#americafest

Erika Kirk Accidentally Says ‘Grift’ Instead of ‘Grit’ About Her Late Husband Charlie: ‘Long Day’

The now-viral flub took place while Erika was speaking at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest in Phoenix on Dec. 20

Erika Kirk accidentally used the word "grift" instead of "grit" while describing the work of her late husband, Charlie Kirk, in a now-viral comment

The flub took place while the widow — who has stepped into Charlie's place as Turning Point CEO — was speaking at the organization's AmericaFest in Phoenix on Dec. 20.

Charlie was shot and killed during his American Comeback Tour at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10

Edward Helmore at The Guardian:

The stars of Maga conservatism converged for the four-day AmericaFest conference in Phoenix this weekend amid reports that the cohesion of the political-religious right, a year into Donald Trump’s second presidential term, is showing signs of stress.

The sold-out Turning Point USA event brought together figures from the right including Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, Donald Trump Jr, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ben Shapiro and Glenn Beck, to kick around the dominant themes of conservatism. It marked Turning Point USA’s first annual gathering since its leader Charlie Kirk was shot and killed on a college campus in Utah in September. The event was billed as “a powerful celebration of faith, freedom, and the legacy of our founder, Charlie Kirk”. However, the gathering made headlines for the infighting on display among its high-profile participants. “Say what you want about AmFest, but it’s definitely not boring,” said Kirk’s widow Erika. “Feels like a Thanksgiving dinner where your family’s hashing out the family business.”

According to reports from the festival, the unification seen in previous years has been challenged by interpersonal gripes and disagreement over how big the big tent of conservatism should be and what brands of conservative thinking it can be expected to hold.

The conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, co-founder of the Daily Wire, set the tone on Thursday when he condemned Carlson for hosting the white nationalist Nick Fuentes on his streaming show, as well as others he depicted as charlatans and grifters. Shapiro said hosts were “indeed responsible for the guests they choose and the questions they ask”, adding that Fuentes “is an evil troll and that building him up is an act of moral imbecility. And that is precisely what Tucker Carlson did.” Carlson later took the stage and dismissed Shapiro’s attempt to “de-platform and denounce” people, according to reports, and said he laughed at Shapiro’s address – “that kind of bitter sardonic laugh that emerges from you and, like, upside-down world arrives. When your dog starts doing your taxes, and you’re like, ‘Wait, it’s not supposed to work this way.’” The pre-eminent split among young conservatives, reported the Arizona Republic, is over distrust of Israel over its war with Hamas and the embrace of figures like Fuentes, a Holocaust denier. Without Kirk to hold the movement together, the fractures have only become more apparent.

Madeline Peltz at Number Two Pencil:

Nicki Minaj, the self-proclaimed “queen of rap,” made her Turning Point USA debut on December 21, appearing alongside Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika at the annual AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona. On stage, she called Trump “handsome” and “dashing” and made a comment about Vice President J.D. Vance being an “assassin.” Minaj (real name Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty) has aligned herself with Trump in the last few months. She spoke at a US Embassy to the United Nations event in November and backed the administration’s “contested claims” about persecution of Christians in Nigeria. She’s also started a one-sided beef with California Governor Gavin Newsom and is reposting bizarre AI videos of herself dancing with the engorged, curly haired digital poltergeist of JD Vance. Nicki Minaj’s fans, known as the Barbz, are notorious for their toxic tendencies. They have a history of harassing journalists. The Barbz sent death threats to a British GQ reporter after she praised rapper and Minaj foe Cardi B’s album. After a freelance writer tweeted that she wanted to see the rapper go in a new direction, fans started posting photos of her 4-year-old daughter and told her she should commit suicide. Minaj has encouraged and participated in this type of behavior. In 2024, a cemetery had to increase security around the gravesite of Holly Pete, Megan Thee Stallion’s mother. Its location was leaked online by Barbz amidst a feud with Minaj. After Meg dissed Nicki on her single HISS, Nicki went on Instagram Live, insulted her mother and repeatedly called her a “bullet fragment foot bitch.” This is a reference to a well-publicized incident outside a party in Los Angeles in 2020, during which rapper and singer Tory Lanez shot Meg in the foot. Tory Lanez was sentenced to ten years in prison and Megan used her experience to speak up about violence against Black women.

Minaj and her fans have flirted with conservative politics prior to this year. In 2012, Minaj rapped that she is a “Republican voting for Mitt Romney” on the Lil Wayne track “Mercy.” In 2021, she said she would not be attending the storied Met Gala because she refused to take the vaccine after her cousin’s “testicles became swollen,” allegedly as a result of the shot. A few days later, a small crowd of Barbz gathered outside the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, chanting anti-vax slogans. Still, I expected that the MAGA turn might do something to rattle the fan base. She’s spent the last several days attacking transgender children, and her fandom has always been populated with queer people, men in particular. Nicki previously has spoken up about youth suicide in the LGBTQ+ community and pulled out of a show in Saudi Arabia over their treatment of gay people and women. Her new political posture comes as the president’s approval ratings reach new lows, heightening the potentiality to drive a wedge. But as I sifted through reactions on social media I found virtually no backlash at all among her hardcore fans. The overwhelming majority on X seemed to back her alliance with the GOP. Some Barbz also retweeted pro-MAGA accounts that posted clips from Nicki’s appearance.

Nicki Minaj’s turn to pro-MAGA isn’t that much of a surprise, and the pieces were there as early as her refusal to get the COVID vaccine or even singing about voting for Mitt Romney in 2012. I am glad to have never supported this fraud.

See Also:

A straw poll taken at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest has singled out one member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet as by far the least popular with Republicans.

The event, held in Phoenix over the weekend, was the first since the murder of the organization’s co-founder, the conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

“We wanted to get a real read on where the base is at after Charlie’s assassination, and a few things really jump off the page,” Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet told Fox News Digital on Monday.

Donald Trump Jr. proclaimed the Republican Party is a thing of the past — his dad is now leading the “America First Party” and “Make America Great Again Party.”

President Donald Trump’s son made the claim during a speech at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday.

Trump Jr. said it is a new era for the conservative movement — one that is constantly under attack from the Democratic Party and Republicans In Name Only (RINOs). He said those attacks are ramping up as both parties plow towards the 2026 midterm elections.

Here is what the told the AmFest crowd:

Midterms are coming around the corner and make no mistake, the Democrat Party wants to do whatever they possibly can to shut this movement down. Not just the Democrats. The RINOs.

You see the manufactured attacks on JD [Vance], myself, my father — anyone who understands that this isn’t the Republican Party anymore. It’s the America First Party. It’s the Make America Great Again Party. And we are not going back!

His remarks drew a fairly big roar from the crowd — followed by a “USA! USA! USA!” chant.