JD Vance Honors Charlie Kirk at AmFest 2025: Christianity, Unity, and the Fight for America's Soul
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JD Vance Honors Charlie Kirk at AmFest 2025: Christianity, Unity, and the Fight for America's Soul
JD Vance delivers a powerful tribute to Charlie Kirk at AmFest 2025 in Phoenix, defending the inclusive vision of the America First movement while calling for a return to Christian values as the foundation of American identity. Speaking candidly about his personal struggle following Kirk's assassination, Vance challenges the audience to channel their grief into action, rejecting cancel culture and identity politics in favor of unity, merit, and faith. He outlines the Trump administration's accomplishments while issuing a clarion call to continue the fight against left-wing radicals who threaten American prosperity and freedom.
JD Vance took the stage at AmFest 2025 in Phoenix to thunderous applause, immediately addressing one of the lighter moments of the event: confirming that Nicki Minaj actually knows what he looks like, dispelling his insecurity about resembling a viral meme. But the levity quickly gave way to substance as Vance expressed deep gratitude to Erika Kirk for her strength, grace, and leadership of Turning Point USA.
The Vice President made it clear from the outset that the America First movement thrives on inclusion, not exclusion. "President Trump did not build the greatest coalition in politics by running his supporters through endless self-defeating purity tests," Vance declared. "He says, 'Make America great again' because every American is invited." Whether white or black, rich or poor, young or old, rural or urban, controversial or boring, people of every background have a place in the movement as long as they love America and want to see their fellow citizens become richer, stronger, safer, and prouder.
Vance refused to bring a list of conservatives to denounce or deplatform, rejecting the cancel culture that has infected both sides of the political spectrum. "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," he said. "Charlie invited all of us here for a reason. Because he believed that each of us, all of us had something worth saying." The focus, Vance insisted, must be on building rather than tearing down, on adding rather than subtracting from the movement.
The Trump Administration's Impressive First Year
Less than a year into the Trump administration, Vance proudly outlined a series of significant accomplishments. The border crisis that defined the Biden-Harris years has ended, with December marking seven months straight of zero releases at the southern border. More than 2.5 million illegal immigrants have left the United States, marking the first time in over 50 years that the country has experienced negative net migration.
The economic benefits of border security are already visible. Rent prices have dropped for four months in a row, and more native-born Americans are working than ever before. Real wages are finally growing, inflation has been cut in half compared to the Democratic administration, and gas prices have fallen to their lowest levels in years. The administration has also relegated DEI to the "dust bin of history," ensuring that Americans are judged based on merit rather than race or sex.
"You don't have to apologize for being white anymore," Vance said. "And if you're an Asian, you don't have to talk around your skin color when you're applying for college because we judge people based on who they are, not on ethnicity and things they can't control."
The contrast with the previous administration is stark. While Harris used government power to censor Americans, the Trump administration is protecting free speech on college campuses and in the digital marketplace. The military now welcomes patriots instead of firing them for refusing unlawful vaccine mandates. The administration is also targeting left-wing crime networks and the funders who support them, going after not just the Antifa member who throws a brick but also the person who bought it.
More Work Remains
Despite these accomplishments, Vance acknowledged that much work remains. For those demanding more prosecutions and faster action, he urged them to join the fight against Senate rules that obstruct the confirmation of better judges and prosecutors. For those who want faster deportations, he directed them to ice.gov/join to help build an army of patriots dedicated to securing the border. And for those who want rents to keep dropping and wages to keep rising, he called on them to mobilize with the movement rather than handing power back to the people who destroyed the economy in the first place.
Looking ahead to the Democrats' 2028 prospects, Vance mocked their likely choice between Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris, both California liberals who have presided over rolling blackouts, open borders, and unchecked violent gangs. He criticized current Democratic candidates like Ilhan Omar's choice for mayor of Minneapolis, a Senate candidate in Maine who calls Vance a Nazi despite having a Nazi tattoo himself, and Jasmine Crockett, whose "street girl persona is about as real as her nails."
What unites all these Democrats, Vance argued, is that they are puppets of a machine designed to make Americans poorer, less powerful, and less safe. This machine includes activist groups pushing hormone replacement therapy on children, corporate boardrooms enforcing diversity quotas, rogue judges issuing nationwide injunctions, and Soros-backed district attorneys who cheer as their cities burn. "They win when our country loses," Vance said. "They get rich when you get poor."
America as a Christian Nation
In one of the speech's most significant sections, Vance addressed the hunger for identity and belonging that animates so much of contemporary American politics. After decades of globalization hollowing out towns, academics pushing race and gender politics, and big tech censoring dissenting voices, Americans are searching for what unites them.
"The only thing that has truly served as an anchor of the United States of America is that we have been and by the grace of God, we always will be a Christian nation," Vance declared to roaring applause. He quickly clarified that this doesn't mean Americans must be Christian or that non-Christians aren't welcome. Rather, Christianity is America's creed, the shared moral language that has defined the nation from the Revolution through the Civil War and beyond.
This Christian creed motivated America's understanding of natural law and rights, the duty to one's neighbor, the conviction that the strong must protect the weak, and the belief in individual conscience. Even religious liberty itself is a Christian concept, rooted in the belief that because all people are creatures of God, each individual's pathway to God must be respected.
For decades, Vance argued, the left has waged war on Christianity, pushing it out of schools, workplaces, and the public square. Freedom of religion transformed into freedom from religion, creating a vacuum filled by ideas that prey on the worst of human nature. Instead of being told they are children of God, Americans were told they are children of identity groups. God's design for the family was replaced with the idea that men can become women through pharmaceutical intervention. The result has been ideology with all the religious fervor of zealous converts but none of the grace or forgiveness of true Christianity.
"Scripture tells us, 'By your fruits ye shall know them,'" Vance said. The fruits of left-wing ideology include men like Tyler Robinson, who killed Charlie Kirk. Robinson rejected the conservatism and spirituality of his small-town family, moved into a small apartment, became addicted to porn and hate, and ended up in a relationship with someone confused about their own gender. This, Vance argued, is exactly the nightmare scenario the left advertises for American families and young men.
By contrast, the fruits of true Christianity are men like Charlie Kirk: good husbands, patient fathers, builders of great things, and slayers of dragons. Men willing to die for a principle if God asks it of them, because they recognize that it is better to die a patriot than live a coward.
A Personal Struggle and Christian Hope
In a rare moment of vulnerability, Vance shared something he hadn't discussed publicly before: his personal struggle in the days following Charlie's death. He watched every video of the assassination looking for clues, stayed up all night researching conspiracy theories, and went down every rabbit hole. When his wife Usha told him to come to bed, he told her he owed it to Charlie to uncover every stone.
Vance was consumed by fear that Charlie's death would not only deprive a family of their husband and father but would deny the movement of a great unifier and doer of great deeds. His wife told him repeatedly that she was worried about him. What saved him was not lying to himself but accepting the reality of the fight.
"Charlie's death was an immense loss, an irreplaceable loss. We got kicked in the teeth, my friends. And there's no sugar coating it or pretending that it didn't happen," Vance said. "What saved me was realizing that the story of the Christian faith like the story of these United States of America is one of immense loss followed by even bigger victory. It's a story of very dark nights followed by very bright dawn."
He recounted visiting a Christian men's ministry that helps men struggling with addiction or homelessness get back on their feet. The ministry provides food, clothing, shelter, and financial advice, living out Christ's commission. Vance had lunch with four men there—a couple of white guys, a Hispanic man, and a black man—all of whom had struggled in unique ways. Some had lost contact with their families for long periods. Others were desperate to rebuild relationships with their children.
What saved these men wasn't racial commonality, philosophical jargon, DEI training, or welfare checks. It was the fact that a carpenter died 2,000 years ago and changed the world. Christians operate food pantries across the country, sit with addicts whose families have abandoned them, and remain at hospice beds and in recovery rooms where others have given up.
A Christian Politics in Practice
This Christian moral truth, Vance argued, must be at the heart of the Trump administration's work and the broader movement. A true Christian politics cannot just be about protecting the unborn or promoting the family, as important as those are. It must inform the full understanding of government.
The administration penalizes corporations that ship jobs overseas because it believes in the inherent dignity of human work. It has worked without congressional help to restrict H-1B visas because it's wrong for companies to bypass American labor for cheaper third-world options. It helps older Americans in retirement, including by ending taxes on Social Security, because of the commandment to honor your father and mother rather than shipping their money to Ukraine.
The administration believes in taking care of the poor through programs like Medicaid so the least among us can afford prescriptions and doctor visits for their children. That's why it's outraged at the injustice of Tim Walz allowing Somali immigrants to defraud Medicaid to the tune of billions of dollars. The program exists for Americans, and that's who it should serve.
A Call to Action
Vance closed by acknowledging the various concerns within the movement. For those impatient at the pace of progress, he said to use that desire for justice as fuel to get more involved. For those discouraged by infighting, he asked whether they would rather lead freethinkers who sometimes disagree or drones who take orders from George Soros. And for those who miss Charlie Kirk, he offered his own tribute.
"I miss his optimism. I miss his energy. I miss the phone calls where we'd strategize about how to get this or that GOP congressman to get off their ass and do something. But most of all, I miss Charlie's wisdom. I miss his reminder that politics is not a dress rehearsal or a game. We are making decisions that will save our country and give the American people a shot at their dreams again."
He challenged the audience with a series of questions: Do you promise to fight for what Charlie died for? Do you promise to take the country back from the people who took his life? Do you promise to defeat the radicals who cheered his death? Do you promise to honor his memory by having faith in the God he loved?
"Commit to these things and I promise you victory," Vance declared. "I promise you closed borders and safe communities. I promise you good jobs and a dignified life. Only God can promise you salvation in heaven. But together, we can fulfill the promise of the greatest nation in the history of the earth. Merry Christmas, my friends. Let's keep fighting."
