The four-day annual AmericaFest at Turning Point USA reportedly turned out to be a show of brawling among its high-profile attendees.
According to the Guardian, the Turning Point USA event was attended by yop leaders including Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, Donald Trump Jr., Vivek Ramaswamy, Ben Shapiro and Glenn Beck.
This was Turning Point USA’s first annual meeting since its leader, Charlie Kirk, was shot and killed on a Utah university campus in September.
The event was billed as “a powerful celebration of the faith, freedom and legacy of our founder Charlie Kirk.”
However, the rally made headlines for the wrong reasons.
Some of the biggest names in conservative media took turns marching on the main stage, spending more time focusing on right-wing rivals than their left-wing opponents, the AP reported.
“Say what you will about AmFest, but it’s certainly not boring,” said Kirk’s widow, Erika. “It feels like Thanksgiving dinner, where your family is taking care of the family business,” she said.
According to reports from the festival, “the unification we’ve seen in previous years has been challenged by interpersonal squabbling and disagreement over how big the big tent of conservatism should be and what brands of conservative thinking can be expected,” the British media house said.
Distribution
According to the Arizona Republic, the main divide among young conservatives is mistrust of Israel over its war with Hamas and its embrace of figures such as Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust denier.
“When Charlie Kirk was murdered, I think that’s when everything split into the groypers, the conservative right, the constitutional right,” 19-year-old Jack Nichols told the Arizona Republic.
“And I think that’s bad. I don’t think Charlie would want that. I think Charlie would want us to come together instead of split up,” Nichols reportedly said.
Meanwhile, former presidential candidate Ramaswamy said pockets of the “online right” had become fixated on the idea of a “hereditary” right rather than a right based on conservative ideals.
In addition, rapper Nicki Minaj, who made a surprise appearance, belittled the California governor, using Trump’s favorite nickname Newscum.
Shapiro vs. Carlson
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, co-founder of The Daily Wire, set the tone Thursday when he blasted Carlson for hosting white nationalist Nick Fuentes on his streaming show, as well as others he portrayed as charlatans and grifts.
Shapiro reportedly said the hosts are “really responsible for the guests they choose and the questions they ask,” adding that Fuentes “is an evil troll and it’s an act of moral imbecility to build one. And that’s exactly what Tucker Carlson did.”
Carlson later took the stage and reportedly dismissed Shapiro’s attempt to “deplatform and judge” people, saying he laughed at Shapiro’s address — “the kind of bitter, sardonic laugh that comes out of you and the world turns upside down. When your dog starts doing your taxes and you’re like, ‘Wait, this is not how it works.’
Shapiro also attacked fellow commentators with deeply personal words, saying some of the right’s most popular figures are morally bankrupt.
Candace Owens “has been spewing all kinds of vile and conspiratorial nonsense into the public square for years,” he said.
Megyn Kelly was “guilty of cowardice” for refusing to condemn Owens for spreading baseless theories about Kirk’s death.
The festival will conclude on Sunday with a speech by Kirk’s widow Erika, who now runs the organization. At an event on Thursday, she endorsed JD Vance as the next Republican presidential candidate.
Divided over Gaza?
While Carlson criticized the civilian deaths in Gaza, some attendees dug deep into history, highlighting Israel’s 1967 attack on the USS Liberty off the Sinai Peninsula.
Israel said it mistook the ship for an Egyptian vessel during the Six Day War, while critics claimed it was a deliberate strike.
Bannon accused Shapiro, who is Jewish, and others who staunchly support Israel of being part of the “Israel first crowd.” Kelly said the criticism of Shapiro and Bari Weiss, the newly installed head of CBS News, “is about Israel.
Vance says that loving America is enough to be a part of MAGA
In a closing speech at the conference, Vice President JD Vance declined to condemn extremism or define a boundary for the MAGA coalition. The movement should be open to anyone as long as they “love America,” he said.
“I didn’t bring a list of conservatives to condemn or deplatform,” Vance said Sunday.
