Turning Point USA's AmericaFest became a centerpiece in the fight for what conservatism will stand for in its years after President Trump. While many speakers were calling one another out over their support of conspiracy theorists like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, calling for a moral reckoning amongst conservatives themselves, other speakers were fighting to determine what it means to be a true American.
Two main factions emerged, one led by Michael Knowles, who appeared to argue that Americanism is in someone's DNA and their lineage, traced back to the Mayflower and the American Revolutionary War. The other was led by former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who argued that being American had more to do with a person's belief in American ideals than their lineage.
The two engaged in a back-and-forth online, following an op-ed Ramaswamy published in the New York Times. His AmericaFest speech echoed the sentiment of his article.
"We're going to talk about faith tonight. Not so much faith in God or in religion, but faith in our country, a civic faith, a faith in the United States of America," Ramaswamy began. "And to understand and reviving our faith in America, we have to understand who we really are as Americans. That is the question of our time. What does it mean to be an American in the year 2026? There are three competing visions right now in the country, and it's worth seeing them for what they are."
The Ohio gubernatorial candidate was quick to point out that the left's conception of what it meant to be an American was fundamentally ridiculous, a unifying point that would receive no argument from conservatives.
The first of those visions comes from the woke left. The woke left says your identity is based on your race, your gender, your sexuality, your genetics. That if you're black, you're a woman or you're a sexual minority, you're somehow oppressed. If you're a white male who's straight, you're privileged. And by the way, that your race and your gender and your sexuality determine who you are and what you can believe in life.
This vision, he said, is wrong. He noted that while that is incorrect, a similar vision, presented by a wing of the conservative movement, is on the rise.
There's a different vision of American identity that's emergent in certain corridors of the online right. And it says that your identity as an American is based on your lineage, that how long you have been in the country, your lineage and your genetics tied to the blood and soil of the country, determines how American you are. It is the idea of a heritage American that says the truest form of an American is somebody who is a descendant of the American Revolution period or before. And I will tell you this idea of the heritage American. We ought to have this discussion. It's becoming more popular. I think the idea of a heritage American is about as loony as anything the woke left has actually put up.
"There is no American who is more American than somebody else. The American quality. It's not like the left. They believe in this non-binary stuff. There's no non-binary American. It is binary. Either you're an American or you're not. And you think about it," he continued. "If you really believe in this idea, think about where it leads you. Leads you to believe that Donald Trump is less of an American than Joe Biden because Donald Trump's mother was an immigrant and his grandfather was an immigrant. That doesn't make any sense. Leads you to believe that somehow Bernie Sanders is more of an American than Senator Bernie Moreno from my home state and America First Patriot, because Bernie Moreno was a naturalized citizen from Colombia. It makes you think that Marco Rubio, our great secretary of state, is somehow less of an American than Elizabeth Warren because she's a Native American, which we all know. Right? Doesn't make any sense."
Whether or not someone is American has to do with the ideals they believe in. And whether they are willing to work to defend them. A longstanding truth among conservatives, and yet one that is beginning to be challenged.
We believe in ideals. That is who we are. What does it mean to be an American in the year 2026? It means we believe in those ideals of 1776. It means we believe in merit, that the best person gets the job regardless of their skin color, that you get ahead in this country, not on the color of your skin, but on the content of your character and your contributions. It means we believe in the rule of law. And I say this as the proud son of legal immigrants to this country. That means your first act of entering this country cannot break the law...It means we believe in free speech and open debate, even for those who disagree with us...It's not just our constitutional principles. It also means that we believe in the culture that was born of those principles. It means we believe in accountability, that we're brave, that were courageous, even heroic when called upon to do what is right for our country in our hour of need.
He called back to President Reagan, who encapsulated the principle well. Only immigrants to America can become American. That reality is impossible in any other country. That was a source of pride in our history.
It is what makes American exceptionalism possible. And Ronald Reagan understood this. He famously said, you know, you could go to Italy, but you would never be an Italian. You could move to Germany, but you would never be a German. You could pack your bags and live the rest of your life in China or Japan. You would never be Chinese or Japanese, but you can come from any one of those countries to the United States of America, and you can still be an American, so long as you pledge allegiance to the ideals in that flag. So long as you work hard, you play by the rules. You make your contributions obtain your citizenship. You are every bit an American. As somebody who descended from the Mayflower, it is called the American Dream for a reason. There is no Canadian dream. There is no British dream. It sounds kind of goofy to say it. There's no Chinese dream, okay?
"And if you can't say those things without stuttering, then you have no place as a leader at any level in the conservative movement either," he concluded.
"Victimhood culture from the left or the right will be the ruin of this country. The number one factor. Not the only factor, but the number one factor that determines whether each and every one of you achieves your goals in life is actually you. That's the truth."
Watch the full speech here:
Here’s what I ask of young conservatives: don’t be victims. Don’t act like the left. There’s a better way. My full unedited remarks at AmFest, in honor of Charlie. pic.twitter.com/9aHiT5ZKNG
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 20, 2025
