Turning Point's 2025 AmericaFest conference started Thursday in Phoenix, intended as a tribute to the legacy of the organization's founder, Charlie Kirk, who was killed three months prior.
By the end of the event on Sunday, speakers focused on discouraging infighting within the conservative movement and calling for greater opposition to the political left.
Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk's widow and successor at the helm of Turning Point, acknowledged tensions within the conservative movement at the beginning of the four-day gathering. Organizers said the event attracted about 31,000 people, including ASU's chapter of TPUSA. Rapper Nicki Minaj also appeared on stage with Erika Kirk, where she praised the president and vice president.
"You may not agree with everyone on this stage this weekend, and that's OK," Erika Kirk said in a speech Thursday. "Welcome to America."
Then the fighting started.
READ MORE: 'This moment is the turning point': Charlie Kirk mourners call for faith, more momentum
Political commentator Ben Shapiro took the stage after Erika Kirk and sharply condemned several conservative figures.
Shapiro particularly called out conservative podcaster Candace Owens, whose theories about Charlie Kirk's death brought on a feud with Erika Kirk and others. He also called out talk show host Megyn Kelly and political commentator Tucker Carlson for defending Owens.
Owens has suggested, without evidence, that the Israeli government and some Turning Point employees were responsible for Charlie Kirk's murder, despite authorities only charging one suspect with his killing. Erika Kirk publicly fired back at Owens, telling her and other conspiracy theorists to "stop" during a CBS News town hall.
Shapiro said individuals with a platform have a "moral obligation" to call out Owens and said those who refuse to condemn her statements are "guilty of cowardice."
Kelly said Friday at the conference that she objected to Shapiro's comments regarding who she associates with and what she publicly speaks out against.
"I found it kind of funny that Ben thinks he has the power to decide who gets excommunicated from the conservative movement, which shows a willful blindness about his position in it," Kelly said.
Shapiro also denounced the white nationalist live streamer Nick Fuentes, whom he called a "Hitler-apologist, Nazi-loving, anti-American piece of refuse." He added that Carlson, who conducted a controversial interview with Fuentes in October, ought to take responsibility for lending legitimacy to the live streamer's views.
Carlson hit back at Shapiro on Thursday night and said the right should avoid deplatforming voices, emphasizing that Charlie Kirk was pressured to remove Carlson from the AmericaFest lineup but refused to do so.
"Charlie stood firm in his often-stated and deeply held belief that people should be able to debate," Carlson said.
Carlson also said a significant portion of conservative infighting centers on conflict over who will be the Republican presidential nominee in 2028, casting opponents of Vice President JD Vance as opponents of the America First movement. He added that there are people "stirring up" issues within the party and involving him in the controversies.
"I am sad about being used in a proxy war over politics in which I'm not involved at any level," Carlson said.
Attendee Mark Weyermuller traveled to AmericaFest from Chicago. He said the disagreements coming from the stage were a good thing.
"Mainstream media is making a big deal about rifts and divisions within MAGA and within Turning Point, but I don't see it at all," Weyermuller said. "There's a lot of enthusiasm."
On Saturday and Sunday, speakers stressed unity among conservatives and said infighting would weaken their ability to counter the political left.
Conservative commentator Benny Johnson said good-faith debate is important but claimed some are trying to "usurp" Charlie Kirk's legacy.
He cast Charlie Kirk as someone who united the right, bringing together President Donald Trump, Vance, Elon Musk and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
"The real enemy is not somebody on your side who disagrees with you," Johnson said. "The real enemy is the left, who stopped debating and started killing."
However, opponents of AmericaFest's political messaging took to the streets outside the convention center for the sake of debate.
Saturday morning, 50501 Arizona, Arizona's affiliate of the 50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement effort, protested the event and Turning Point.
A dozen protesters gathered at the southwest corner of Washington Street and 3rd Street shortly before 8 a.m. to meet AmericaFest event-goers as they began arriving for the day.
"Our aim here is to keep the peace; we don't want anyone to get hurt," said Gabbie Hoffmeister, one of the spokespersons and organizers of the day's protest.
As event attendees began to arrive, some had to pass through the group protesting to approach the north entrance. Over the course of the morning, the protest grew to about 50 people, and some members of the Turning Point-approved media — many of whom were amateur social media personalities — began to interact with and seek reactions from the protestors, causing some verbal clashes.
While there was commotion between the two sides, the protest stayed peaceful, with many of the demonstrators leaving before 1 p.m.
"As much as I disagree with so many things that Charlie Kirk said, I do agree that we need to have an open dialogue," Hoffmeister said. "So we're here hoping someone will come over and have a nice, peaceful, normal dialogue. I don't know if it'll happen, but we can certainly be hopeful."
Protester Evo Terra, a faculty associate at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said the hope for the counterdemonstration was to help show everyone else in the downtown area, "the things that they're preaching and indoctrinating inside aren't great."
Like Charlie Kirk's mission, "the whole point is to change minds," Hoffmeister said.
READ MORE: Students and experts see varying futures for young conservative movement
When Vance took to the stage on Sunday, he reaffirmed that the legacy of Charlie Kirk should be honored and that conservatives must stand together against the political left.
He said he wouldn't use his platform like others who had denounced other conservatives but instead urged the audience to honor Charlie Kirk's life by acting as Charlie Kirk had. Vance added that there is far more important work to be done than engaging in cancel culture.
"Charlie invited all of us here for a reason, because he believed in each of us," Vance said. "All of us had something worth saying, and he trusted all of you to make your own judgment. And we have far more important work to do than canceling each other."
Edited by Kate Gore, Senna James, Sophia Braccio and Ellis Preston.
Reach the reporters at elbradfo@asu.edu and coyer1@asu.edu and follow @emmalbradford__ and @carstenoyer on X.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on X.
Emma Bradford is a junior studying journalism and mass communication and political science with a minor in business. She has previously worked at the Cronkite News Washington, D.C. bureau as a Politics and Money Reporter. Bradford is in her fourth semester with The State Press and on the politics desk.
Carsten Oyer is a sophomore studying journalism and mass communication, as well as public service and public policy. This is his second semester with The State Press, having previously worked as a politics reporter.
