Bill Berkowitz for BuzzFlash: "How Many Elections Are We Going to Have Before We Kill These People." Charlie Kirk's Campus-Based Turning Point Is a Clear and Present Danger

Charlie Kirk radicalizes young people through his organization, Turning Point. (Gage Skidmore)

November 4, 2021

By Bill Berkowitz

At a recent rally at the Nampa Civic Center in Nampa, Idaho, one stop during Charlie Kirk’s Exposing Critical Racism speaking tour, Kirk, the head of the powerful Trump-aligned right-wing campus outfit Turning Point USA, an audience member asked: "At this point, we're living under a corporate and medical fascism. This is tyranny. When do we get to use the guns?" The man added: "That's not a joke, I'm not saying it like that. I mean, literally, where's the line? How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?”

Kirk, slightly flustered, parsed his words carefully, not entirely disabusing him of the notion of using guns, but basically telling him not to be provoked by the liberal media, that wants to brand right-wingers as domestic terrorists: "Now, I'm going to denounce that and tell you why. Because you're playing into all their plans, and they're trying to make you do this."

"They are trying to provoke you, and everyone here, they are trying to make you do something that will be violent that will justify a takeover of your freedoms and liberties, the likes of which we have never seen," he added.

"We are close to having momentum to be able to get this country back on a trajectory using the peaceful means that we have. To answer your question, and I just think it's overly blunt, we have to be the ones that do not play into the violent aims and ambitions of the other side."

Who is Charlie Kirk and how has his Turning Point USA become of a major right-wing force on college campuses and within the Republican Party?

According to The Center for Media and Democracy’s EXPOSED project, Turning Point USA “is looking to raise another $43 million to wage a culture war in campuses and public schools across the United States.” EXPOSED’s David Armiak reported that A 2021 investor prospectus circulated in August and obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) details a seven-pronged approach … to ‘win the American Culture War and to inspire our kids [to] love America again’

The growth of Turning Point USA has been profound. According to The Guardian’s Peter Stone, the organization’s “revenues have soared from $4.3m in 2016 to almost $39.8m in 2020, according to public tax filings.”

Open Secrets, “following the money in politics,” reported that Kirk, “reported earning just $27,231 for 65-hour weeks, according to organizations’ 2016 tax records. By the 2018-2019 fiscal year, Kirk’s salary grew to $292,423 as its annual revenue rose to $28.5 million, with one $6.2 million anonymous donation and multiple additional contributions over $1 million. Turning Point Action attracted more than $1.1 million from July 2018 through the end of June 2019.”

By the 2019-2020 fiscal year, “Kirk made more than $329,000 across Turning Point-affiliated organizations,”

Over the years, Turning Point USA has received money from a number of longtime donors to conservative causes, including Foster Friess, the late multimillionaire whom Kirk has credited with helping to launch his operations, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation’s Donors Trust, a major dark money operation used by big donors to keep their names secret, the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation, Michael Leven and various Koch brothers-affiliated groups, such as the Foundation for Economic Education, and Donors Capital Fund.

Founded in 2012 by then-18-year-old Kirk, and headquartered in Arizona, the group claims to be the "largest and fastest growing youth organization in America" with "a presence on over 1,300 college campuses and high schools across the country."

“The stunning growth of TPUSA owes a big debt to several fundraising events and meetings with Trump connections, say some Republican consultants,” The Guardian’s Stone noted. “TPUSA held a lavish fundraising gala at Mar-a-Lago in December 2019 that drew Donald Trump Jr. and Republican political bigwigs, and Kirk’s cachet was palpable at the 2020 Republican convention, where he gushed that Trump was “the bodyguard of western civilization.”

According to CMD, “Turning Point Action, TPUSA's 501(c)(4) affiliate, was listed as a coalition partner on the ‘March to Save America’ website. On January 4, 2021, Kirk tweeted: ‘This historic event will likely be one of the largest and most consequential in American history[.] The team at @TrumpStudents & Turning Point Action are honored to help make this happen, sending 80+ buses full of patriots to DC to fight for this president.’”

In addition to “Stop the Steal” actions, Turning Point USA has been busy promoting anti-vaccine messages. The Washington Post reported that a Kirk text warned that President Joe Biden had sent “goons DOOR-TO-DOOR to make you take a covid-19 vaccine.”

In the tradition of McCarthyism, Turning Point USA also publishes a “Professor Watchlist” dedicated to “unmasking radical professors.”

The Guardian’s Stone also pointed out that “Kirk non-profit ran alarmist and erroneous Facebook ads, which were seen millions of times, stating that the government has ‘NO RIGHT to force you to inject yourself with an experimental vaccine,’ and warning that in response to advice about shots ‘LOCK YOUR DOORS, KIDS!!’”

“Despite Kirk’s patently misleading assertions that he is simply an honest broker of personal freedom, he is also an unabashed promulgator of egregiously false information about the dangers of vaccinations. He probably knows better, but actively chooses to misinform,” said Irwin Redlener, who leads Columbia Unive

Charlie Kirk’s main role within the conservative movement is to  manufacture rage among young people. He does this by creating or milking the current culture wars zeitgeist. He aims to create controversies where they do not exist, and milk those that do. Building a close relationship with the Trump family is his ticket to ride. Should Trump run and win the presidency in 2024, do not be surprised to see Kirk playing a significant role.