PHOENIX, Arizona – The second day of Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest kicked off Friday with more well-known conservatives in the movement speaking. Headlining the afternoon’s events were General Michael Flynn, Republican National Committee attorney Harmeet Dhillon, and commentators Benny Johnson and Jack Prosobiec.
Flynn generated a round of laughter as he began his speech. “Are there any FBI agents out here?” referencing his previous experience being forced to step down as Trump’s nominee for National Security Advisor due to what many believe was a witch hunt by corrupt intelligence bureaucrats. “I can’t wait for Kash Patel!” Patel is Trump’s nominee for FBI director, who has vowed to go after corrupt Democrats.
Flynn (pictured here) provided a warning, comparing Trump’s election victory to the slow battle to win World War II. “We can’t declare victory over Europe here just yet, I use the metaphor. … we can’t declare victory for the United States of America just yet.”
He said one concern is that there will be more attempts on Trump’s life. He said he spoke to a woman at the conference who relayed that to him. “I think that one of the things that we have to do is we cannot rely, we cannot rely on one man,” Flynn said. “That’s right, okay. God ordained that man. Because what they really wanted is they wanted to turn his head into red mist. Okay? They tried it, not just once, but twice, and they will try it again. This is not about one person. Our country is not about one person. Our country was founded on a bedrock of Judeo-Christian principles and values. Those values, that constitution is impenetrable. We have to be fearless about it.”
Flynn said he found it disturbing that there are young people who have only known the U.S. to be engaged in war. “If you’re in your early 20s, we’ve been at war your entire life.” He said the country has been in a “perpetual state of war” throughout his adult life. “We have these wars over in Eastern Europe, the war in the Middle East. We go to war on our streets. We’re going to war on our borders. We have wars against — I mean, we have wars that are going to kick in here with the Chinese government.”
He railed against corruption in Congress. “You need to pay attention to every single one of these documents that Congress tries to squeeze through, like this latest Defense Authorization Act. It would so tie Donald Trump’s hands as president … for d*** near his entire presidency.” He said even when Congress is pressured to change the language in bills, it doesn’t really fix them. “They will not change the essence of — what they’ll do is they adjust some words, they adjust some language,” he explained.
Due to the deaths of 200,000 Americans killed by fentanyl, he said the drug cartels need to be designated foreign terrorist organizations.
Flynn said it was important to get back to Christianity. “We don’t have enough preachers from the pulpits that are preaching exactly what we need in this country, the type of people that we should be looking for.”
He stressed the importance of taking action now. “It’s not four years, maybe a year, maybe 18 months. We can’t wait for 100-day plans. Cuz things have got to start happening now.”
Flynn said this transition is more difficult than when Trump first won the election, because this “this isn’t a peaceful transfer of power” since the “current administration” is “undermining” Trump.
He admitted that since he tells it like it is, “I always speak as though I will never be invited back.”
Dhillon spoke about the election. She flew to Arizona to monitor the proceedings for legal issues. Many believe her presence in the state helped deter wrongdoing by the Democrats, since she has been heavily involved in election litigation for Republicans.
Dhillon explained why she posts so many knitting photos on X lately, sparking the ridicule of some of her followers. She said as Trump’s nominee to head up the Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice, she must be extra careful what she says currently during the transition period.
She said she is looking forward to championing parental rights. “Children have rights in the United States to be free from predatory adults to seek to shape them in our natural way,” she said. Dhillon added, “I understand voting rights and the right for each of you to have your vote be counted equally and fairly at once, and everybody else’s the same way. Those are civil rights.”
The audience roared with laughter when Johnson (pictured here) began speaking. He started his speech, “In the words of Jussie Smollett, this is MAGA country!” Referencing Arizona, he declared that there will be “no more stealing Arizona.”
Johnson emphasized his faith during his speech. He quoted the Bible, “What man intends for evil, God intends for good.” He said “when Christians stand up and be counted, even in a sick and depraved and sunken nation, he will save our land.”
In his classic style, Johnson displayed a variety of humorous memes mostly ridiculing Democrats and video clips of Democrats saying offensive things that are certain to go viral. One of the videos showed Jill Biden telling a child visiting the White House, “Happy Holidays!” The child retorted loudly, correcting her, “Happy CHRISTMAS!”
At the end of the speech, he had the entire audience of thousands stand up and dance Trump style.
Prosobiec spoke about a video he’d just seen of a car in Germany running into a Christmas market, running over almost 100 people. The “car was driven by a Saudi Arabian migrant from the Middle East.” He said, “They all have to go back. The mass deportations must occur. …This can never be allowed to happen again, not here, not abroad, not anywhere, because we will never say I don’t want to see another single one, another Laken Riley, another Rachel Morin, another Jocelyn Nungaray.”
He declared, “Our American children and our American daughters will be spared, because we are sending every single one of these criminals back where they belong.”
He said it’s time for “American justice,” and said there needs to be a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of the J6ers and pro-life protesters who were incarcerated, and all the victims of lawfare and victims of the Democrats’ J6 committee. Additionally, lawsuits need to be filed against the Cheney family “for the money out of Halliburton, from the dirty blood money of sending our boys and girls overseas on a lie to wars that we never should have fought, but for the lies that were done, for the lies that they’re telling now to spread more war in Ukraine, war in Syria, more in Iran.”
He said there should also be personal lawsuits filed against the “Biden crime family and all the money they made out of the Ukraine.”
When Derek Chauvin is freed, who was incarcerated over the death of George Floyd, he will “personally lead the lawsuit against Black Lives Matter.”
He alluded to his faith in Christ. “We will live in a country where Christ is celebrated, and we will live in a country where we don’t apologize for American history.”
The convention continues through Sunday, with Trump speaking Sunday morning. The agenda is here and the conference is livestreamed.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “Mike Flynn” and “Benny Johnson” by TPUSA.