On a brisk Saturday in Downtown Phoenix, thousands of young people filed into the Phoenix Convention Center, nary a mask in sight. They came for AmericaFest put on by Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk’s conservative student group. The event site describes a “celebration of constitutional rights and freedoms featuring the best and brightest speakers in the country.”

I waited in the check-in line to grab my pass. Turning Point USA refused Rolling Stone’s media credentials after weeks of back and forth, a curious decision for group tied to a movement that so often derides cancel culture. Brietbart, One America News Network, and The Epoch Times were in attendance, of course. Fox News was plastered all over the place.