Vice President JD Vance ended AmericaFest 2025, Turning Point USA’s first convention since the death of founder Charlie Kirk, by telling a fired-up crowd that the “America First” movement is open to people who love their country and are free thinkers.

Vance showed up not long after Erika Kirk, who took over TPUSA after her husband died in September, spoke with Nicki Minaj, who was a surprise guest. The vice president told the crowd that the political coalition President Trump built is strong enough to get past any disagreements that may arise.

“People of every faith come to our banner because they know that the America First movement will make our lives better,” he went on. “They know Democrats don’t care about anything other than trans-ing their kids.”

Vowing to stand with “every patriot in this room to defend the country we so dearly love,” Vance dismissed conservative infighting that had gone on earlier in the conference, while not naming any of the podcasters or subjects involved.

“President Trump did not build the greatest coalition in politics by running his supporters through endless, self-defeating purity tests,” Vance said, as some of the earlier speakers name-dropped each other amid divisions over Israel, Ukraine aid, and other controversial issues on the right.

“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… [P]eople of every faith come to our banner because they know that the America First movement will make their lives better. And they also know that the Democrats don’t care about anything other than maybe trans-ing their kids.”

“So if you love America, if you want all of us to be richer, stronger, safer, and prouder, you have a home on this team. I didn’t bring a list of conservatives to denounce or to deplatform, and I don’t really care if some people out there — I’m sure we’ll have the fake news media — denounce me after this speech,” Vance declared.