Daily Wire Host and conservative commentator Michael Knowles defined what he believed to be a part of the true American identity at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest Thursday night.
It "is not magically imbued through a few lines of philosophy," he argued, but is rooted in Americans' "real historical lineage and a real historical destiny," suggesting that those who arrived on the Mayflower, fought in the American Revolution, and their descendants represent the core of American identity.
“To be on the team, you have to acknowledge that there is such a thing as the American people. We’re not just an idea floating in outer space. We are a real people with a real historical lineage and a real historical destiny,” Knowles said. "We came here on the Mayflower, which is a great cigar brand by the way, we came here on other ships as well. We landed at Plymouth and Jamestown, we fought a war of independence, and plenty of wars after that. We spread across the continent. We have a real historical experience and character that is not magically imbued through a few lines of philosophy or a naturalization pop quiz."
.@michaeljknowles: "To be on the team, you have to acknowledge that there is such a thing as the American people...If you prefer the flag of some other nation, the customs and habits of some other people, you are not on my team." pic.twitter.com/tIDAERK786
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) December 19, 2025
“At different times, we’ve taken in foreigners. When it’s worked, those foreigners have come to act and talk and even look like us. When it hasn’t worked, they haven’t. If you prefer the flag of some other nation, the customs and habits of some other people, you are not on my team. If you are and want to be a member of the American people, you are on my team," he continued.
The definition of Americanism became a contentious point this week, after 2024 Presidential candidate and current candidate for Ohio governor, Vivek Ramaswamy, wrote an op-ed for The New York Times arguing that the “American identity is based on ideals.” He also took a swing at the alleged right-wing neo-nazi Nick Fuentes.
Ramaswamy's vision argued that maybe it was "a few lines of philosophy," that define an American,a s long as they are believed in by residents of the coutnries, and those who call themselves Americans dare to fight for it.
In his op-ed, Ramaswamy wrote:
There are two competing visions now emerging on the American right, and they are incompatible. One vision of American identity is based on lineage, blood and soil: Inherited attributes matter most. The purest form of an American is a so-called heritage American — one whose ancestry traces back to the founding of the United States or earlier.
The latter, he wrote, is a characteristic of "the Groyper (follower of Nick Fuentes) right."
He went on:
Americanness isn’t a scalar quality that varies based on your ancestry. It’s binary: Either you’re an American or you’re not. You are an American if you believe in the rule of law, in freedom of conscience and freedom of expression, in colorblind meritocracy, in the U.S. Constitution, in the American dream, and if you are a citizen who swears exclusive allegiance to our nation.
As Ronald Reagan quipped, you can go to live in France, but you can’t become a Frenchman; but anyone from any corner of the world can come to live in the United States and become an American. No matter your ancestry, if you wait your turn and obtain citizenship, you are every bit as American as a Mayflower descendant, as long as you subscribe to the creed of the American founding and the culture that was born of it. This is what makes American exceptionalism possible.