Hi everyone-
Nicki Minaj showed up at Turning Point USA's America Fest and the students in the crowd went wild. The rapper and pop star was a special guest of Erika Kirk and the two women sat on stage and talked together about Minaj's views on Trump and JD Vance (she loves them), what she thinks of the haters (she doesn't), and why she believes we've got to stand up against the persecution of Christians (because God is great).
I was in the VIP room adjacent to the general session. I would have been in the room but I'd had an interview with James Poulous at The Blaze at 10:30 am on Media Row and by the time I got back to the main stage they weren't letting anyone else in. It was packed. There were like 31,000 people attending AmFest this year, and even a few hours before the big names took the stage on Sunday, the room was packed wall-to-wall.
I watched from the big screens in the room next door and talked to some college students from Utah who were in there too. We'd been taking guesses on who the special guest would be but none of us guessed Nicki. One guess was Elon Musk, but we didn't really think it was him. I guessed maybe Charlie's mom. One of the kids said maybe Trump, but the security wasn't tight enough for Trump.
My son quipped that maybe the special guest was Jesus and everyone cracked up. When Nicki walked on stage I was super surprised, though of course it made sense. Minaj has been outspoken in the past several months in support of the administration. The White House has used her tunes in TikToks and—unlike some of the other pop tarts—she hasn't freaked out. She even spoke at the UN along with the administration against the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
What does it mean that Nicki Minaj was on stage at AmFest? It means a lot. It means this movement isn't as sidelined as Big Entertainment wants it to be. It isn't just an afterthought in culture now. We have a pop star too. So suck it Taylor, or whoever else is out there gatekeeping entertainment, music, and Hollywood. You want to go toe-to-toe with Nicki Minaj? She will take you.
Libby