WILLIAM BRANGHAM: A fractured Republican Party on display and fallout from the partial release of the Epstein files.

There is no shortage of political news on this holiday week.

So, for analysis, we turn to our Politics Monday duo.

That's Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report With Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR.

Welcome to you both.

Thank you so much for being here.

TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Hello.

AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Hello.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I want to talk about this Turning Point event that happened over the last few days.

This was the organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk.

His death had brought a fair amount of unity to the Republican Party, but multiple speakers at this multiple-day event seemed to chip away at that foundation.

Most notably, Ben Shapiro, the conservative reporter and spokesperson, said -- he basically accused right-wing influencers like Tucker Carlson of promoting antisemitism and conspiracy theories.

And he said that putting someone like Nick Fuentes, the avowed racist and neo-Nazi, on his broadcast was a problem.

Here's a bit of what Shapiro said.

BEN SHAPIRO, Conservative Political Commentator: There is a reason that Charlie Kirk despised Nick Fuentes and indeed even chided Dinesh D'Souza for debating him.

He knew that Nick Fuentes is an evil troll and that building him up is an act of moral imbecility.

And that is precisely what Tucker Carlson did.

He built Nick Fuentes up.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Also at this weekend event, Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, endorsed Vice President Vance for president in 2028.

Vance himself spoke Sunday and addressed some of these criticisms.

J.D.

VANCE, Vice President of the United States: I didn't bring a list of conservatives to denounce or to deplatform, and I don't really care if some people out there -- I'm sure we will have the fake news media denounce me after this speech.

President Trump did not build the greatest coalition in politics by running his supporters through endless self-defeating purity tests.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Tam, is this evidence of the GOP splintering in some way?

TAMARA KEITH: What Vance is saying is a statement about political math.

And his view is exactly what President Trump's view was, which was Trump never denounced anyone who supported him.

He would take all the voters that he could get.

I do think that there is a bit of a crack-up happening, some very heated debate about antisemitism.

You also see this at The Heritage Foundation, which was this think tank that has long roots in conservative policy, but now a lot of people are leaving The Heritage Foundation.

Some of them are even going to an organization that former Vice President Mike Pence started.

And they're leaving because they're upset about the platforming of Nick Fuentes.

So this is a really big fight that's happening.

And I think partially what it is, is that Charlie Kirk in death did unite them briefly, but also, when he was alive, he did a very good job of sort of keeping the movement in line.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Papering over the fissures.

TAMARA KEITH: Yes.

AMY WALTER: Yes.

It's a great example of what we know about another very powerful political figure, which is that that personality alone is something, when it is gone, is very difficult to reassemble, right?

So, a very... WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It's like questions about Trump too.

AMY WALTER: That's exactly right, yes, that when the person who has built the coalition, who has kept the coalition going is gone, there's a vacuum and there are a lot of folks trying to fill that vacuum.

Obviously, folks like Ben Shapiro saying, yes, we do need to fill the vacuum, but we need to avoid allowing people who say these things as being part of our movement.

It's going to undermine everything that we hoped it would.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Sticking with you, Amy, just for a second, we did see, as I mentioned, Erika Kirk saying, the vice president should be our nominee... AMY WALTER: Yes.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: ... and that this might help us in advance of the midterms.

Is that a legitimate thing to be arguing at this point, or are we putting the cart so far in front of the horse here?

AMY WALTER: Right.

The idea, I think, was twofold.

The first is, Erika Kirk and Charlie Kirk were very good friends with J.D.

Vance.

This is a very personal relationship that I think transcends the politics.

And the second is, yes, this idea that young voters who united -- who the TPUSA united, in many ways, for Donald Trump, that was Charlie Kirk's real special sauce was engaging with those younger voters.

For those voters in 2026 to turn out, the movement needs to be unified.

There needs to be one voice.

There needs to be not this sort of fractiousness on display.

And so will that help by endorsing J.D.

Vance?

I don't think that J.D.

Vance has much to do with what's going on in 2026, but it's definitely putting a marker down.

And Tucker Carlson talked about this too at the event, putting a marker down basically is who we want to support, who this movement will support, whether we call it MAGA, whether we call it TPUSA, whether we call it conservatism.

We will only support people who allow all voices and we will denounce no one if they are an ally of ours.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Right.

Tam, do you think, I mean, when it comes to maintaining this coalition, does putting Vance's name forward as a potential standard-bearer help?

TAMARA KEITH: He's the vice president of a president who will not be running for office in '28, constitutionally not allowed to do that.

The president has already said he thinks that a Vance-Rubio ticket would be unstoppable.

Rubio has said, if Vance is running, he's not going to challenge him.

So there is a conversation happening, there is movement happening.

Like, in 2013, I was in Iowa covering Ted Cruz, Senator Ted Cruz, who was very clearly already running for president.

It's not too early.

And there is this idea of sort of clearing the field.

I don't know that Vance is going to be able to clear the field at all, but it puts a marker down.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I want to pivot quickly to the Epstein files, the continued rollout.

Friday was the deadline for the DOJ to drop all of these files.

They clearly have not done that.

Some have come out.

Some have been redacted.

Much of it's redacted.

Parts with Trump in them were put out and then retracted and then put out again.

Steve Bannon once predicted that the GOP's failure to adequately deal with Epstein would be electoral doom for the GOP.

Do you think that this will matter to voters at all?

AMY WALTER: I think it is not as relevant to voters as many of those feared.

But what I do think it really speaks to is the continuing challenge for both parties to deal with the fact that you have a public that is so cynical and so convinced that there are people in power who are pulling levers and getting away with all kinds of terrible stuff.

It is what is animating our politics right now, is this idea that to have to blow up the system or to reassess the system is the only way forward.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Do you think it'll matter?

TAMARA KEITH: I don't know that this specifically will matter.

I think what Amy is talking about with people feeling disenchanted with the establishment and people in power, that's not going away.

That traces back to a lot of things, including the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, where somehow the banks did fine, but real people lost their homes and lost their shirts.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And nobody went to jail.

TAMARA KEITH: And nobody went to jail.

And this is a case with Epstein where one person -- two people went to jail, and one of them has now been moved to a cushy women's camp.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Right.

Tamara Keith, Amy Walter, so nice to see you.

Have a great holiday, both of you.

AMY WALTER: You too.

TAMARA KEITH: You too.