Conservative stars clash at AmericaFest over Israel policy debate
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PHOENIX, Arizona – While it’s true that Erika Kirk is the head of one of the country’s leading conservative groups, at one point at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest this weekend, she made clear that she has a much more important title: mother.
After two days of infighting among some of the conference’s top stars, Kirk smiled onstage Friday night and said: “Say what you want about AmFest, but it’s definitely not boring. It’s like a Thanksgiving dinner where the family takes care of family business.”
This is the best and most positive way to look at the feud in Phoenix between Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and other right-wing celebrities. Most of it took place in Israel and was a sideshow that few participants expected or specifically wanted.
Brent, an Oklahoma City native in his 50s, came to AmFest with his two sons.
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“I was there the night me and Tucker attacked each other, at one point I told my wife I was going out for some air, I felt like I needed to escape to the real world, you know?” he told me while smoking.
I knew it.
Along with sniping and antisemitism directed at Israel, the question of what “American heritage” is, or whether there is such a thing, has also fueled division. Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy told the crowd: “I think the idea of a heritage American is as crazy as anything the woke left has come up with,” adding: “There is no American who is more American than anyone else. … It’s binary. You’re either an American or you’re not.”
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This would have been Civics 101 not too long ago, even for conservatives, but Ramaswamy is right to talk about wokeness because proponents of the concept that a genealogy going back to the founding of the nation is something special are essentially driven by the fact that such people have been told for decades that this is the only lineage that is not actually special or something to be proud of.
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Charlie Kirk, founder and chief executive of Turning Point USA, during a panel discussion at the Next Generation Summit at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington on March 22, 2018. (Washington Post via Jabin Botsford/Getty Images)
I asked Dennis, the fourth-generation owner of a farm in South Dakota, which sounds like quite an inheritance, what he got out of all this.
“I don’t think much about it,” he said. “If you love your country and obey the laws, you can be an American.”
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Dennis was much more interested in soybeans and sugar beets and could talk about them freely. I asked him how the tariffs were affecting him, and he said, “It’s sad, but I look at the big picture and I think it’s going to be good in the long run.”
Erika Kirk makes remarks at the memorial service for her husband, conservative activist Charlie Kirk, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on September 21. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
After talking not just with Dennis but with many attendees, old and young, who focused on prices, it was tempting to think: “Be done with this economics, stupid, identity politics nonsense.” But Erika Kirk brings up a good point: These may be the fights the right needs before deciding on next year’s midterm elections.
TPUSA spokesman Andrew Kolvet shared this message on X.
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“If we force harmony without uncomfortable debate, there can be no winning consensus,” he wrote. “There is no such thing as a civil war. This is the necessary work of a conservative coalition that determines its dominant center before future wars. We are not bellicose communists. Let it play out.”
It’s also worth noting how much better telling all of this at an actual live event is than the endless sniping on social media where no one ever has to actually grapple with the ideas they disagree with. Even shaking hands with someone you disagree with can have a powerful calming effect.
The grand finale of AmFest on Sunday will be Vice President J.D. Vance’s address to the gathering. There was already a queue from 4 am.
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College freshman Sarah told me, “I wasn’t old enough to vote for Trump, but I’m going to vote for Vance and I’m excited about that.” This is good news for Vance, but it also creates a lot of pressure. Could he be the force to heal the wounds inflicted at AmFest this weekend?
Erika Kirk is right; Families sometimes fight. In fact, sometimes they have to. But the question is always: What will happen after the explosion, the tears and the accusations?
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Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., told the crowd this weekend: “You may not like Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro, Steve Bannon or me. Guess what: If the radical left wins, we’re all in together.”
This seems true, and even after AmFest’s devastating infighting, this is still a goal within reach of TPUSA and the conservative movement. It’s also almost certainly what Charlie Kirk would have wanted.
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