Vice President JD Vance waded into the civil war roiling the MAGA movement during a fiery speech at AmericaFest on Sunday, decrying conservative personalities for breaking out lists of fellow pundits to denounce.
While Vance, who employs Tucker Carlson’s son as a spokesperson, refrained from mentioning any specific names, he seemingly used his remarks to take a not-so-subtle swipe at conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro, who called out “grifters” in the movement last week.
“President Trump did not build the greatest coalition in politics by running his supporters through endless, self-defeated purity tests,” Vance said Sunday.
“I didn’t bring a list of conservatives to denounce or to deplatform,” the veep continued. “Let me just say the best way to honor Charlie is that none of us here should be doing something after Charlie’s death that he himself refused to do in life.”
Last Thursday, Shapiro took to the stage at AmericaFest and aired out his concerns about “frauds and grifters” like Carlson, right-wing podcaster Candace Owens, and others whom he contended have harmed the conservative movement.
Shapiro’s tensions with Carlson and Owens had been brewing for months. During his speech, Shapiro tore into Owens for spewing conspiracy theories about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
He blasted Carlson over his softball interview with white separatist Nick Fuentes and populist tendencies, while dinging Megyn Kelly and Steve Bannon.
Following Shapiro’s speech, all of those pundits responded, with Carlson speculating that his critics “don’t want JD Vance” to be the party’s nominee in 2028.
During his brief time addressing the MAGA conflict, the veep implied that the infighting threatens the Trump coalition.
“We have far more important work to do than canceling each other,” Vance later said before adding: “We build by adding, by growing. Not by tearing down. We can love each other despite the disagreements. Winning requires teamwork.”
“…Would you rather lead a movement of free thinkers who sometimes disagree than a bunch of drones who take their orders from George Soros?”
Before Vance’s remarks, other figures such as Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Donald Trump Jr. similarly opined on the MAGA spat without singling out any player by name.
“The real enemy is not Steve Bannon or Tucker Carlson or Ben Shapiro, it’s the radical left that murdered Charlie and celebrated it on a daily basis,” Trump Jr. carefully said during his speech.
Erika Kirk revealed during the major Turning Point USA conference that the major conservative grassroots organization intends to back Vance for president once Trump’s term ends, something she said is in keeping with her late husband’s intent.
Vance quickly dabbled in 2028 politics by attacking some of the top Democrats who are speculated to be jockeying
“I am d— proud of our record so far,” the VP bellowed. “Democrats are already talking about 2028 and it looks like they’re going to nominate a California liberal who’s presided over rolling blackouts, open borders and unchecked violent gangs.”
“They’re just trying to settle on whether it’s going to be Gavin Newsom or Kamala Harris.”
