Vice President J.D. Vance gave a fiery speech Sunday to close out AmericaFest, commenting on the growing rift within the conservative movement.
Vance said that “every American is welcome” to the America First movement, adding that “we have much more important work to do than cancel each other.” While the vice president didn't mention anyone by name, he directly rebutted Ben Shapiro's speech on Thursday, calling Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson, right-wing podcaster Candace Owens, Steve Bannon and others “fraud and frauds.”
“President Trump has failed to build the greatest coalition in politics by subjecting his supporters to endless, self-defeating purity tests,” Vance observed. “I didn’t bring with me a list of conservatives to denounce or deplatform,” he said. “Let me just say that the best way to honor Charlie is that none of us here should do anything after Charlie's death that he himself refused to do in life.” (RELATED: Megyn Kelly Tells AmericaFest Whether She And Ben Shapiro Are Still Friends)
Vance went on to say that “we build by adding, by increasing, not by destroying.” Vance then added that Charlie Kirk “understood that every family can have its disagreements, its difficult conversations, we can learn and improve and treat each other better, we can love each other despite our differences. But winning takes teamwork.”
Tensions had been brewing for months between Shapiro and other conservative figures, including CarlsonOwens and Megyn Kelly. Shapiro called Carlson's interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes “an act of moral idiocy” during a speech Thursday. He also accused Kelly of “cowardice” for not condemning Owens' conspiracy theories about the murder of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
Carlson dismissed Shapiro's attacks as akin to “watching your dog do his taxes,” and Kelly responded Friday by saying Shapiro “had the nerve to call me a friend right before he called me a despicable coward.”
Erica Kirk approved Vance for president in 2028. More than 30,000 people attended the conference.
