Thousands of conservatives turned up in Phoenix December 16-19 for AmericaFest, hosted by Turning Point USA, where founder Charlie Kirk credited young people for coming to celebrate "the greatest country in the world."
"What started as a movement of … two, with no money, no connections, and no idea what I was doing, is now a movement of 1,800 high school and college chapters across the country with 600,000 student activists, 300,000 grassroots donors," he pronounced, "Only in America is a story like Turning Point USA possible."
Dr. Ben Carson said Americans should be proud to be so.
"It doesn't matter where your ancestors came from; you're better off here than you would be where they came from," he declared.
Dennis Prager of PragerU said there is nothing wrong with traditional gender roles.
"The feminist movement was in its heyday, and one of their mottos was, 'A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle,'" he noted. "It's a funny phrase … and staggeringly wrong, because men need women, and women need men."
On that note, athlete-turned-activist Riley Gaines asked the audience to stop using phrases like "biological woman."
"Even if you subconsciously add that word 'biological,' you're admitting that there is an unbiological alternative to being a woman or a man or a male or a female or a boy or a girl, and there's not," she said.
Commentator Tucker Carlson urged people to be open and honest.
"The words your lips form should be utterly true all the time," he stated. "If you do that, you will find swelling in your breast a power of unknown origin, but still unmistakenly a power, a strength. You become stronger."
Other speakers this year included Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Lindell, Allie Beth Stuckey, Benny Johnson, former Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), and actor/comedian Rob Schneider.
Following the event, Turning Point believes attendees return to their campuses and communities more energized than ever.
