruction, led by its destructor, President Donald Trump. More importantly, it will ask vital questions surrounding Charlie Kirk’s death and the buildup toward the war in Iran. As former Director of the United States National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent said, “we have multiple data points” that should be investigated.

Tucker Carlson is right, we must tell the truth about everything:

For liberty, 

Author Joseph Pendleton