The 2024 American Renaissance Conference

A short weekend at Uncle Jared's shindig in the sticks.

Earlier this year I made it a point to register for November’s American Renaissance conference. I hadn’t been to a political gathering since Fall of 2022 and the ones I missed last year were said to have been very pleasant and enjoyable. The AmRen venue is within driving distance for me, plus it was scheduled for the second weekend following the presidential election, so in my mind I really had no excuse to miss. This was the first event I have attended solo, since all of my would-be fellow-travelers (very clever pun) were sitting this year out for one reason or another. I arrived at the Lodge at Montgomery Bell State Park around noon. This was an hour earlier than I expected because I had forgotten that between Louisville and Bowling Green, Kentucky, you time-travel into Central Standard.

Mingling

A conference by nature is a place for people to network, get to know each other, share ideas and possibly collaborate. Rolling one-deep presents the opportunity to dip in and out of conversations at one’s own discretion without seeming too much like a dick. There’s this funny part of conversation when they reach their terminus and things become a bit awkward unless you know how to navigate. I saw it as my mission at this conference to give props & encouragement to the notable public figures doing good work, take a general vibe check, and asses the caliber of the type of people attending. All of this while keeping things short and cordial in my interactions with the notables so as to not take up valuable time. I reserved the longer conversations for the “frens” I know from online. For example, my sole interaction with Gregory Hood was to walk up, shake his hand and say “great work this year, man”. Whereas I had pretty lengthy conversations about a range of topics with an anon I’m in a groupchat with and also during smoke breaks with a new acquaintance who is a big Academic Agent respecter.

My personal highlight of the conference happened almost immediately upon arrival. Mark Weber and Jared Taylor were both having lunch at the Lodge Bar when I walked in around noonish Friday. Since uncle Jared was engaged in conversation with some other fellow, I took a seat next to Mr. Weber and re-introduced myself to him. We had met previously at AmRen 2021. At the time I let him know how much I appreciated and enjoyed his appearances on Frodi Midjord’s Guide to Kulchur channel, to discuss history. Since then, Frodi and Mark have taken to creating what I consider to be a staple of current events analysis, Weekly Roundup (It was me, I was the catalyst!). Talking to Mark is a joy. He answers questions in a manner that addresses every element of your question, while also bringing up other points of interest to take the conversation in. One could talk to the man for hours and receive a quality education while doing so.

I noticed the presence of quite a few notable personalities in the scene (I’m not going to name anyone who hasn’t publicly acknowledged being there). The Patriot Front lads were there with a table distributing literature and sizing up prospects. I let them know that I appreciate their efforts IRL and that I defend them against naysayers online.

I was pleased to see another notable figure who talks philosophy and religion frequently. He also has his own IRL initiative that looks promising. We discussed those things briefly and I let him know that I appreciated him holding it down for “God squad” in one of his recent debate streams.

Another personal highlight was encountering a couple of the late, great Colin Flaherty’s friends. Colin was the reason I registered for the 2021 conference, but his illness was so bad by the time of the conference he had to pull out. I let them know how much I enjoyed Colin not just as a podcaster but as an all around gem of a man. I regret never being able to at least shake his hand. While chatting with these gentlemen, Uncle Jared walked up and exchanged pleasantries with us. We had a brief conversation about our expectations of the incoming Trump administration. I was delighted to disagree with Mr. Taylor on what I believe the effects of mass deportations would have on the public. I’m of the mind that Trump and MAGA have desensitized the country to the prospect so much over the past decade that if they start, they’ll be shrugged off. Mr. Taylor on the other hand believes the media still has the power to gin up enough hysteria to effectively neutralize the endeavor. Time will tell.

I had coffee Saturday morning with a Counter-Currents writer and Zman. This was pretty interesting for me because sometime over the past year or so Zman blocked me on all the social platforms for reasons I’m unaware of. I didn’t see the need to bring this up and just enjoyed the chat.

The Program

Jared Taylor:

Uncle Jared opened Saturday’s program with a speech titled “How We Must Choose”. It had a mix of both black and white pills sprinkled in it. From my perspective the tone of “we must give up on America” is out of the question. His optimism about the Trump era creating an opening for the prospect of some sort of secession was a hopeful note to end on. It was one of those speeches that I mostly agree with all the points made it in yet was left feeling like I disagreed with the entire tenor of it.

Amy Wax:

“Can America Handle ‘Race Realism’? Can It Survive Without It?” was the title of Professor Amy Wax’s speech. I appreciated her being there in the first place. There were, of course, some grumblings among the attendees about her ethnic background. In her speech she talks about how she came to embrace the label of “race realist” after first rejecting it. For me the substance of her speech was beside the point. Her being there after being relentlessly smeared by the media and targeted for punishment by her university was the most important thing.

Martin Sellner:

Mr. Sellner gave the most substantive speech of the day. He counseled us via video link (he’s currently banned from entering the country) on what kind of strategy and tactics we should employ going forward after the Trump victory. It was certainly the most whitepilling speech of the day. I’ve never really followed his work, primarily because he does most of it in his native German tongue. During the speech I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself about how much he sounded like his fellow Austrian Arnold Schwarzenegger, who he mentioned at the end. His Q&A time went off the rails when a couple of spergs decided to get in line and ramble about their pet issues. One irritatingly spoke in German the majority of his time (OH WOW SO COOL) without actually asking any salient questions. The other, of course, had to bring up a certain tribe that we just MUST name in order to win or something. He rambled on and tried to plug some stupid website before Henry Wolff politely ushered him away from the mic.

In between Sellner and the next speaker there was a presentation of a service that I personally thought didn’t belong in a conference like that. While it was relevant to the issues American Renaissance cares about, it came off as genuinely odd and even a little macabre.

Richard Marksbury:

Another academic, Richard Marksbury delivered a speech titled “Why The Big Deal About Ethno-Nationalism?”. As I said with Professor Wax, when actual notable experts and professionals in any field can be persuaded to speak at conferences like this, the substance of the speech is secondary in my opinon. However, Mr. Marksbury gave an interesting speech about mankind’s (genus homo) time evolving on this planet for the past 1.5 million years. In it, he explains how for the vast majority of that time we were small hunter-gatherer bands. Ears perked up when he inserted the word “egalitarian” to describe them. Incidentally I asked him about this while in line for drinks later that night. He explained on his view that “egalitarian” and “equal” do not mean the same thing. I thanked him for giving us food for thought.

Mystery Speaker:

A Youtuber was the “mystery speaker” on the program and delivered a speech “Everything is Fake and Gay”. This speech seemed a little out of place but it did sort of serve a “comic relief” role. The speaker went over the how stupid the “current things” of 2024 were (except when he brought up Covid for some reason). It was good for a few laughs and some meme energy.

Gregory Hood:

The speech most attendees I spoke to were looking forward to was given by Greg Hood, titled “The Last American and The Last Election”. He did not disappoint. In it, he started off by giving Donald J. Trump the due he deserves for being the only person who was able to the change the course of American politics for the better. Hood spoke on his ultimate goal (a white homeland), the forces arrayed against that goal, and what has to be done to get there. He challenged the audience “show me something” over the next four years. He described the Trump victory as ultimately a “stay of execution” that we must take advantage of.

There were a couple of things in the speech I was thinking about pushing back on. I wrote some notes in my phone to formulate a challenge for him during Q&A but ultimately decided against it. I realized I would be inserting MY pet issue into the talk and it wasn’t particularly relevant to the topic of the speech. Plus, in my opinion Hood is our guy in the American political media ecosystem. It was his night to shine.

Anthony Cumia:

After successfully rounding up most of the Counter-Currents respecters to dine together, we were treated to the special guest speaker Anthony Cumia. His speech, titled “Surviving as a ‘Racist’ in Broadcasting” was the real comic relief for the night. He recounted his journey from a construction worker, to a radio host, to the biggest terrestrial radio duo Opie & Anthony, to finally being “cancelled” over a video he posted of his encounter with a black woman. Like Amy Wax and to a lesser extent Mr. Marksbury, getting a big name to attend the conference is a win in and of itself. I recall in 2021 when Michelle Malkin was the special guest at the conference and how nice it was having a frequent Fox News guest rubbing elbows with our guys. I may not like it, but “clout” is a real factor in moving the ball. The more this movement acquires, the closer to victory it is.

The Verdict

I dipped out early Sunday morning to make it back home at a decent hour so I regrettably missed the speeches by Guido Taietti and Sam Dickson. While driving home I felt encouraged about how impressive many of the people were, both in their demeanor and backgrounds. I recall stories about how a good number of nationalist gatherings of years past were chock full or weirdos and loons. The 2024 American Renaissance Conference wasn’t one of them. Many of the people I spoke to had professional backgrounds, some in very high positions in the corporate world. To be honest, although I consider myself a professional, I couldn’t help but feel that a construction worker attending by himself might be out of place! I do like traveling solo and I can socialize with no problem, but I think in the future, I’ll be attending these things with a goal in mind. It’s crucial that our pro’s and movers & shakers network with each other with concrete goals in mind.

This is why I think that the annual American Renaissance Conference and The Polish Independence Day march should both be considered the yearly rallying points for nationlists on both sides of the pond. With inflation and economic uncertainty, the costs of travel (especially overseas) has become prohibitively expensive for some, or just downright unjustifiable. Having at least one location as THE spot a yearly gathering is a good idea for people to plan around. Nashville is home to Country Music with plenty of spots to meet up while also only being a half hour from the AmRen venue. Warsaw needs no explanation. If we’re to have gatherings, I think they should piggyback off of these two staple events.