Turning Point USA held its AmericaFest conference. Here’s what happened 

Prominent conservative figures in the United States have clashed at Turning Point USA’s annual conference, exposing the underlying rift within the ruling Republican Party and US President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) base.

The four-day conference held in Phoenix, Arizona, brought together Republican leaders, media personalities, and conservative activists, an event which exposed deep ideological disagreements within the conservative movement.

Some of the biggest names – including media figures Ben Shapiro, Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson – took turns attacking each other on the stage on the US support to Israel, bigotry, free speech and other related topics.

So, what is Turning Point USA (TPUSA), and what are the key takeaways from the AmericaFest conference – the first since the group’s founder, Charlie Kirk, was killed in September?

What Is TPUSA?

Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is a US-based nonprofit conservative group established in 2012 by Charlie Kirk, who was killed in September during an event in Utah. After Kirk’s death, his widow Erika Kirk took over as CEO of TPUSA.

The organisation operates more than 850 chapters on college campuses nationwide and works to mobilise and train young conservatives in high schools, colleges and universities, advocating for free-market principles and limited government.

The AmericaFest conference, held annually since 2021, combines political speeches, networking, and cultural programming aimed at galvanising young conservative activists.

Who spoke at the AmericaFest conference?

The event featured a mix of Republican elected officials, prominent conservative media figures and celebrities.

Among the most prominent voices were:

• Ben Shapiro, Daily Wire cofounder and conservative commentator
• Tucker Carlson, journalist and head of Tucker Carlson Network
• Megyn Kelly, journalist and host of The Megyn Kelly Show
• US Vice President JD Vance
• Erika Kirk, TPUSA CEO
• Steve Bannon, podcaster and former adviser in the first Trump administration

What issues divided the conservatives?

Debate over bigotry, conspiracy theories and platforming

Ben Shapiro, who was the first speaker after CEO Kirk, made a blistering critique of several fellow conservatives, most notably Carlson and Megyn Kelly. Shapiro, a vocal supporter of Israel, described others as “grifters” and “charlatans” for amplifying so-called conspiratorial and extremist figures in the broader conservative movement.

Shapiro said Carlson’s decision to host far-right figure Nick Fuentes on his podcast was “an act of moral imbecility”. Fuentes has been accused of anti-Semitism.

Carlson, for his part, responded directly on the same stage, mocking Shapiro’s criticism and framing attempts to ostracise certain voices as divisive.

He said he “laughed” at the push for what he characterised as attempts to censor dissenters, underscoring an intense ideological clash within the Republican-aligned media sphere.

Shapiro also attacked conservative media commentator Candace Owens, who has been critical of Israel’s war on Gaza, calling it a genocide. She has demanded Washington stop its military support to Israel.

The Daily Wire cofounder said that Owens (who was not at the event) “has been vomiting all sorts of hideous and conspiratorial nonsense into the public square for years”.

He said Kelly, a former Fox News host, was “guilty of cowardice” because she refused to condemn Owens over unsubstantiated claims of a conspiracy involving the US and Israeli governments in the killing of Charlie Kirk.

Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who was born in the US to Indian immigrants, also condemned bigotry and hate on the right, saying that anyone who normalises hatred towards any ethnic or religious group “does not have a place as a leader” in the conservative movement.

In his speech, journalist Carlson also spoke out against bigotry targeting Muslims. “What you’re watching now … attacking millions of Americans because they’re Muslims? It’s disgusting.”

“And I’m a Christian. I am not a Muslim. I’m never going to … I know there’s a lot of effort to claim I’m a secret jihadi. I’m not,” he added.

In his speech on Sunday, US Vice President JD Vance refused to take sides in the debate around bigotry, saying the conservative movement should be open to everyone as long as they “love America”.

“I didn’t bring a list of conservatives to denounce or to de-platform,” Vance said during the convention’s closing speech.

“We don’t care if you’re white or Black, rich or poor, young or old, rural or urban, controversial or a little bit boring, or somewhere in between.”

US support for Israel

Israel came up repeatedly during the conference.

Steve Bannon accused Shapiro, who is Jewish, and others who staunchly support Israel of being part of “the ‘Israel First’ crowd”.

“Israel needs its sovereignty, Israel needs to be independent. If Israel wants to take on Syria, go for it … but not drag the USA into another endless war,” he said.

Some on the right have questioned whether the Republican Party’s historically steadfast support for Israel conflicts with Trump’s “America First” platform.

Meanwhile, Carlson strongly criticised certain Christian minister who he claimed justified the killing of innocent people in a reference to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“If a man commits a crime, do we kill his kids? I don’t care if it’s in Minneapolis or Gaza City. No, we don’t,” Carlson told the audience. “God is not on any country’s side … [God] doesn’t have a nationality,” he added.

Debate over who is an American

Ramaswamy, who is the Republican candidate for Ohio governor, also questioned the idea of deciding who is an American based on one’s ancestry or heritage.

“The idea that a ‘heritage American’ is more American than another American is un-American at its core,” he said at the conference.

“You are an American if you believe in the rule of law, in freedom of conscience and freedom of expression, in colorblind meritocracy, in the US Constitution, in the American dream, and if you are a citizen who swears exclusive allegiance to our nation,” Ramaswamy, a wealthy businessman, wrote in an opinion piece in The New York Times on December 17.

Ramaswamy’s stance on the US seems to differ from that of his party colleague Vice President Vance, who, in a July speech, expressed his concerns against granting citizenship because someone agreed with the principles, for example, of the Declaration of Independence.

“America is not just an idea. It is a group of people with a shared history and a common future. It is, in short, a nation,” he had said.

During his speech at the conference on Sunday, Vance highlighted the Trump administration’s efforts to end diversity, equity and inclusion policies, which were aimed at ensuring equal opportunities to the communities that have historically faced obstacles.

“In the United States of America, you don’t have to apologise for being white any more,” he said, adding that the US “always will be a Christian nation”.