Turning Point USA's Americafest sells record number of tickets -- without Fox News

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk pointed out on Breitbart this week that the organization's Americafest conference sold a record 13,000 tickets this year despite Fox News freezing him out after kicking Tucker Carlson off the air.

The event featured speakers including Roseanne Barr, entrepreneur and best-selling author Patrick Bet-David, NBA player Jonathan Isaac, and comedian Rob Schneider -- hardly card-carrying conservatives, as Alex Marlow pointed out.

"Nor should they be," Kirk answered, adding that they "[went] culture" in the wake of Fox News's defection.

He said:

I love Fox. They’ve been very good to me. I hope we can heal our relationship because, for whatever reason, it’s gone off the reservation. Since Tucker’s departure, I haven’t been on -- and so, we had to do an event without Fox, and that was a great thing, man, because sometimes desperation is the mother of innovation, right? We kind of grew accustomed to -- Jesse Watters, love him, Greg Gutfeld, love him -- but that wasn’t a thing, we couldn’t do it, they’re not allowed to be here.

Some political figures were also speakers, including Donald Trump Jr., Steve Bannon, Kari Lake, and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who spearheaded the ousting of former Rep. Kevin McCarthy from the House speakership.

Kirk said the event's success showed two things: that "the moment is outside traditional politics" because of how the country is "collapsing" and that Turning Point USA is now more than just a right-wing movement.