Conservative infighting erupts at turning point in US
Top conservative influencers repeatedly clashed with each other at the annual Turning Point USA conference last week as they struggled over how to confront growing anti-Semitism and bigotry in the Republican Party.
The sold-out gathering, which was billed as AmericaFest and held in Phoenix, was the first event of its magnitude since TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk was shot and killed earlier this year. The infighting points to deeper divisions that the party is struggling to address, particularly as many of its younger members have embraced Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist and Holocaust denier, and other extremist views.
Ben Shapiro, a prominent conservative commentator, opened the event with a harsh critique of a number of Republican pundits, including some whom he accused of elevating conspiracy theories and anti-Semitism.
“The conservative moment is also endangered by charlatans who claim to speak for principles but actually traffic in conspiracies and dishonesty,” Shapiro said. “These people are frauds, scammers and not worth your time.”
Throughout his statements on Thursday, Shapiro chastised Candace Owens for promoting “baseless garbage” about Kirk’s murder, criticized Megyn Kelly for not holding Owens accountable, criticized Tucker Carlson for his normalization of Fuentes, and mocked Steve Bannon as a former “Jeffrey Epstein PR expert.”
“If you get a Hitler apologist, Nazi lover, anti-American piece of trash like Nick Fuentes” Shapiro said of Carlson. “If you have that person on your show and you proceed to criticize him, you should own him.”
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Several of the media personalities he called responded during the event: Carlson described Shapiro as “pompous,” Bannon dismissed him as a “cancer,” and Kelly suggested they were probably “not friends anymore.” according to the New York Times.
“Calls to leave the platform at a Charlie Kirk event? That’s really funny,” Carlson said. for politician.
Owens argued that Shapiro was “opposing everything Charlie believed in” and referred to him as a “little worm.”
Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy also condemned the concept of “American heritage,” a term that has gained popularity among people on the right and is effectively used to disparage many immigrants.
“It’s a belief that those with roots in the colonial period are more American than those whose lineage in the United States began more recently.” MS NOW explained. The term has gained traction while President Donald Trump continues to promote numerous xenophobic policies.
“The idea that a ‘heritage American’ is more American than another American is fundamentally un-American,” Ramaswamy said in a speech Friday, during which he also denounced the bigotry he has faced and Fuentes’ anti-Semitism.
Vice President JD Vance did little to address concerns about growing intolerance in the party and appeared to brush aside issues raised by Ramaswamy and Shapiro, The New York Times reported.
“I didn’t bring a list of conservatives to denounce and tear down,” Vance said during his Sunday speech.
The discord echoed disputes Republicans have had recently over these issues. For example, Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, initially supported Carlson when he was criticized for doing the Fuentes interview and denounced those who questioned the talk show host. Roberts later apologized after receiving reaction from the right.
A Politico story exposing racist and anti-Semitic texts. sent in a group chat of young Republicans has also agitated the party.
Erika Kirk, executive director of Turning Point USA, who took over leadership after her husband’s death, tried to present the schisms as a healthy debate.
““It feels like a Thanksgiving dinner where your family is discussing the family business,” Kirk said. according to The News.