Turning Point’s #ACTCON was a pro-Trump lovefest designed to intimidate

The lesson should be clear as day at this point: You don’t defeat Donald Trump by feeding his ego, or by lining the pockets of grifters associated with the former president. 

Unfortunately for Trump’s rivals in the GOP, that ship has sailed.

This seemed obvious in the dispatches and video from the Turning Point Action Conference, a convention hosted over the weekend by a sister organization of the far-right organization Turning Point USA. Trump appeared at #ACTCON alongside a number of Trump-loving politicians and media figures who sang his praises — including fired Fox News host Tucker Carlson, pillow-pushing conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell and right-wing political adviser Steve Bannon. The former president was cheered for a speech in which he bashed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and portrayed himself as a martyr, while whining about the various criminal indictments he faces.

Organizers also released a straw poll from the event showing that 86% of the attendees had Trump as their first choice for president. 

To put it in technical terms, the convention was a pro-Trump lovefest. 

That came as no surprise. Turning Point USA was launched by right-wing talking head Charlie Kirk in 2012, and the organization fashions itself as a group for ultraconservative young people. However, since its founding, it has become a more explicitly pro-Trump organization.

This was all well and good for Republicans when Trump was riding high and controlling the White House. Seemingly every Republican with electoral hopes has kissed Kirk’s ring and appeared at a Turning Point event. But I often wonder whether Trump’s challengers in the GOP now regret their role in empowering an organization that effectively acts as Trump’s personal PR firm. Especially people like DeSantis, who has appeared at several Turning Point events.

DeSantis and several others vying for the GOP presidential nomination — including Tim Scott and Chris Christie — chose not to attend this time. One might argue this was smart politics, since they likely knew they’d be coolly received at best. But the reality for Republican candidates is that, thanks to years of grooming, many conservative voters hold Turning Point and its extremist associates in high regard. And the politicians who didn’t attend were mocked online by TPUSA leaders. 

One candidate who garnered praise from some attendees and TPUSA leadership was the Trump-loving businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. On the other hand, another presidential hopeful who showed up — Trump critic Asa Hutchinson — was booed and drowned out by chants for Trump as he tried to speak, underscoring the lose-lose scenario Republicans have created for themselves. Run on Trumpism and be seen as a non-threat. Run away from Trumpism and get crushed — or mercilessly dragged — by his supporters.

For Republicans who’ve been pining for a post-Trump party, the conference was a reminder that GOPers were shortsighted in portraying Trump as a world-beating superhero over the last decade and that they were foolish to align themselves with organizations that promote this mythology. Normal people know it’s a lie. But Republicans today largely want their elected officials to keep up the facade, and right-wing organizations like Turning Point are doing that. And so far, no Republican vying for president has been able to counter the narrative with something more alluring to GOP voters.

It seems unlikely they will.