Kirk often spoke about the Founders, claiming that they had envisioned the United States as a Christian nation.Photograph from USA TODAY Network / ReutersIt wasn’t until the killing of the conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, in September of last year, that many of us came to understand the sway he held over millions of young Americans. The Turning Point movement he founded in 2012 had galvanized right-wing students nationwide, who followed Kirk’s famous debates and public appearances thanks to his savvy use of social media. After his death, as fractures began to appear among Kirk’s friends and followers, I started reporting from inside the youth movement. I was interested in learning how these suddenly leaderless young people saw their future without Charlie, as they call him.Turning Point became known for its presence on college campuses; I decided to spend time with the less familiar high-school chapters, which Kirk called Club America. Earlier this year, I travelled to Palm Beach County to speak to a diverse group of teen leaders whose lives and views represent a wide swath of American youth. According to Turning Point, there are now thirty-six hundred of these groups nationally. Yet, despite their seemingly rapid growth at the grassroots, there were fissures emerging, including over conspiratorial claims about Kirk’s murder and a shift away from the overwhelming support Kirk’s followers had once offered President Donald Trump. (Many told me that they had broken ranks with Trump because of the war in Iran and the ongoing questions around Kirk’s murder.)In the course of the months I followed these teens, as internal tensions grew within Kirk’s organization, some members I spoke with lost the enthusiasm they’d had for Club America in the period after his death. Others remained committed, many of whom possessed a sophisticated knowledge of domestic policy and U.S. history. Their skepticism of government was fuelled by the disruptions of COVID and by perceptions of liberal hypocrisy and the left’s disregard for the member’s opinions. Their stories startled me. They pointed toward a vision, cast by Kirk, of a Christian America.Read the story »Editor’s PickPhotograph by Chip Somodevilla / GettyEveryone Wants to Touch the Blue Coating in the Reflecting PoolAfter Trump spent close to fifteen million dollars in taxpayer funds on sandblasting and resurfacing the Reflecting Pool in “American Flag Blue,” the project was thwarted by algae, which turned the water a Mountain Dew shade of green. The stalled renovations have given rise to a new kind of sightseeing, one animated not by reverence but by perverse curiosity. Read or listen to Jesús Rodríguez’s report from the scene »More Top StoriesRefik Anadol’s new museum, Dataland, in downtown Los Angeles, is a joyful monument to A.I. art. Is Anadol a visionary, or Silicon Valley’s court painter?Ten years since Brexit, the referendum hasn’t done what its supporters promised—but it has reshaped politics in the U.K. and beyond.This morning, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Trump Administration’s ability to end Temporary Protected Status for immigrants from Haiti and Syria, placing thousands of people at risk of deportation. Revisit Edwidge Danticat’s piece, from earlier this year, about the anxiety in Miami’s Haitian community.The most clicked item in yesterday’s newsletter was about how Claude Design is creating new aesthetic clichés on the internet.Our Culture PicksA book: “A Terrible Intimacy,” by Melvin Patrick Ely, analyzes six trials that took place in Virginia, between 1825 and 1861, illuminating the complexity of interracial relationships in the slaveholding South. It’s one of the best books of the year, so far.A movie: Summer means “Stand by Me,” Rob Reiner’s classic. When Pauline Kael reviewed the film, in 1986, she wrote that it is “steeped in tenderness and understanding and nostalgia.”A TV show: “120 Minutes,” the MTV show that, beginning in 1986, documented the metamorphosis of alternative rock, makes for a great rewatch.Puzzles & GamesToday’s Crossword Puzzle: ​​Forty winks—three letters.Catalogues: Can you sort the items into the correct order?Shuffalo: Can you make a longer word with each new letter?Laugh Lines: Test your knowledge of classic New Yorker cartoons.Daily CartoonCartoon by David OstowP.S. Europe is suffering through a sweltering, record-breaking heat wave. But what does extreme heat actually do to the human body?Austin Elias-de Jesus contributed to today’s edition.