Turning Point USA’s annual AmericaFest continued its second day in Phoenix on Sunday, featuring a long lineup of well-known conservatives. Some of the standouts Sunday included Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who is currently fighting the results of a botched election in Arizona which resulted in Democrat Katie Hobbs being named the winner, co-founder of PragerU and talk show host Dennis Prager, and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO).
The theme of many of the speakers was to stay positive and avoid the negativity and self-centeredness of the left, see the good in the country, and the values and institutions like marriage and children which formed it. Lake’s speech focused on voter disenfranchisement that occurred in her race, declaring, “My pronouns are ‘I won’” and “election integrity is the single most important issue of our lifetime.”
Prager provided the young audience with advice he learned over his years of living. He said the most important thing they need to know about life is “the greatest battle is with you.” The left thinks the greatest battle is with the U.S.; “they think they’re wonderful and the U.S. stinks.” The left praises people for nothing, such as “What a beautiful poop.” In contrast, conservatives believe they have a responsibility to excel. Since his dad told him growing up that he was lazy, he devoted his entire life to not being lazy.
Prager’s second piece of advice was that you can tell who is lying, whether on the left or the right, by who is doing the censoring. “They censor us, we don’t censor them,” he said, noting that the left engages in cancel culture since “they can’t handle dissent.”
His third piece of advice was that “the greatest need in life after food and shelter is meaning.” It’s “even better than sex,” since there are many people who live happy lives without sex, but “you cannot live a happy life without meaning.” However, he warned that “you can get meaning from bad things,” such as the COVID-19 lockdowns and global warming. “They think they’re saving the planet and humanity,” he said.
Fourth, Prager told the crowd that “life is difficult.” Unfortunately, “helicopter parents ruin their children. The sooner you know life is difficult, the better,” to great applause from the audience. Fifth, he said “happiness is a moral obligation. You cannot inflict people with your bad moods.” He went on, “You owe it to everyone in your life to have a happy disposition.” Prager suggested following the 12-step program’s mantra, “Fake it until you make it.”
Another piece of advice he provided was “don’t ask who you are, ask who you want to be.” He warned the attendees that “freedom is a value, not a yearning.” He pointed out that humans yearn to be taken care of, so they will trade freedom for that. Prager said the Founding Fathers knew this, which is why they made government so limited. “There’s no such thing as free,” he cautioned, “you pay with your soul.”
Finally, he stated, “The root of happiness and goodness is gratitude.” He said, “The ungrateful are the worst people on earth. They create chaos.”
Hawley began his speech declaring that the left is “all about seeking your personal pleasure.” He blasted the left for its negativity regarding having a family and children, and declaring God a tyrant. The left says “don’t make any decisions that would tie you down.” They tell you to “shut up and work your job, both spouses should work, or however many there are in the relationship.” He warned, “If you ask questions, they’ll monitor you.” It’s “fundamentally atheistic at the core,” a “path to servitude,” he said.
Hawley condemned the left’s attitude, “We’ll tell you what the truth is while you’re on social media and playing video games.” This is the “road to misery,” he said. Suicide is at its highest numbers since the Great Depression, as well as drug abuse and depression, he pointed out. “They tried to give us a society without meaning, without God.”
“No Bible, no America,” he declared, to great cheering from the audience. “No Bible, no liberty.” He went on, “This country was founded on the Bible. Man is created in the image of God. The Founding Fathers said we have no king but Jesus.”
Hawley spoke directly to the young men at the event, “Why don’t you log off the porn and ask a woman out on a date? Treat her with respect.” He told them to “Aspire to be more than a consumer, be a husband, a wife, a parent.”
“If you want rights, embrace your responsibilities.” Hawley relayed how “The young men of the 1940s stormed the beaches of Normandy so we could be here. That’s responsibility.” While the left says to “indulge your own passions and whims, choose your own gender, the Bible says serve others.”
Lake wrapped up the evening with the keynote speech, blasting the voter disenfranchisement and voter suppression that occurred in Maricopa County. The crowd started yelling as soon as she walked out, “I love you!” and she responded, “I love you too.”
She said a study was done of mainstream media coverage of her race and found that 100 percent of it was negative. Yet “they’re so powerless they have to outright steal elections. Nov. 8 was highway robbery.” She went on, “Our movement is so powerful they had to sabotage election day operations. We are ground zero for their botched, sham elections.”
Lake told how Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates started a PAC for GOP election fraud deniers. She said they started it to destroy her, while at the same time overseeing elections.
Lake discussed how 300,000 ballots with no chain of custody were “randomly injected” into the election. Then, “When all of the cheating wasn’t enough, two days after the election, they injected 25,000 more ballots.” Fortunately, “We’ve got whistleblowers all over the place and they’re singing.” She declared, “These people are crooks and need to be locked up!”
She went on, “They called us the crazy names. Well, I identify as a proud election-denying deplorable.” She said, “We have a lot of fake elections out there. … We have sham and rigged elections, elections run by fraudsters.”
The crowd started loudly chanting, “Kari! Kari! Kari!” She responded, “They have built a house of cards here in Maricopa County. I’m not just gonna knock it over, we’re gonna burn it to the ground!” The crowd cheered wildly with many people standing up. She went on, “You’re not gonna steal our children’s future anymore. They messed with the wrong woman.”
She explained how “The GOP was on life support with RINOs, until seven years ago when Donald Trump came down those escalators.” She contrasted the situation now with the ones the Founding Fathers encountered, “fed up with tyrants and not going to take it anymore.” She said, “We’re not going to answer to that evil elf Dr. Fauci. Lock him up.” Nor answer to “the FBI and censor squads on social media anymore.”
“We are Americans and we bow to one king and that’s our creator,” she said. “Can I get an Amen?” She declared, “I wanna bring someone else back and that’s President Donald Trump!” The crowd went wild cheering. She said, “These bastards in the media want to drag him through the mud,” and made a well-known impolite gesture with her arms.
Lake declared, “I am still in the race, I am not quitting. … You do not steal our vote and get away with it.” She vowed to take her election lawsuit “all the way to the Supreme Court” if she gets an adverse ruling. She told the attendees there is a hearing on Monday regarding “hiding Hobbs, basement Hobbs’” motion to dismiss her lawsuit. She asked for prayer for her legal team, which is being threatened with sanctions and attempts to take away their bar licenses. “We lost a few good attorneys because they have mouths to feed.” She also asked for prayer for the judge, “He has the weight of this republic on his shoulders.” She concluded, “The evidence is overwhelming. The people are on to what’s happening.”
The evening ended with gospel singers Nicolle C. Mullens, Chris Quilala, and Kim Walker-Smith. The conference resumes with a full day Monday and ends Tuesday morning. Click here for coverage of the first day of the conference.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
