PHOENIX—A wild and bright spectacle. A marketplace of ideas, not to mention right-branded products. An arena of pundit-on-pundit conflict over Israel and other issues, waged for the era of X threads and Instagram reels. A gathering of young Republicans and America First conservatives suffused with Christian themes.

Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest 2025 was many things—and its meaning differed for different people, from the conservative celebrities on stage to the attendees in the stands.

The Epoch Times interviewed participants in, and observers of, the conference that rose in Phoenix just three months after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the founder of TPUSA and namesake of the “Charlie Kirk Show.”

Kyle Rittenhouse

Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted on all charges after shooting three men in self-defense, two fatally, at a violent protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020. He endorsed President Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 election.

After taking several months away from politics, the 22-year-old Second Amendment advocate was a fixture at AmericaFest 2025. His wife, Bella, and his service dog, Milo—an aid as he copes with post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms related to the Kenosha incident—were by his side as he spoke with The Epoch Times on Dec. 20.

“I haven’t seen an AmericaFest this fired up, this big.”

Rittenhouse was asked about the recent disagreements between political commentators. On the first day of the conference, Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson criticized each other in dueling speeches, part of a dust-up that later involved Steve Bannon and Megyn Kelly.

“I’m not going to comment on that issue directly. I will say this, though: Everybody has a voice, and everybody has a right to say what they want under our First Amendment. ... We shouldn’t silence other people’s voices based on what we feel of them.”

Rittenhouse was asked about the state of the Second Amendment. He praised the repeal of the $200 tax stamp for suppressors, short-barreled shotguns, short-barreled rifles, and other weapons in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which became law this year.

“I wish it was an outright abolishment of the NFA [National Firearms Act].”

On his decision to get involved in politics again:

“Sept. 10 changed me. When I saw my friend get murdered on live TV, I made the decision with my wife that we need to stand up and pick up the mic for Charlie Kirk.”

On Vice President JD Vance, endorsed as a 2028 presidential candidate by TPUSA CEO Erika Kirk on the first day of the conference:

“I’ve had several meetings with President Trump. I do hope to meet Vice President Vance one day.”

Jonathan Keeperman

Jonathan Keeperman, who goes by @l0m3z on X, operates Passage Publishing, an influential literary hub on the Right.

Passage’s offerings range from the political theory of Curtis Yarvin to fiction and poetry from the online Right. The press has also reissued mystery novels in The Hardy Boys series for young readers, as well as the memoirs of Gen. Pyotr Wrangel, who fought the Bolshevik communists during the Russian Civil War.

Keeperman, who cohosts a show on BlazeTV with conservative activist Christopher Rufo, delivered remarks on the main stage at AmericaFest. He spoke to The Epoch Times on Dec. 20 at the Passage booth, surrounded by books and the cardboard boxes in which they arrived.

“Charlie invited me to come speak, which, of course, means a lot.”

On his relationship with Charlie Kirk, which flourished after his identity was revealed by a journalist:

“When I got doxed, he reached out to me and said, ‘Would you like to come on the show and tell your side of the story?’ … Charlie, early on—and Steve Bannon was the other one—called me almost right away and said, ‘Hey, we don’t believe in this cancel culture stuff. We’re gonna protect you. Come on the show, tell your story.’ And I did.

“Charlie was so gracious, and he followed up, and he would always be saying the kindest things.”

On the pundits attacking one another:

“In the absence of Charlie, what we are seeing are real contestations for who is in charge, who gets to lead, what ideas get to lead—and not just what ideas, not just what priorities, but what style gets to lead.

“I do worry a little bit that there could be some possibility that there are some factional disputes that descend into enough infighting that it makes it difficult to achieve basic political goals: winning the midterms or getting JD Vance elected in 2028.

“How do we make sure that these different tribes, these different factions, don’t splinter?”

Keeperman was asked about Israel, a fissure point in some of the conflicts onstage. Bannon accused Shapiro of prioritizing Israel’s interests over those of the United States.

The 43-year-old publisher described himself as “basically sympathetic to the Israel position, given their relationship with their neighbors, but I don’t consider that a pressing matter for the United States.”

“I think there is this tension happening within the Christian right, within the secular foreign policy establishment, and then also within what we would call the Israel lobby. … All of this creates this complex matrix of interests that sometimes overlap, and other times there’s tension between them, but it does place undue emphasis on Israel.

“I would like for us not to be paying so much attention to that. I think it’s a distraction from things we need to get done. But it is something that obviously needs to be renegotiated so that the right can move forward—and so, yeah, on some level, maybe it’s good that these debates are happening.”

Vinn

On Dec. 20, as AmericaFest unfolded inside the Phoenix Convention Center, Vinn, who declined to give his last name, held a sign reading, “Ask a non-binary, antifa anarchist anything” on a nearby sidewalk.

“I know there’s another protest today that intended just to yell stuff at people. I want to expose people to the stuff they think they hate. … I want them to be able to ask me firsthand what I believe in, instead of being told.”

On what people are saying:

“A lot of them said that they plan on not voting in 2028 … The general and most common sentiment that I’ve gotten so far is that nobody’s happy with the way the country is running, the people we’re being offered to run it. So, people on the right, they’re just as unhappy with their right-wing leaders as they are the left-wing. People that have talked to me in the left wing are just as unhappy with the left-wing leaders as they are the right wing.”

Where does Vinn think anarchism has worked?

“Tribal nations. They may have a patriarch, but a lot of them operate on, they do what they can. They get what they need. There’s no monetary system. There’s no market. They make decisions together. … They do have a sort of monarch, a tribal leader. It’s the closest working example.”

Luke Moon

Luke Moon is executive director of The Philos Project, an organization dedicated to fostering Christian engagement with the Middle East. Its offshoots at AmericaFest included Generation Zion, an organization that aims to bring together Christians and Jews in defense of the State of Israel.

Moon spoke with The Epoch Times at an AmericaFest afterparty on Dec. 20.

“We’re not doing enough of the arguments over ideas. We are doing a lot of the personal attacks.”

On Generation Z’s attitude toward politics, including Israel:

“I’m optimistic in general about Gen Z. … There’s an incredible amount of evangelism taking place among Gen Z. A lot of them are becoming followers of Jesus. …

“There’s 10 issues. Nine of them, Gen Z’s amazing. On one, they suck—Israel. I get it, but it means I can move that one.”

On the future of the Republican Party, he says he would “like [it] to be the case” that those in the party distance themselves from the Groypers—followers of streamer Nick Fuentes, who is known for his anti-Israel and anti-Semitic views and was recently interviewed by Carlson—even if it means accepting others he does not like:

“If pulling in Tucker’s wing wins us, that sucks, but I’m an 80/20 guy. … I’m going to have to accept some very unsavory actors in my coalition. But it’s way better, I think, than losing.”

Joseph Wargo

Joseph Wargo was volunteering with the John Birch Society (JBS), a conservative, pro-U.S. Constitution organization opposed to communism and globalism. JBS and its founder, Robert Welch, faced ostracism from much of the right during the late 20th century.

The young activist spoke with The Epoch Times on Dec. 20, not far from JBS’s booth.

“This convention floor is the culmination of Charlie’s big-tent coalition.”

On why JBS appealed to him:

“When I started looking into this group at the time, I thought to myself, you know, there is an organization that exists that really represents what young right-wing men want. … I want to see a restriction on immigration, not just illegal immigration. I want to see freedom of association restored.

“There is a through line that goes directly from John Birch to MAGA [Make America Great Again], and from MAGA back to John Birch.”

On the direction of American politics:

“I think that in the next 15 years, as the Baby Boomers die off, you’re going to see the Overton Window shift significantly to the right due to not just the change of age, but also the change of demographics.

“Someone put it beautifully on Twitter, and I don’t remember who it was—it’s all Birchers and Weathermen.”

He was referring to the Weather Underground, a radical, left-wing organization that committed acts of terrorism during the 1970s.

“I don’t think Birchers are equivalent to Weathermen. I think that saying, it’s all Birchers and Weathermen, indicates that this is a time of extremism.”

Alex Mortensen

Mortensen, a 29-year-old from northeastern Ohio, was sitting in the stands ahead of the speeches on Dec. 21, the final day of AmericaFest. The gathering was the 10th Turning Point event he has attended.

“I learned about Turning Point in college… I’ve been absolutely dedicated ever since.”

On the conflicts between political commentators:

“I’ve been seeing people all over social media say, ‘Oh, well, now that Charlie’s gone, now that everybody’s fighting onstage, Turning Point’s over, it’s done.’ And that’s not true. The energy here is incredible. … This is just the beginning for Turning Point.”

On youth enthusiasm ahead of 2026:

“If our elected officials don’t start working on things like the housing crisis, on the affordability crisis, young people are going to be fed up, and there’s going to be a lot that won’t show up next year.”

On the Israel debate:

“I think it’s good that Turning Point has let people air some of that stuff out. … People on both sides of that have been feeling a lot of frustrations.”