Turning Point USA

Name	Turning Point USA
Abbreviation	TPUSA
Political affiliation	Republican Party
Founded	2012-06-05
Founders	Charlie Kirk Bill Montgomery
President / CEO	Charlie Kirk
Directors (2020)	Doug Degroote, Director George Hamstra, Director (through 2020-06-17) Mike Miller, Director Joshua Thifault, Advancement Strategic Director
Executives	Tyler Bowyer, Assistant Secretary / COO Benjamin Johnson, Management Justin Olson, Assistant Treasurer / CFO Tom Sodeika, Secretary / Treasurer
Former staff	Candace Owens, Communication Director, 2017-2019
Type	501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
EIN (Tax ID)	80-0835023
Location	Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Areas served	United States
Description	Advocacy of conservatism on education campuses
Revenue	2019: $28,565,245
Expenses	2019: $25,006,077
Net assets	2019: $4,688,191
Known for	Conservatism Alt-light ideology Professor Watchlist Trumpism School Board Watchlist
Associations	PragerU Republican Party Barry Russell  [local copy, CEO, Independent Petroleum Association of America  |  advisor Foster Friess  [advisory council; funder; Christian Right] Virginia "Ginni" Lamp Thomas  [advisory council]
Affiliations	Alt-right,  far-right activists White supremacists Turning Point Action: 501(c)(4) organization representing right-wing and conservative perspectives Turning Point Endowment: 501(c)(3) nonprofit formed in 2017; EIN: 82-1225311
Website	TPUSA.com

Background

Turning Point USA (TPUSA), or Turning Point, is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative values on high school, college, and university campuses. Turning Point USA was founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk and Bill Montgomery. TPUSA's sister organizations include Turning Point Action,   Turning Point Endowment,   Students for Trump, and Turning Point Faith. Turning Point USA also works closely with PragerU. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, TPUSA "is now the dominant force in campus conservatism."

Turning Point USA annually hosts several conferences on various topics throughout the year, such as the Teen Student Action Summit, Young Women's Leadership Summit, Young Black Leadership Summit, and Young Latino Leadership Summit.

Turning Point USA 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". The Anti-Defamation League has reported that Turning Point USA's leadership and activists "have made multiple racist or bigoted comments" and have links to extremism. 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." TPUSA also publishes School Board Watchlist.

Turning Point USA is funded by conservative donors and foundations, including Republican Party politicians.

Additional Reading

Right-wing   conspiracy theorist   Jack Posobiec wants you to hang out with him at Turning Point USA (TPUSA)'s "America Fest," billed as the "biggest event in the conservative movement" in Phoenix, Arizona, 2021-12-{18-21}. At least that's what he says on Twitter, where he offers a promo code for the event and insists it "makes a great Christmas present." Joining him will be TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk,   FOX News'   Tucker Carlson, former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, and Donald Trump Jr.  [Donald John Trump Jr.].

The Turning Point USA (TPUSA) America Fest event brings together right-wing United States Congress members, Christian   nationalists,   conspiracy theorists, and even right-wing activist athletes. A flashy promo video shows young conservatives dancing at what looks like a concert - and indeed, the event promises full concerts from a handful of younger country music stars, "God Bless the USA" singer Lee Greenwood, and Dee Jay Silver  [local copy].

While the promotion makes the America Fest event look more like a party, Turning Point USA is an organization that trains and mobilizes right-wing college students. This summer, that mobilization focused on targeting public school boards for allowing schools to teach about racism in U.S. history [critical race theory] and implementing LGBTQ-inclusive policies. Turning Point USA has raised tens of millions of dollars, peddled disinformation about President Joe Biden's win in 2020, and stoked fears about COVID-19 vaccines. The Associated Press writes that Charlie Kirk, who has called George Floyd a "scumbag," "exploits the racial divide to reach Gen Z"  [Generation Z].

Charlie Kirk has increasingly partnered with Christian nationalist forces, and the "America Fest" speaker attendee list reflects that. Religious-right activist pastor Jack Hibbs  [local copy] of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills will be in attendance as will religious-right activist musician Sean Feucht, who has toured the country protesting pandemic-related restrictions on public gatherings. Sean Feucht launched a project to mobilize conservative Christian millennials after his unsuccessful run for U.S. Congress in Northern California.

The speaker list includes some newer (and younger) U.S. Congress members: 26-year-old Madison Cawthorn, who released a fervently Christian nationalist ad urging Christians to "take our country back," and in another speech called on parents to raise their sons to be "monsters"; Lauren Boebert, whose extremist rhetoric includes suggesting Representative Ilhan Omar is a terrorist; and Matt Gaetz, who is facing a United States Department of Justice investigation into whether he paid women for sex and, separately, whether he slept with a minor and transported her across state lines.

Representative Louie Gohmert and Representative Andy Biggs, the latter of whom Ali Alexander said helped plan the Stop the Steal rally on 2021-01-06, are also scheduled to speak. The attendee list also features athletes and gun aficionados of the right-wing movement: with appearances from Michael Chandler, a Trump-supporting mixed martial arts fighter with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC); professional bow hunter Cameron Hanes  [local copy]; and John Lovell, better known as Warrior Poet  [Warrior Poet Society website  |  local copy], who offers trainings on tactical pistol and rifle use and small unit tactics as well as his vision of a "bold and dangerous masculinity."

The America Fest event's speaker list indicates the right's vision for the future. Jack Posobiec, who peddled the far-right   Pizzagate conspiracy theory, is a contributor to TPUSA and - judging from his promotion of the event - will likely be a main feature of it. Posobiec recently teamed up with Charlie Kirk to interview 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse  [Kenosha unrest shooting], who shot three and killed two protesters at a Black Lives Matter protest last year. Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all charges last month [2021-11] and became a hero, first in the eyes of the far-right movement and then the broader right-wing movement. The interview opened with Charlie Kirk expressing personal affinity: "Kyle, from the first moment I saw you in the news and saw video of you defending yourself, I felt we had something in common."

Links to: [NCPolicyWatch.org, 2021-09-07] National watchlist for 'radical left' policies includes 5 North Carolina school boards.

Several North Carolina school boards made a national watchlist for embracing what its conservative creator calls the "toxic, socialist, America-hating lies of the radical left." The School Board Watchlist was created by Turning Point USA (TPUSA), a nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative values on high school, college, and universities campuses. School boards for Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools; Cumberland County Schools; Guilford County Schools, Wake County Public Schools and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools made the group's Watchlist.

The Watchlist provides summaries of districts and boards along with the names and photographs of board members. Here's the group's summary of the Wake County school board:

"The School System is facing scrutiny over its policy regarding internet privacy towards students. Current policy states that students have no expectation of privacy when connected to the school internet. School administrators may seize electronic devices from students that are deemed not being used for educational purposes.

"During the same meeting where board members voted to uphold the policy, members further discussed an 'equity' policy for the district. The text for the policy describes equity as, "raising the achievement of all students while narrowing the gaps between the lowest and highest performing students and eliminating the racial or cultural predictability and disproportionality of which student groups occupy the highest and lowest achievement categories.'

"Parents are additionally removing their children from the school system due the board's masking policy. One parent told Spectrum News that children in masks are 'depressing' and cited the masking policy as the reason for withdrawing her child from the school district."

The Watchlist site also includes "relevant news" about masking and Critical Race Theory, which has become a Republican   wedge issue in the months before the 2022 mid-term elections. TPSUSA missed Durham Public Schools, a frequent target of Senate leader Phil Berger, (R-Rockingham). Berger has been critical of the district because it supports anti-racism education, which includes elements of CRT. As Policy Watch has reported, CRT is an academic discipline that examines how American racism has shaped law and public policy. CRT emerged in the legal academy in the 1980s as an offshoot of critical legal studies. Most educators say CRT is not taught in K-12 schools.

[ ... snip ... ]

Return to Persagen.com