The students, ranging in age from 15 to 25, had their nascent minds prodded by a who's who of elite guest speakers, including Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign finance chair Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Fox News personality Tucker Carlson.
The event flouted COVID-19 safety guidelines with gusto. Going maskless in a huge crowd of fellow non-believers — Grandma be damned — is as inalienable a right as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Only a true American has the courage to flip the bird to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here are some of the most patriotic moments from the TPUSA conference.
Attendees go maskless at the fundraising gala. Turning Point USA's Student Action Summit kicked off Friday night with a gala at President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. Hundreds of the president's supporters packed a ballroom and partied sans mask.Friday at Mar-a-Lago, hundreds partied up close and mask-less at Turning Point $2,000/person gala.
— Zach Everson (@Z_Everson) December 21, 2020
Palm Beach County’s COVID-19 directives require wearing facial coverings “inside all businesses and establishments."
via @1100penn https://t.co/MmQZaXDqux
White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, presidentially pardoned dirty trickster Roger Stone, and scores of others posted photos on Instagram. They ought to know better. Now Big Brother can use the pics for contact tracing!
Students get locked out of the event entirely. Hundreds of students were locked out of the Palm Beach County Convention Center on Saturday, the first day of the conference. Palm Beach County Administrator Verdenia Baker told the Palm Beach Post that Turning Point USA and the county had an agreement for a 2,000-person conference and that the right-wing group had oversold the event by 500 to 600 people.Shouts of “let us in” tonight at Turning Point USA in West Palm Beach, annual gathering of conservative college students.
— Jay O'Brien (@jayobtv) December 20, 2020
County owns the convention center. Officials said yesterday they had an agreement with TPUSA that included COVID precautions.
pic.twitter.com/XfwGBksDSn
The students, crowded together and angry, chanted, "Let us in!" Because Big Government sucks, their demand went unmet.
Instead, Donald Trump Jr., Tucker Carlson, and others went outside to address the students. Later in the day, Charlie Kirk angrily tweeted, "OPEN AMERICA NOW."
Matt Gaetz sings karaoke. On Saturday, a video surfaced on Twitter showing U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida huddled in a circle with at least five other people singing Old Crow Medicine Show's "Wagon Wheel" in a small room.Here’s Matt Gaetz in a confined space, indoors, maskless, gathering with others during the holidays — and being a jackass...pic.twitter.com/2dv4prow1w
— Rex Chapman???????? (@RexChapman) December 22, 2020
The congressman was criticized for not wearing a mask in the confined space, but Gaetz defended himself on Twitter, claiming that he's not a threat to anyone because he recently tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says antibodies can protect against reinfection, but experts don't know how long the protection lasts or how much protection the antibodies provide.
Listening to Gaetz's voice, one might advise him to keep his day job. But seeing as his day job involves being a menace, maybe he should consider a gig as a fiddler in an old-time string band.
Bang Energy models shoot money out of a cash cannon. Conservatives are generally opposed to handouts. Free healthcare? In your socialist dreams. Student loan forgiveness? If you chose to take out loans for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, you shouldn't have spent so much on avocado toast.Looks like there is a money cannon at TPUSA’s winter conference??
— Jared Holt (@jaredlholt) December 20, 2020
pic.twitter.com/OY2XopjjNx
Diving for dollar bills shot out of a spinning cannon by pretty women in tight leggings? Fire when ready!
Not everyone was having it, though. Conservative commentators railed against the money stunt on Twitter, arguing that TPUSA should be focusing more on Jesus, faith, and family.
Trump reminds his adoring fans that HE WON. While TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk gave a speech on Monday, someone ran onstage in a frenzy. The guy handed Kirk a cell phone, and Kirk put the call on speaker.the moment that Trump called into the Turning Point conference is pretty funny pic.twitter.com/pmdnNiHc7q
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 21, 2020
It was Donald Trump. "Hi Charlie, how are you?"
Trump, of course, used the opportunity to falsely claim that he won the election by a landslide and to call on the U.S. Department of Justice to "finally step up." Because nothing screams patriotism like trying to steal an election.
Mike Pence courageously defends Trump's honor. On the final day of the conference, Vice President Mike Pence encouraged the students to "stay in the fight" for the presidential election.Indeed pic.twitter.com/Ss3rF7HYor
— accidentally left-wing (@LeftAccidental) December 22, 2020
Pence warned the callow youths that they must "be a check on what the Democrats and the radical left want to do." He explained that Democrats "want to make rich people poorer, and poor people more comfortable." They must be stopped!