President Donald Trump jokingly threatened to “fire” his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., during a live phone call that was played over loudspeakers at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference in Phoenix, Arizona, prompting a fresh burst of attention around the former president’s family dynamics and his enduring hold over the conservative activist movement.
The moment unfolded as Donald Trump Jr. stood on stage addressing the crowd and then dialled his father mid-speech, placing the call on speakerphone for the audience to hear. In remarks delivered over the phone, Trump thanked attendees for their support and paid tribute to Turning Point USA’s late co-founder Charlie Kirk, who was killed in a shooting at a TPUSA event in September, according to contemporaneous reporting and footage posted online from the conference.
It was Trump’s closing lines that drew the biggest reaction. “I just wanted to thank you all, and I hope my son’s doing a good job representing me; otherwise, I’ll have to say ‘You’re fired, Don. You’re fired,’” he said, according to a video of the exchange and reporting that quoted the remarks.
Trump continued, “So thank you very much and have a great day. I hope Don makes a great speech. If he doesn’t make a great speech, let me know about it, I’ll give him hell,” he added.
The call came as AmericaFest, Turning Point USA’s annual end-of-year gathering, returned under unusually heightened security and scrutiny in the wake of Kirk’s death. Turning Point USA, co-founded by Kirk, has become one of the most influential youth-oriented conservative organisations in the United States, with its conference circuit serving as a central stage for Republican candidates, right-leaning media figures and activists.
Kirk, a prominent conservative organiser and media personality, was fatally shot during a September event, and his death has loomed over the organisation’s public messaging and programming.
On stage at AmericaFest, Donald Trump Jr. positioned his father’s political movement as something larger than the Republican Party, arguing that the traditional GOP label no longer captured what he described as an “America First” coalition. In one widely shared clip from his appearance, Trump Jr. was quoted as telling the crowd: “This isn’t the Republican Party anymore. It’s the America First Party. It’s the Make America Great Again Party. And we are not going back.”
The live phone call, and Trump’s “you’re fired” line in particular, landed as both a nod to the family’s long-running public brand and a reminder of how closely Trump’s political identity is intertwined with entertainment-style staging. Trump popularised the catchphrase “You’re fired” during his years hosting “The Apprentice”, and it has remained part of his public persona.
In the hall, the exchange was met with laughter and cheers in footage posted from the event, with Trump Jr. smiling as the crowd reacted.
The call was also one of several moments at AmericaFest that drew wide attention online, including an on-stage appearance by rapper Nicki Minaj alongside Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk’s widow. During a discussion in front of the audience, Minaj mistakenly referred to US Vice President JD Vance as “the assassin” while praising him, then abruptly stopped speaking as she appeared to realise what she had said, according to Reuters video and additional footage from the event.
Erika Kirk later played down the incident, telling the crowd she had “heard it all before,” in remarks reported from the stage exchange.
The combination of headline-grabbing moments underscored how AmericaFest, even while marketed as a political gathering, continues to operate as a made-for-viral-media spectacle, with its biggest clips travelling far beyond the conference floor and into mainstream social feeds within hours.
For Trump, the phone cameo also served a political purpose. Though the former president has long relied on rallies and conference appearances to maintain visibility, the speakerphone exchange allowed him to project presence without travelling, while still delivering an endorsement-style message for Trump Jr. and for the broader movement assembled in Phoenix.
Trump Jr., who has become one of his father’s most prominent surrogates, used his AmericaFest appearance to sharpen attacks on Democrats and intra-party critics, portraying the movement’s opponents as not only on the left but also among “RINOs”, or “Republicans in Name Only”, a label often used by Trump allies to describe establishment conservatives.
The event’s atmosphere reflected a broader period of tension inside the US conservative movement, with disagreements over ideology, messaging and who gets to define the post-Trump Republican identity. Some speakers have argued for a tighter focus on electoral strategy and mainstream appeal, while others have embraced a more combative populist posture.
Still, the Trump family’s presence, both physical and virtual, remained a focal point. In the clip of the phone call, Trump’s remarks mixed gratitude with a pointed, performance-ready aside aimed at his son, a dynamic that has long been part of how the family communicates in public, blending familial banter with political branding.
Neither the White House nor representatives for Trump Jr. offered any indication that the “fired” comment was anything more than a joke. In the context of the event and the laughter captured in the room, the line appeared designed as a punchline, reinforcing the former president’s showman instincts while keeping the spotlight firmly on the Trumps during one of the movement’s largest annual gatherings.
