Category: Amfest
‘All in’: TPUSA’s Andrew Kolvet sets sights on 2028 presidential candidate after AmFest
With the first Turning Point USA AmFest convention since Charlie Kirk’s death in September now concluded, TPUSA’s Andrew Kolvet offered his insights on the convention and the political path ahead.
Earlier this week, Kolvet told Fox News in an interview that Turning Point is “all in” for one of Charlie Kirk’s closest friends in politics.
‘Charlie was very close to the vice president and had basically endorsed him already for months beforehand.’
“We’re all in behind Vice President JD Vance. Charlie considered him a generational talent and somebody that could lead this nation forward,” Kolvet, executive producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” said.
Kolvet remarked that it was almost natural for the organization to support JD Vance given Charlie Kirk’s relationship with him. “Charlie was very close to the vice president and had basically endorsed him already for months beforehand. It was no surprise for us. It was no surprise for those who were close to us.”
RELATED: TPUSA straw poll shows dominant front-runner for 2028 nomination
Turning Point CEO Erika Kirk announced her endorsement of JD Vance during her speech at America Fest on the first day of the convention.
“We’re gonna ensure that President Trump has Congress for all four years,” she said. “We are going to get my husband’s friend JD Vance, elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible!”
Andrew Kolvet reiterated the organization’s support for the vice president while urging people to stay focused on the present: “We’re very happy for the here and now, so we’re going to let the next year play out, but heading into 2028, we’re excited to get behind him. And the machine that Charlie built and that’s still in place at Turning Point is going to be all in for the vice president.”
Vice President JD Vance gave a speech on unity on the last day of the convention, refusing to condemn dissident voices despite loud demands within the conservative movement.
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‘Belief is what creates prosperity’: Glenn Beck shares empowering message with America’s youth
Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck delivered an empowering message to young conservatives in the AmericaFest crowd in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sunday.
Beck opened his speech by inviting Jeanie Beeman, a Target employee who was harassed by a shopper for wearing a Charlie Kirk shirt, to join him on stage. A video of the shopper’s altercation with Beeman went viral on social media, with conservatives praising Beeman for reacting calmly to the shopper’s expletive-filled rant.
Beeman described the flood of support as “overwhelming,” adding that she is “just a normal person.”
The crowd reacted with cheers.
‘America was never built for comfort. It was built for people who believed they could shape their own destiny.’
Beck wrapped his arm around Beeman and stated, “And that is why you’re here.”
“I wanted to thank you for being normal,” Beck told Beeman.
RELATED: VIRAL VIDEO: Sara Gonzales SLAMS Target shopper who films her own anti-Charlie Kirk meltdown
Photo by Olivier Touron / AFP via Getty Images
Beck continued his speech by urging people to stop fighting one another.
“You can’t stop darkness with more darkness. You can’t stop hate with more hate. You only dispel the darkness of lies with the light of truth,” he stated.
Beck detailed how today’s young people have been repeatedly deceived. He highlighted how the rise of cell phones and social media has divided society and how the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 lockdowns harmed ordinary Americans while sparing the elite.
“If I’m 25 years old, I would think absolutely everything is a lie,” Beck stated.
“You are not crazy. You are not lazy. You are not imagining things. The truth is, the rules have changed. Promises have been broken. Institutions have failed. Banks were rescued while families like yours weren’t.”
RELATED: Tulsi Gabbard warns: Powerful foreign allies eager to pull US into war with Russia
Beck argued that the biggest lie told to young Americans is that they do not matter and are powerless.
“Every single generation since the beginning of time has inherited a mess. But only the great generations turn that mess into a mission, and that’s your calling,” Beck declared. “America was never built for comfort. It was built for people who believed they could shape their own destiny.”
He explained that prior generations did not have it easier, listing World Wars I and II, the draft, plagues, and the Depression as examples of the challenges they faced.
“But what they had that you don’t have is belief,” Beck continued. “Belief in God, belief in responsibility, a belief that there is a brighter tomorrow just over the horizon. They had that; you need that. Belief is what creates prosperity, not the other way around.”
He urged young Americans to discover their purpose, believe in themselves, and lead with courage.
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Vance refuses to throw Tucker Carlson under the bus, emphasizes America is a ‘Christian nation’
Several speakers at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest offered competing and ostensibly irreconcilable views of the way forward for the MAGA coalition, in some cases identifying one another as cowards, saboteurs, or worse.
In his speech closing out the conference in Phoenix, Vice President JD Vance emphasized that “President Trump did not build the greatest coalition in politics by running his supporters through endless, self-defeating purity tests.”
‘Do I have disagreements with Tucker Carlson? Sure. I have disagreements with most of my friends.’
Vance, the Republican front-runner going into 2028 whom TPUSA CEO Erika Kirk endorsed last week for president, faces mounting public pressure to throw Tucker Carlson under the bus over his criticism of Israel and perceived bigotry as well as to censure Nicholas Fuentes, the head of the so-called Groypers who has been particularly critical of the vice president.
Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” told the Washington Post, “The reasonable actors can see that JD is being a reasonable arbiter of this debate, and that’s a really important signal to send out — that Israel is our ally. They’re an important ally. They’re not our only concern, though.”
“I think JD understands the needs, wants, and concerns of young Americans as well, if not better than, any other leading politician in the country,” added Kolvet.
“I didn’t bring a list of conservatives to denounce or to deplatform,” Vance told the crowd of thousands gathered on Sunday.
“We have far more important work to do than canceling each other.”
The vice president underscored that the “America First movement” constitutes a big tent welcoming those who seek to make America “richer, stronger, safer, and prouder.”
In a recent interview with Sohrab Ahmari, the U.S. editor of UnHerd, Vance provided some insights into why he refused to denounce Carlson or waste any time discussing Fuentes.
“Tucker’s a friend of mine,” he told Ahmari. “And do I have disagreements with Tucker Carlson? Sure. I have disagreements with most of my friends, especially those who work in politics. You know this. Most people who know me know this. I’m [also] a very loyal person, and I am not going to get into the business of throwing friends under the bus.”
RELATED: Poll provides clear idea of who’s poised to sweep 2028 Republican presidential primary
Photo by Olivier Touron/AFP via Getty Images
Vance noted further that “the idea that Tucker Carlson — who has one of the largest podcasts in the world, who has millions of listeners, who supported Donald Trump in the 2024 election, who supported me in the 2024 election — the idea that his views are somehow completely anathema to conservatism, that he has no place in the conservative movement, is frankly absurd.”
As for Fuentes, Vance intimated that a condemnation of the 27-year-old host of “America First” podcast wasn’t worthwhile.
“[Fuentes’] influence within Donald Trump’s administration, and within a whole host of institutions on the right, is vastly overstated, and frankly, it’s overstated by people who want to avoid having a foreign-policy conversation about America’s relationship with Israel,” Vance said in the interview.
‘Anyone who attacks my wife, whether their name is Jen Psaki or Nick Fuentes, can eat s**t.’
While the vice president maintains that Israel is an “important ally,” he indicated that he welcomes substantive disagreements with the Middle Eastern nation as well as debates at home about American foreign policy.
Vance told Ahmari that anti-Semitism and all forms of ethnic hatred “have no place in the conservative movement” but noted that “if you believe racism is bad, Fuentes should occupy one second of your focus, and the people with actual political power who worked so hard to discriminate against white men should occupy many hours of it.”
RELATED: DEI hustlers lash out after Trump official solicits discrimination complaints from white men
Photo by Caylo Seals/Getty Images
Although recognizing Fuentes as an apparent sideshow to an important conversation, Vance did make a point of telling Ahmari, “Anyone who attacks my wife, whether their name is [former Biden press secretary] Jen Psaki or Nick Fuentes, can eat s**t.”
On the theme of America First’s genuine spirit of inclusion, the vice president made clear in his AmericaFest speech that the Trump administration and the broader movement supporting it has “relegated DEI to the dustbin of history, which is exactly where it belongs.”
“In the United States of America, you don’t have to apologize for being white any more. And if you’re an Asian, you don’t have to talk around your skin color when you’re applying for college, because we judge people based on who they are, not on ethnicity and things they can’t control,” said Vance. “We don’t persecute you for being male, for being straight, for being gay, for being anything. The only thing that we demand is that you be a great American patriot.”
‘It is better to die a patriot than live a coward.’
In addition to risking offense with his acknowledgement that white Americans needn’t apologize for their pigmentation and with his refusal to betray a friend, Vance realized the fears articulated in recent years by liberals and anti-Christian activists by noting in his speech that “the only thing that has truly served as an anchor of the United States of America is that we have been, and by the grace of God, we always will be, a Christian nation.”
For the benefit of those who might strategically misconstrue his meaning, Vance clarified that Americans don’t have to be Christian but that “Christianity is America’s creed,” despite the decades-long campaign by the left to remove Christianity from public life.
“That creed motivated our understanding of natural law and rights, our sense of duty to one’s neighbor, the conviction that the strong must protect the weak, and the belief in individual conscience,” continued the vice president. “Even our famously American idea of religious liberty is a Christian concept.”
The vice president noted further that the “fruits of true Christianity” are good men like his murdered friend, Charlie Kirk.
“The fruits of true Christianity are good husbands, patient fathers, builders of great things, and slayers of dragons,” said Vance. “And yes, men who are willing to die for a principle if that’s what God asks them to do. Because so many of us recognize that it is better to die a patriot than live a coward.”
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