Christmas came a few days early for America’s exhausted populist right – still reeling from Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September – in the unlikely form of rap superstar Nicki Minaj. In a surprise sit-down on Sunday with Kirk’s widow and new Turning Point USA boss, Erika Kirk, Minaj brought a rapturous audience at AmericaFest 2025 to its feet.
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.
‘Nigeria is a place I’ve always loved’, Minaj explained. Her pastor is Nigerian, and she said she had ‘lots of Nigerian Barbz’ (what she calls her fans). As she explained:
‘Hearing that people are being kidnapped, while they’re in church… 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.’
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.
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, ‘Conspiracy Barbie’ Candace Owens. Her deranged attacks on Jews, Brigitte Macron, 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.
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 – 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.
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 – or ‘Newscum’, as she calls him. She has also, unbelievably, done more to raise awareness of the violence inflicted on Nigeria’s Christians than the actual pope.
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 – 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 – perhaps inevitably, because having the backing of Turning Point is now something of an irresistible prize for those with ambitions to lead the Republicans.
But from the outsider’s perspective, and much to the satisfaction of progressive media, the effect of this infighting has been confusion and demoralisation. The takeaway of the entire conference came very close to being that the diverse coalition Charlie Kirk had built had died with him.
Then Erika Kirk sat down with Nicki Minaj, and just like that, the vibes turned immaculate. It was the public-relations coup of the year. It delivered a real blow to the liberal-left elites, reminding them that they can no longer take for granted that they own the culture.
When asked by Erika how she was dealing with the backlash from openly supporting Trump, Minaj replied with a cheeky hair flick and the perfect response: ‘I didn’t notice.’ The audience roared. ‘We’re the cool kids’, she told the audience:
‘They’re the ones who are just disgruntled. They are angry with themselves. I literally tell them, “Stay mad”. Because we’re going to stay joyful and peaceful. And iconic and smart.’
By ‘them’ she means the haters, the race-baiters, the woke scolds and control freaks who have made Americans miserable for years in the name of fake social justice. Nicki Minaj put all of them on notice. She told the entire world that populism is not something to be feared or mocked by snide elites. ‘I’m rooting for you’, she said, addressing the students in the audience.
So what started out as a pissing match between competing podcasters ended with a message of hope, unity and promise for the future, from a black, female rapper from Queens, the same New York borough as Donald Trump. If the MAGA movement is able to pull itself back together, it may have none other than Nicki Minaj to thank.
Jenny Holland is a former newspaper reporter and speechwriter. Visit her Substack here.
