Vice President JD Vance closed out Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest — the conservative organization’s first major event since its founder, Charlie Kirk, was fatally shot in September — with a speech on Sunday that tried to broaden the conservative movement’s appeal.
Vance addressed the Phoenix crowd with a speech that painted an inclusive, multicultural picture of the country before touting the Trump administration’s success with mass deportations and “negative net migration” and encouraging people to apply for jobs with U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement.
President Donald Trump “says ‘Make America Great Again’ because every American is invited,” Vance said. “We don’t care if you’re white or Black, rich or poor, young or old, rural or urban, controversial or a little bit boring or somewhere in between. People of every faith come to our banner because they know that the ‘America First’ movement will make their lives better.”
In the United States of America, you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.
vice president jd vance
Soon after, Vance added: “We don’t treat anybody different because of their race or their sex, so we have relegated DEI to the dustbin of history — which is exactly where it belongs. In the United States of America, you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.”
The vice president also said that “the only thing that has truly served as an anchor of the United States of America is that we have been, and by the grace of God we always will be, a Christian nation” — a remark met with raucous applause.
He added, “I’m not saying you have to be a Christian to be an American. I’m saying something simpler and truer: Christianity is America’s creed.”
Vance also bashed former Vice President Kamala Harris — his predecessor and a potential opponent in the 2028 presidential election — by saying she “opened the border and destroyed the economy.”
Erika Kirk, who has run Turning Point USA since her husband’s killing, appeared to endorse Vance for president earlier in the event, saying: “We are going to get my husband’s friend JD Vance elected for 48.”
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.