Turning
Point founder, Charlie Kirk. Photo:
Reuters
The
organization was founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk
and
Bill Montgomery. TPUSA's sister
organizations include Turning Point Endowment,
Turning Point Action, Students for Trump, and
Turning Point Faith. The group also works
closely with PragerU. According to The Chronicle
of Higher Education, TPUSA "is now the dominant
force in campus conservatism." The organization
is known for its Professor Watchlist, a site
that claims to expose professors that TPUSA says
"discriminate against conservative students and
advance leftist propaganda in the classroom".
According to The Chronicle of Higher Education,
TPUSA has attempted to influence student
government elections in an effort to "combat
liberalism on college and university campuses."
In 2021, TPUSA started the School Board
Watchlist website. It publishes the names and
photos of school board members who have adopted
mask mandates or anti-racist curricula. TPUSA
has been called an alt-lite organization by the
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and has been
criticized by both the ADL and the Southern
Poverty Law Center for affiliating with
activists from the alt-right and the
far-right. The Anti-Defamation League has
also reported that the group's leadership and
activists "have made multiple racist or bigoted
comments" and have links to extremism. In 2018,
the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch
documented TPUSA's links to white supremacists.
In 2021, TPUSA and Turning Point Action made
misleading claims about planned vaccination
policies and the dangers of catching COVID-19.
"Turning
Point USA is
pushing to transform
itself from a
right-wing campus
activism
organization into an
incubator for
Republican
candidates, with a
slate of Turning
Point-affiliated
candidates seeking
public office in the
2024 elections."
"Kirk told the
assembled throng
that MAGA is doing
the same work done
by the D-Day
soldiers, insisting,
"They were fighting
against
totalitarianism,
fighting against a
dictatorship. But 80
years later, if we
are honest with
ourselves, that very
same totalitarianism
is now here in this
country," before
adding, "The very
same dictatorship
that our leaders
were fighting, our
Greatest Generation
was fighting
against, are now
here in this
country.” According
to the Arizona
columnist, Kirk was
making a ridiculous
analogy, with
Roberts writing,
"Right, because Joe
Biden is just like
Adolph Hitler.
Because people who
dress up in Trump
regalia and wield a
mean keyboard on
social media are
just like the
soldiers and sailors
and airmen who
fought and scraped
and bled and died as
they came to the
rescue of freedom
and the world.
Because waving Trump
flags and spouting
wild conspiracy
theories is just
like jumping
neck-deep into water
red with blood and
floating bodies and
dodging enemy fire."
"Turning Point USA, the extremist-friendly, Donald Trump-loving organization for MAGA youth, is having one of its worst weeks yet from a public relations perspective. And this is an organization that’s made a habit of backing losing candidates and whose leader is known to rant against Martin Luther King Jr., so this is a sign things have truly gone off the rails. Last week, Arizona state Rep. Austin Smith, a Republican and a senior director at TPUSA’s nonprofit arm Turning Point Action, suspended his re-election campaign after accusations of election fraud. Smith is accused of forging signatures to qualify for re-election, a charge he called "silly" in the announcement ending his campaign. It's a seeming act of karmic justice, given he’s shamelessly peddled the right-wing conspiracy theory that Maricopa County officials have fraudulently altered ballot signatures to Republicans’ detriment. "
"Two Turning
Point
USA affiliates
admitted
guilt
after
facing
charges
stemming
from
an
incident
last
year
in
which
they
harassed
a
queer
Arizona
State
University
professor.
Kalen
D'Almeida,
31,
and
Braden
Joel
Ellis,
22,
signed
off
on
identical
deferred
prosecution
deals
filed
with
University
Lakes
Justice
Court
on
Monday.
They
must
now
complete
court-ordered
diversion
programs
before
April
2025."
[ .
. .
]
"The
incident
increased
scrutiny
of
common
tactics
employed
by
Turning
Point
USA,
a
conservative
organization
that
often
follows
and
films
college
professors.
The
faculty
are
usually
ones
on
its
"professor
watchlist,"
which
the
group
describes
as
consisting
of
"professors
who
discriminate
against
conservative
students
and
advance
leftist
propaganda
in
the
classroom.""
"Tapping
into
what
Politico
reported
as
widespread
dissatisfaction
with
the
Republican
National
Committee, Kirk’s
shadow
summit
joined
conservative
activists
and
media
figures
with
local
GOP
chairs
and
Republican
committee
members
for
pro-Trump organizing.
This
included
efforts
to
“secure”
elections
amid
widespread
suggestions
that
Trump’s
second
term
was
stolen
from
him,
making
the
summit
yet
another
display
of
the
everlasting
influence
of
2020
election
lies."
"Turning
Point
USA’s Tyler
Bowyer is
asking
the
Republican
National
Committee
to
formally
acknowledge
that
the
fake
elector
plan
was
schemed
up
by
Republican
leadership
with
Donald
Trump’s
approval,
and
to
“immediately
indemnify”
all
those
who
participated
in
what
he
calls
the
“contingent
elector
plan.”
“With
all
of
the
problems
ahead,
we
need
to
send
a
clear
signal
that
the
RNC
will
defend
those
who
serve
as
electors
against
Democrat
radicals
trying
to
criminalize
civic
engagement
and
process,”
Bowyer
said,
in a
social
media
post.
“Civic
engagement?”
That’s
what
we’re
calling
it
now,
when
people
sign
legal
documents
and
send
them
to
Congress,
avowing
that
they
were
“duly
elected”
to
cast
Arizona’s
electoral
votes
for
the
guy
who
didn’t
win?"
Feb.
2,
2024
Arizona State University Police Dept. security video of end of TPUSA crew (in black) confrontation with LGBTQ ASU instructor (in white).
"ASUPD told the Arizona Republic that security footage shows two people following and filming David Boyles, a writing instructor at the university’s English department, on ASU’s campus. Turning Point USA posted a video to X, formerly known as Twitter, of members confronting and following Boyles—who attempts to ignore them and walk away—repeatedly asking him questions and accusing him of “being attracted to minors,” having “fantasized about minors” and wanting “to push sodomy on young people.” [ . . . ]"ASUPD reportedly said video footage shows one of the two people eventually shoved Boyles to the ground."
"Charlie
Kirk’s
$4.75
million
Spanish-style
estate
is
tucked
away
in a
gated
Arizona
country
club
that
boasts
a
guest
casita,
“resort-style”
pool
and
striking
views
of
the
Sonoran
Desert.
The
Make
America
Great
Again
political
movement
has
been
lucrative
for
Kirk,
the
29-year-old
CEO
and
co-founder
of
the
conservative
youth
organization Turning
Point.
The
nonprofit
rocketed
to
prominence
by
latching
on
to
Donald
Trump’s
2016
campaign
and
has
raised
roughly
a
quarter-billion
dollars
since.
The
organization
has
also
enriched
Kirk
and
his
allies,
according
to
an
Associated
Press
review
of
public
records,
which
found
top
Turning
Point
officials
collected
pricey
salaries,
enjoyed
lavish
perks
and
steered
at
least
$15.2
million
to
companies
that
they,
their
friends
and
associates
are
affiliated
with."
"Conservative
podcaster Charlie
Kirk dedicated
his
Monday
program
to
opposing
Juneteenth,
a
holiday
commemorating
the
freeing
of
slaves
in
the
United
States.
"So
it's
Juneteenth,"
Kirk
announced
at
the
opening
of
his
show.
"Very
few
people
are
willing
to
actually
call
this
out." "It's
about
a
certain
skin
color
now
gets
their
own
summertime
celebration,"
he
complained.
"It
is
now
become
a
racial
complaining
day.
Now
we
have
a
full
day
to
be
able
to
smear
and
slander
white
America.""
The Turning
Point family
of
organizations,
helmed
by
conservative
personality
Charlie
Kirk,
invested
heavily
in
the
2022
election
cycle
in
Arizona,
aided
by
close
to a
half-million
in
cash.
But
the
effort
was
futile.
Not
one
of
their
statewide
Arizona
picks
managed
to
pass
the
ultimate
hurdle
and
get
elected
to
office.
[...]
Turning
Point
blessings
turned
out
to
be a
curse
for
statewide
Republican
candidates.
"Charlie
Kirk’s
Turning
Point
network
worked
to
purge
officials
who
affirmed
the
2020
election
results"
[ .
. .
]
"The
two
men
huddled
at a
barbecue
joint
in
January
as
the
activist
— Tyler
Bowyer,
the
chief
operating
officer
of
the
pro-Trump
youth
group Turning
Point
USA —
unspooled
his
demands:
Republican
legislators,
he
insisted,
should
carve
up
booming
and
fast-diversifying
Maricopa
County,
diluting
the
power
of
Democrats
in a
state
that
had
helped
deliver
Joe
Biden
the
presidency."
"The
Arizona
Secretary
of
State’s
Office
has
started
an
initial
inquiry
into
whether
get-out-the-vote
rallies
organized
by Turning
Point
Action,
a
tax-exempt
organization
led
by
conservative
personality
Charlie
Kirk,
violated
campaign
finance
laws.
Though
the
head
of
Turning
Point
Action
described
the
two
rallies,
held
on
Saturdays
in
July
at
parks
in
Goodyear
and
Mesa,
as
community
events
designed
to
educate,
the
complaint
suggests
they
were
designed
to
promote
specific
Republican
candidates
in
the
August
primary
election.
The
complaint,
released
to
The
Republic
on
Monday,
was
filed
by
Tyler
Montague,
a
Republican
political
consultant
who
heads
a
group
called
Public
Integrity
Alliance.
His
initial
complaint,
filed
on
June
23,
mentioned
a
July
9
Goodyear
rally
whose
online
promotion
featured Austin
Smith,
a
Turning
Point
Action
employee
who
was
also
seeking
a
state
House
seat.
“This
appears
to
be a
possible
illegal
collaboration
between
(Turning
Point)
and
Smith,”
the
complaint
said."
"Tucker
Carlson,
Matt
Gaetz,
Candace
Owens,
Donald
Trump
Jr.,
Sarah
Palin.
This
is
only
a
small
selection
of
the
dozens
of
right-wing
pundits
and
provocateurs
who
converged
upon
Phoenix
this
weekend
for
Turning
Point
USA’s
“AmericaFest”
conference.
Turning
Point,
which
is
headquartered
in
Phoenix,
is a
national
organization
that
agitates
conservative
youth,
particularly
on
college
campuses.
Its
four-day
event
kicked
off
Saturday
at
the
Phoenix
Convention
Center
and
will
continue
through
Tuesday,
as a
laundry
list
of
far-right
figureheads
takes
the
stage
in
turn."
"The
powerful
conservative
youth
group
Turning
Point
USA,
which
has
forged
strong
ties
to
Donald
Trump
and
his
son
Don
Trump
Jr,
has
raised
tens
of
millions
of
dollars
from
super
rich
donors
and
secret
backers
while
pushing
disinformation
about
Joe
Biden’s
win
in
2020,
Covid-19
vaccines
and
other
extremist
and
rightwing
issues."
Emerson
students
erupted
with
justified
anger
after
the
recent
Turning
Point
U.S.A
Emerson
tabling
event
in
the
2
Boylston
Place
alleyway,
when
the
organization
passed
out
stickers
reading
“China
kinda
sus”
on
Sept.
30.
"Both
the
Anti-Defamation
League
and
Southern
Poverty
Law
Center,
two
national
organizations
that
monitor
hate
groups
and
extremism
nationally,
have
documented
numerous
cases
of
racism,
bigotry,
and
white
nationalism
that
have
infected
TPUSA
for
years.
For
example,
former
TPUSA
Florida
field
director
and
America
First
Policy
Advisor
Juan-Pablo
Andrade
posted
a
video
of
himself
while
attending
the
group's
2017
Student
Action
Summit,
saying,
“The
only
thing
the
Nazis
didn’t
get
right
is
they
didn’t
keep...going!”"
"Facebook
said
Thursday
that
it
has
taken
down
hundreds
of
fake
accounts
created
by a
marketing
company
that
worked
with
the
young
conservative
group
Turning
Point
USA
to
invade
the
comments
sections
of
mainstream
publishers
and
denigrate
Democratic
politicians.
Nathaniel
Gleicher,
Facebook’s
head
of
cybersecurity
policy,
said
that Rally
Forge’s “action
on
behalf
of
[Turning
Point
USA]
was
largely
politically
focused,
directly
around
the
election.”
"When a young man walked onto Kent State University’s campus wearing a diaper on Oct. 18 last year, some might have imagined he lost a bet and was paying the price.
In reality, it was a stunt promoted by TPUSA — Turning Point USA, a nonprofit college conservative organization. Members of the organization wearing diapers set up a “safe space” with toys and even a baby gate at Kent State to mock progressive students’ demands for safe spaces.
It backfired. The public mocked TPUSA instead of the “liberal snowflakes” they had aimed to satirize.
This event sums up what TPUSA and its founder, Charlie Kirk, stand for: attempting to trigger the left, no matter the cost.
Kirk started TPUSA in 2012 with the mission to “educate students about true free market values.” The group advertised itself as similar to other notable college conservative organizations such as the Leadership Institute and YAF, Young America’s Foundation. TPUSA was going to groom the next generation of great conservative leaders.
Yet over time it became clear that TPUSA was more interested in “owning the libs” than persuading college students to support free markets and individual rights. A leaked memo from YAF’s vice president and general counsel Kimberly Begg aired Kirk’s dirty laundry. It accuses Kirk of focusing primarily “on building his own brand, not strengthening the conservative movement.”
It’s easy to see why YAF would accuse Kirk of only being interested in celebrity status. After all, both Kirk and TPUSA spokesperson Candace Owens canceled a speaking event for students at Virginia Tech and Liberty University at the last minute to hang out with Kanye West.
After the diaper stunt backfired, higher-ups in TPUSA allegedly threw Kaitlin Bennett, the former president of Kent State’s chapter, under the bus to protect Kirk’s image. Bennett resigned, but not before penning a scathing resignation letter claiming TPUSA leadership lied about not endorsing the event.
Other accusations include Kirk overstating his organization’s impact and boosting TPUSA’s numbers with white supremacists. Several TPUSA members have been caught making racist or homophobic comments, as documented by The Huffington Post.
“I HATE BLACK PEOPLE,” former TPUSA national field director Crystal Canton once texted a fellow employee. She was replaced with Shialee Grooman, who also posted racist and homophobic tweets before quitting Twitter."
In a
May
25 memo
released
publicly
by
YAF
on
June
14,
Young
America
Foundation
attacks
TPUSA
and
its
founder,
24-year-old
Charlie
Kirk,
on
multiple
fronts,
not
least
of
all
accusing
TPUSA
of
“Boosting
Numbers
With
Racists
&
Nazi
Sympathizers.”
[...]
TPUSA’s
flirtation
with
racists
and
racism
is
well
documented.
In a
December
2017
expose
in
The
New
Yorker,
reporter
Jane
Mayer
was
provided
screenshots
of a
text
message
from
TPUSA’s
(now
former)
national
field
director,
Crystal
Clanton,
that
read, “i
hate
black
people.
Like
f---
them
all…
I
hate
blacks.
End
of
story.”
[...] In
a
hotel
room
that
Mediaite
reports
was
paid
for
by
TPUSA,
Juan
Pablo
Andrade
was
filmed
exclaiming,
“The
only
thing
the
Nazis
didn’t
get
right
is
they
didn’t
keep
f------
going!”
"In
its
six
years
of
existence,
Turning
Point
USA
has
repeatedly
been
accused
of
engaging
in
half-truths
and
unethical
behavior
—
whether
secretly
funneling
money
to
student-government
candidates
or
placing
college
faculty
members
on a
poorly
researched
(and
arguably
McCarthyesque)
Professor
Watchlist."
"College
campuses
have
long
served
as
unique
places
for
the
free
exchange
of
ideas
--
but
increasingly
they’ve
also
become
playgrounds
for
ideologically
driven,
right-wing
billionaires
and
the
dark-money
groups
they
fund."
