PHOENIX (RNS) — On a stage framed by glinting red-white-and-blue lights, Michael Knowles, a podcaster for the political outlet The Daily Wire, recalled Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, the New Testament’s signal call for mercy and hope.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God,” Knowles read on Thursday (Dec. 18) at opening night of AmericaFest, the annual conference of Turning Point USA, the conservative youth activist organization co-founded by Charlie Kirk.
There was no doubt that Kirk, who was assassinated in September, was the peacemaker Knowles had in mind. He was one of several speakers at the Phoenix Convention Center in the following days to paint Kirk as a spiritual unifier who connected disparate parts of the American right and reached out to progressives.
If Kirk had that power, this year’s AmFest, which closes on Sunday, has brought home how badly U.S. conservatism needs that kind of uniting presence. The movement’s cohesion has been tested in recent months by Tucker Carlson’s controversial interview with antisemitic internet influencer Nick Fuentes and by disputes over American support for Israel. It’s also been shaken by ongoing revelations tying Trump world figures to sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein and by roiling conspiracy theories, such as former Trump adviser Candace Owens’ suggestion that TPUSA is complicit in its own co-founder’s murder.
Kirk’s w …