PHOENIX — America is entering its golden age, or so say the list of headliners at America Fest 2024, the conference sponsored by Turning Point Action, a MAGA-conservative organization run by Charlie Kirk. After the big Republican win last month — and a trifecta in place with the White House and Congress under GOP control — everyone appeared hopeful and at ease.
The four-day convention kickstarted on Thursday, with popular commentators like Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson on hand to energize the relatively young crowd of several-thousand attendees.
Shapiro, the co-founder of The Daily Wire, admitted he’d “been in a bad mood” for the past few years. “But I’m in a pretty good mood right now,” he said, before praising President-elect Donald Trump as “the historic force of our age.” Meanwhile, Carlson claimed he hasn’t “met a hostile person in the last six weeks anywhere in the U.S. People seem happier.”
Aside from this “vibe” shift, as Carlson calls it, another, more structural change is afoot, including a gutting and full-blown renovation of the Grand Old Party to make it the Grand “Young” Party.
Charlie Kirk, the face of the young conservative movement
Shapiro heaped praise on Kirk during his remarks. Turning Point USA, the host of America Fest at the Phoenix Convention Center, is Kirk’s brainchild. The venue features in Trump’s political history — he held his first ”Make America Great Again” rally here. Trump is expected to make an appearance at the conference on Sunday.
Shapiro met Kirk at a conference in Palm Beach, Florida, looking for donors, when Kirk was 18 years old. He’s now 31. Shapiro recalled saying, “‘That guy is going to be the head of the (Republican National Committee) one day,’ and instead, Charlie built his own RNC.”
Kirk’s organization helped influence the outcome of the 2024 election by mobilizing young people to vote. Turning Point USA, headquartered in Phoenix, led its operation separate from traditional conservative organizations in Arizona and nationwide. Its paid staff and volunteers turned out voters for Republican candidates like Kari Lake, and the organization poured tens of millions of dollars into get-out-the-vote events in battleground states. And unlike the Republican Party, Turning Point remained insular, rarely revealing too much about their efforts behind the scenes.
Young voters supported Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump by 4 points: 51% to 47%, a much smaller margin than in 2020 when this demographic favored President Joe Biden over Trump by 25 percentage points.
Carlson repeated Shapiro’s praise. As the final act of the night, the former Fox News host received a showy welcome onstage paired with sparklers and loud music. (All of this made him feel like Ozzy Osbourne, he said.) He didn’t waste a beat before patting Kirk on the back for the recent election. “You know, people make the obvious point that the two-party system is fading, and the parties themselves are weaker, more disorganized and inevitably more corrupt than they’ve ever been — but they’re being replaced,” said Tucker, “And Charlier Kirk is more powerful in the true sense, which is he actually gets things done (unlike) the Republican National Committee.”
Next goals: Cabinet appointments, spending fights
Kirk warmed up the crowd ahead of the star-studded lineup Thursday. “Remember how lost we felt a year ago? Remember how directionless we felt?” he said. But now that they’ve won control of the House and Senate, is the battle over? he asked. “God gave us a reprieve so that we can reload, that we can lean in and that we can make the conservative movement stronger than ever before,” Kirk said.
He laid out new goals for the MAGA movement, like confirming Trump’s list of Cabinet appointments. Many of the names have stirred intrigue and controversy in Congress. And one, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, has already withdrawn from consideration. Pete Hegseth, the nominee for Secretary of Defense, faces sexual misconduct allegations, which he denies. Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, faces scrutiny over his ambition to overhaul the federal agency. Tulsi Gabbard, the intelligence pick, is too defensive of Russia and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and too conspiratorial, according to the criticism from the left.
Kirk said Republican lawmakers who oppose the nominees “will face a primary challenger immediately.”
“We want a Republican Party that is as conservative as its voters. We want a Republican Party that is responsive to all of you. We want a Republican Party that actually listens to what you want — not a Republican Party that goes to D.C. and becomes something completely and totally different,” Kirk said.
And members of Congress are listening.
“In just the last 24 hours, we did something that we never would have been able to do before,” he said, referring to Speaker Mike Johnson scrapping the 1,500-page continuing resolution after criticism originating on X, a platform owned by Elon Musk, the co-leader of the newly established Department of Government Efficiency.
“Under old circumstances, that thing just would have passed,” said Kirk, but the new voices in the party took to social media and aired their grievances. Eventually Trump, too, said he is against a CR that would give Congress a large pay raise while the average American feels the burdens of inflation.
The House passed a CR on Friday evening. It will fund the government through March 14. Although the CR includes disaster aid and economic relief for farmers, it doesn’t include an extension on the debt limit, which Trump demanded earlier this week. Johnson has so far dodged growing calls to replace him as speaker.
Steven Bannon, who served as the chief strategist during the first Trump administration, called bipartisanship a “malignant cancer,” and criticized Johnson for negotiating with Democrats.
The spending fight was delayed a few months, but an important question still lingers, according to Shapiro. “How do we retain the momentum? And the answer is, we do the right things,” like backing Trump on his path to fulfilling the promises he made. “America will be great again,” Shapiro said. “The Great American comeback is on.”
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