Turning Point USA
Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college, and university campuses.[3][4][5][6][7] It was founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk and Bill Montgomery.[5][8] TPUSA's affiliate groups include Turning Point Endowment, Turning Point Action and TPUSA Faith.[9][10][11] TPUSA has been described as the fastest growing organization of campus chapters in America, and according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, is a dominant force in campus conservatism.[3][12]
In 2016, the organization launched Professor Watchlist, a website that lists academic staff purported by TPUSA to "discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom".[5] TPUSA has attempted to influence student government elections in an effort to "combat liberalism on college and university campuses".[13][14][15] In 2021, TPUSA started its School Board Watchlist website, which publishes names and photos of school board members who have adopted mask mandates or anti-racist curricula.[16][17][18]
TPUSA hosts several annual conferences, including the Student Action Summit, Young Women's Leadership Summit, Young Black Leadership Summit, and AmericaFest. The organization is funded by conservative donors and foundations, including Republican Party politicians.
Media[edit]
In October 2020, Kirk began hosting a daily three-hour radio talk show on conservative Christian radio network Salem Media's "The Answer" channel.[114][115][116]
Turning Point USA's online audience grew from an average of 83,000 to 111,000 in 2020.[117] A dozen social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram combined had more than 10 million followers online.[117]
In September 2021, TPUSA launched "Turning Point Live", a three-hour streaming talk show featuring host John Root and selling "Save America" merchandise.[117]
In 2021, the TPUSA Productions film A Long Walk in Socialism was the Rocky Mountain Emmy Award recipient in the category Cultural/Topical documentary.[118]
In 2022, Turning Point USA in partnership with Salem Media Group released "Border Battle", a docuseries about America's southern border.[119][120]
United States election activities[edit]
2016 presidential election[edit]
Several former employees and student volunteers for Turning Point USA claimed they had witnessed collusion between high-ranking Turning Point USA employees – including Kirk himself and top advisor Ginni Thomas – and the presidential campaigns of both Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. The interactions included Kirk coordinating via email with two officials at a pro-Cruz super PAC to send student volunteers to work for the PAC in South Carolina, as well as two students being requested by Thomas herself, via voicemail, to distribute over 200 Cruz placards in Wisconsin.[14] A former employee for TPUSA, who had been based in Florida, alleged that Turning Point USA had given the personal information of over 700 student supporters to an employee with Rubio's presidential campaign.[14]
A Turning Point USA staff member wrote on Facebook that students who attended the event would have their expenses covered. The event led tax experts to say the organization's conduct may have violated its tax-exempt status, a charge disputed by Turning Point USA.[38]
2020 presidential election[edit]
In September 2020, Turning Point USA's affiliate Turning Point Action was reported by The Washington Post to have paid young people in Arizona, some of them minors, to produce thousands of posts with TPUSA content on their own social media accounts and on fake accounts without disclosing their relationship with Turning Point USA.[121][45] According to an examination by the newspaper and an independent data science specialist, the campaign was highly coordinated and included similar messaging under the instruction of TPUSA to prevent detection.[121]
In September 2020, Facebook removed 200 accounts and 55 pages as well as 76 Instagram accounts linked to Turning Point USA's marketing agency Rally Forge. The agency had paid teenagers in Phoenix, Arizona, on Turning Point USA's behalf to use their own and fake accounts and pages for thousands of posts boosting Trump and disparaging Democratic candidate Joe Biden during the 2020 United States presidential election. In October 2020, Facebook banned Rally Forge permanently while Twitter suspended 262 accounts from its platform.[45][122][123] Neither organization penalized Turning Point USA or its affiliates, stating that they "could not determine the extent to which the group's leaders were aware of the specific violations carried out on their behalf, such as the use of fake accounts".[45]
Turning Point USA hosted Trump reelection rallies, some of them featuring Trump surrogates and some of them Trump himself.[69][124][125]
January 6, 2021, "Stop the Steal" rally[edit]
After the 2020 election, Kirk disputed the results and denied that Trump had lost.[126] On January 4, 2021, Kirk announced in a tweet that Turning Point Action would be sending more than 80 buses to a January 6, 2021, Trump "Stop the Steal" rally near the White House in Washington, D.C, to protest the outcome of the election.[127][128][129][130] They sent seven buses with approximately 350 participants.[127] Turning Point Action also funneled money to several "Stop the Steal" rally speakers, including Kimberly Guilfoyle, but did not organize or take part in the march to the Capitol that erupted in violence.[10][131] The rally, which was attended by several thousand Trump supporters, ended in a riot and the attack at the U.S. Capitol, where Biden's win was about to be certified.[128] Kirk later deleted the tweet[129] and said on his podcast that it was "bad judgment" and "not wise" to enter the Capitol but not necessarily insurrectionist.[132] A Turning Point Action spokesman later said the group condemns political violence.[128]
