At Turning Point USA’s annual conference, prominent conservative figures in the country clashed, exposing the root causes of the conflict between US President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) base and the ruling Republican Party.
Republican leaders, media figures, and conservative activists all gathered for a four-day conference in Phoenix, Arizona, which revealed deep ideological disagreements within the conservative movement.
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Ben Shapiro, Megyn Kelly, and Tucker Carlson, media figures, criticized one another on the stage while discussing the issues of free speech, bigotry, and other related topics.
What is Turning Point USA (TPUSA), and what can we learn from the first AmericaFest conference since Charlie Kirk, the group’s founder, passed away in September?
Describe TPUSA.
Charlie Kirk, who was killed in Utah in September during an event, founded Turning Point USA (TPUSA), a conservative nonprofit organization with a US base. Erika Kirk succeeded Kirk in becoming the CEO of TPUSA after his death.
The group, which supports free-market principles and limited government, has more than 850 chapters spread across college campuses nationwide.
Political speeches, networking, and cultural programming are included in the AmericaFest conference, which has been held annually since 2021, in an effort to pique young conservative activists’ interest.
At what conference did AmericaFest take a speech?
A mix of Republican elected officials, well-known conservative media figures, and celebrities attended the event.
Among the most well-known voices were:
- Conservative commentator and co-founder of Daily Wire, Ben Shapiro.
- Tucker Carlson, network’s founder and journalist,
- The Megyn Kelly Show host and journalist Megyn Kelly
- JD Vance, the US Vice President,
- CEO of TPUSA, Erika Kirk
- Steve Bannon, podcaster and former Trump administration adviser
What issues caused the conservatives to differ?
debates involving platforming, conspiracy theories, and bigotry
Ben Shapiro, who delivered the first speech following CEO Kirk, slammed several conservative figures, most notably Carlson and Megyn Kelly. For amplifying so-called conspiratorial and extremist figures in the broader conservative movement, Shapiro, a vocal supporter of Israel, called others “grifters” and “charlatans.”
Carlson’s choice to host Nick Fuentes, a far-right figure, was “an act of moral imbecility,” according to Shapiro. Fuentes has been accused of anti-Semitism.
Carlson, on the other hand, directly addressed the audience, mocking Shapiro’s criticism and framing attempts to divide different voices.
He claimed that he “laughed” at the attempts to censor dissidents, which he described as “trying to censor” — which highlighted a contentious ideological conflict within the Republican-aligned media sphere.
Shapiro also attacked conservative media analyst Candace Owens, who has criticized Israel’s occupation of Gaza and called it a genocide. She has urged Washington to halt its military support for Israel.
Owens (who was not present at the event) “has been vomiting all kinds of hideous and conspiratorial nonsense into the public square for years,” according to the Daily Wire cofounder.
He claimed that Kelly, a former Fox News host, was “guilty of cowardice” because she refrained from criticizing Owens for making false accusations about a plot to involve the US and Israeli governments in Charlie Kirk’s death.
Vivek Ramaswamy, a former US president and the son of Indian immigrants, also criticized bigotry and hate on the right, claiming that anyone who normalizes hatred for any particular race or religion “does not have a place as a leader” in the conservative movement.
Journalist Carlson also criticized bigotry targeting Muslims in his speech. Because they are Muslims, what you are watching right now is attacking millions of Americans? It’s repulsive.
I’m a Christian, too. I don’t practice Islam. I’m never going to say that because I’m aware that making a secret jihadi claim is difficult. I’m not”, he added.
In his speech on Sunday, JD Vance, the US Vice President, refused to take sides in the debate around bigotry, saying the conservative movement should be open to everyone as long as they “love America”.
During the convention’s closing speech, Vance said, “I didn’t bring a list of conservatives to denounce or de-platform.”
We don’t care whether you’re white or black, rich or poor, young or old, urban or rural, content or uninteresting, or some combination thereof.
US support for Israel
Israel was brought up repeatedly at the conference.
Steve Bannon claimed that Shapiro, a Jew, and others who vehemently support Israel were “the “Israel First” crowd.”
Israel requires independence, and it requires its own self-determination. Go for it if Israel wants to conquer Syria, but don’t force the USA to fight in an endless conflict, he said.
Some on the right have questioned whether Trump’s “America First” philosophy conflicts with the Republican Party’s historically unwavering support for Israel.
Carlson also harshly criticized a certain Christian minister for denying that his government’s genocidal war against Gaza was justified.
Do we murder a man’s children if he commits a crime? Whether it’s in Gaza City or Minneapolis, I’m not interested. No, Carlson remarked to the audience, “We don’t.” He continued, “God is not on any country’s side… [God] doesn’t have a nationality.”
debate over who is an American
The idea of determining an American’s ancestry or heritage is also questioned by Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for governor of Ohio.
At the conference, he said, “The notion that a “heritage American” is more American than another American is fundamentally un-American.
If you believe in the US Constitution, the right to freedom of speech, the freedom of expression, colorblind meritocracy, the American dream, and if you are a citizen who swears allegiance to our country, Ramaswamy, a wealthy businessman, said in an opinion piece for The New York Times on December 17 that you are an American.
Ramaswamy’s position on the US appears to differ from Vice President Vance’s, who expressed his opposition to citizenship in a speech from July because he felt compelled to support the principles of the Declaration of Independence, such as the one in the United States.
America is more than just a concept, he says. It is a group of individuals with a historical and future in common. In summary, it is a nation, he had said.
Vance praised the Trump administration’s efforts to end diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, which were intended to give communities that have historically faced challenges equal opportunities, during his speech at the conference on Sunday.
Source: Aljazeera
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