Christmas came a few days early for America\u2019s exhausted populist right \u2013 still reeling from Charlie Kirk\u2019s assassination in September \u2013 in the unlikely form of rap superstar Nicki Minaj. In a surprise sit-down on Sunday with Kirk\u2019s widow and new Turning Point USA boss, Erika Kirk, Minaj brought a rapturous audience at AmericaFest 2025 to its feet.<\/p>\n
At a conference that was otherwise marked by bitter infighting and personal attacks, Minaj delivered a message of solidarity and purpose, speaking out on behalf of persecuted Nigerian Christians, offering praise and encouragement to young American conservatives, and also encouraging racial healing at home in the United States. <\/p>\n
\u2018Nigeria is a place I\u2019ve always loved\u2019, Minaj explained. Her pastor is Nigerian, and she said she had \u2018lots of Nigerian Barbz\u2019 (what she calls her fans). As she explained:<\/p>\n
\u2018Hearing that people are being kidnapped, while they\u2019re in church\u2026 people are being killed, brutalised, all because of their religion. And that should spark outrage in the great America. We are not backing down anymore. We are not going to be silenced by the bullies anymore.\u2019<\/p>\n
Her appearance was genuinely moving. I was not expecting Nicki Minaj, of all people, to do a better job at delivering a message of hope than the people who make a living selling the MAGA message to the public. But her warm, authentic and vulnerable conversation with Erika uplifted and energised the audience.<\/p>\n
For what feels like years at this point, but in fact has only been a few short months, the conservative commentariat has been descending into madness, led by the pied piper of fringe loons, \u2018Conspiracy Barbie\u2019 Candace Owens<\/a>. Her deranged attacks on Jews<\/a>, Brigitte Macron<\/a>, and even Turning Point and Erika Kirk, have been a potential wrecking ball for the entire MAGA movement. Owens had managed to suck up an enormous amount of oxygen, both in the months leading up to AmFest and, even more depressingly, at the conference itself. <\/p>\n Enjoying spiked?<\/p>\n Why not make an instant, one-off donation?<\/p>\n We are funded by you. Thank you!<\/p>\n \n \u00a35 Choose an amount<\/p>\n \n Donate now\n <\/p>\n \n Please wait… <\/p>\n Then Nicki arrived to save the day. Outside the world of politics, Minaj was the most famous person to grace the conference stage this year \u2013 so her performance was significant. As surprising as it is for political nerds like me (and you too, probably, if you are reading this), most people do not spend all their waking hours obsessing over political machinations. And most people, especially young people, live in a world where Nicki Minaj is way more interesting than Owens, Ben Shapiro or Tucker Carlson. <\/p>\n How did this glitch in the matrix come about? Partly because Minaj has, in the most hilarious and effective way possible, long since left the Democratic reservation. Most recently, she did so by praising President Trump and attacking one of his most formidable adversaries, California governor Gavin Newsom \u2013 or \u2018Newscum\u2019, as she calls him. She has also, unbelievably, done more to raise awareness of the violence inflicted on Nigeria\u2019s Christians than the actual pope.<\/p>\n Until the last day of the four-day conference, the biggest names in the conservative movement used up their allotted time to rip each other to pieces \u2013 not to attack China, Russia, Venezuela or even the Democrats. With all this not-so-friendly fire, it was pretty clear that there was a turf war going on \u2013 perhaps inevitably, because having the backing of Turning Point is now something of an irresistible prize for those with ambitions to lead the Republicans. <\/p>\n
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