"U-S-A! U-S-A!" The rallying cry seems to be shouted in a stormy, masculine voice that made the nearby rabbits and squirrels scatter. The wooded city of Champaign, Illinois, hadn't seen anything like it in a long time. At the heart of the university campus, about 2,000 people gathered on Tuesday, April 8, to see Charlie Kirk, a podcaster close to Donald Trump and hero of the young MAGA ("Make America Great Again") followers, with 5 million subscribers on the X social media platform. The entrepreneur from the Turning Point USA movement is crisscrossing the United States, its mid-sized cities and rural counties, to instill the ideals of the far-right Trumpist movement: Christianity, masculinity and nationalism.

In front of the auditorium, two groups shouted: the lines of pro-Trump fans – "Drill, baby drill, Trump is our daddy!" – and a cluster of anti-Trump students – "No KKK, no racist fascist USA!" Two societies, two worlds, hurled insults at one another without speaking or mixing.

You have 90.66% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.