Turning Point USA: The Alt-Right Radicalization Of Young Men

On college campuses across the country, Turning Point USA is radicalizing a new generation of conservative extremists in an attempt to mobilize young Republican voters and build an alt-right movement backed by billionaire donors and political insiders. These alt-right extremists are wrapped in a neat package, presented as polished frat boys wearing chinos and boat shoes, making them digestible for a wider audience and more dangerous than ever.

In this episode of The Cost of Extremism, we’ll examine why this radicalization occurs, the impact Turning Point USA has on American politics, and how we can end this movement before it’s too late.

For a transcript of this episode, please email theswppod@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

Twitter: @TheSWPpod and @RedWineBlueUSA

Instagram: @RedWineBlueUSA

Facebook: @RedWineBlueUSA

YouTube: @RedWineBlueUSA

Transcript

Jill (host): This is the cost of extremism. Season two, episode four: Turning Point USA, the alt right radicalization of young men.

Polished frat boys wearing chinos and boat shoes, styled hair, Vineyard Vines, button downs, and a megawatt smile. Enough charisma to convince you of just about anything. They're approachable, charming even. Is this image what you'd imagine for an alt right extremist? Well, it's what Turning Point USA is trying to sell you. They’re extremists wrapped in a neat package, making them digestible for a wider audience and more dangerous than ever. 

Kyle Spencer: The goal is to normalize this very radical thinking and the way that you normalize it is that you have surrogates and you have spokespeople who look normal. And not only do they look normal, but they look appealing and they look like the kind of person you might want to be.

Jill (host): Kyle Spencer is an expert on all things Turning Point USA. She spent years interviewing and trailing their founder, Charlie Kirk, as research for her book Raising Them Right, an investigative look into the organizations working to lure millions of young American voters into the far right fold. Kyle took a particular interest in Turning Point thanks to its position as the largest and wealthiest student group in the country.

Kyle Spencer: I decided to write the book because I was on college campuses a lot, working, writing pieces for the New York Times and doing documentaries. And one of the things, particularly at large state schools that I began to see was that this, this idea that these schools had been taken over by crazy, progressive, intolerant liberals. Which was not what I was seeing at all. I was actually seeing a lot of right wing movement, a lot of organizing around right wing groups. 

Jill (host): So what exactly is Turning Point USA? To put it simply, it's a non profit organization that works to promote ultra conservative politics on college campuses across the country. But it's more than that, really. It's an attempt to normalize dangerous far right ideology, and they're present on over 3,500 college campuses in the U.S. 

But if you ask Charlie, he'd say that they're giving voice to a new silent majority of young college students who are tired of a left leaning agenda. Since starting in 2012, they've expanded their reach beyond college and into right wing media, political campaigns, and faith activities. The organization is especially loved by former President Donald Trump and his allies. On their website, Turning Point states that their main beliefs are, quote, that the United States of America is the greatest country in the history of the world, the U. S. Constitution is the most exceptional political document ever written, and that capitalism is the most moral and proven economic system ever discovered.

At first glance, Turning Point might seem like a harmless community of straight laced young men and women. But when you begin to tear away the layers of this organization, you start to see the dark underbelly. To fully understand Turning Point USA, you have to understand its founder, Charlie Kirk. 

Kyle Spencer: So I first met Charlie Kirk four or five years ago by this point, and he was in Colorado and he was with actually Candace Owens, he was doing a talk to a bunch of students at a Denver University.

And Charlie was, as he always is, to people who show an interest in him, was charismatic and bubbly and vivacious and smart and thoughtful and very interested in me showing the world what he was up to. And that was my my first experience with him. And he continued to be that way for a long time. I think it's important to understand that even somebody who opposed Charlie, because I was open to what he had to say, he presented as very very charismatic, which is how he presents. I think it's hard for a lot of us to see this but it's how he presents himself to students and to donors and to the larger Republican community 

Jill (host): Charlie Kirk isn't just an anti establishment figurehead, he's a key player in the ultra conservative cause. Born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, Charlie rose to stardom at the age of 18 after writing about liberal indoctrination in academic textbooks for the controversial news source Breitbart News. The essay gained the attention of Fox News, which earned him an appearance on Fox Business. This would be only the beginning of his long running relationship with the conservative network.

Kyle Spencer: Charlie's very smart, and so he also is, he has that kind of sixth sense that Trump has where he really has an understanding of the audiences that he's speaking to and what they need. He also has an ax to grind which Trump does as well, right? We understand Trump to be somebody who feels like the elite has kind of shunned him. It's not taking him seriously, right? Trump is like a poor guy who just happens to have money and Charlie is sort of like a disrespected guy who happens to be famous. He came out of an integrating school in the suburbs of Chicago. The school was going from a majority white school to majority minority school. And so he saw during the span of his time at the school, his, you know, his own population in his mind decrease, you know, I guess, potentially in his mind decreasing and and the minority population increasing.

And there were also a lot of efforts inside the school and also in the school district he was in to give power and to give attention to the growing Latino population and their needs. Charlie was, therefore, according to the students that he shared classrooms with, defensive about his political views, which tended to veer on, on the conservative side and pugnacious and rude and essentially considered a kind of oddball weird kid, right?

So, he was on the outs and that's how he came up through his high school experience. I think it's important to understand that because, like Trump, he appeals to young people who feel disrespected and who want to find a community of people who will hear them, see them, and validate them. 

Jill (host): After being denied entry at his dream school, the United States Military Academy at West Point, Charlie went on to attend a local community college. He blames affirmative action for his denial at West Point, claiming that a slot went to, quote, a far less qualified candidate of a different gender and different persuasion. But after only a short time at Harper College, Charlie dropped out to start Turning Point USA. 

Charlie Kirk is what makes Turning Point special. He's the reason so many young men are attracted to what the organization is selling. 

Kyle Spencer: There is a kind of an excitement around the values that Charlie has. That in turn that, that, that, that he creates, which, which, which is a way to create a kind of encompassing and welcoming community. The Republicans and conservatives of yesteryear were dorky, they had ties and they were, you know, we can think of like the preppy handbook. This was the vision of the young conservative. And Charlie decided he wanted to do a bunch of things. One of them was to make being conservative cool. 

Jill (host): Some say that Charlie Kirk is more style than substance. He walks on stage with his blazer and trendy sneakers, and suddenly these young men are eating from the palm of his hand. And that's exactly what Charlie wants. Like Kyle said, he aims to make conservatism cool. In the process, they're normalizing radical conservatism. 

Kyle Spencer: The goal is to normalize this very radical thinking and the way that you normalize it is that you have surrogates and you have spokespeople who look normal. And not only do they look normal, but they look appealing and they look like the kind of person you might want to be. 

The idea of introducing religious beliefs into schools, into communities, making decisions about people's healthcare. These are anti-democratic. And the, so what you hear a lot with what Charlie talks about is he'll say, we're not a democracy. We're a constitutional republic. And this is something that's voiced by many of the allies in his book, the arch conservative community. The idea is to slowly erode away at this larger understanding that we have as an American community that we're a democracy and that there are certain values that we hold dear.

Jill (host): And that's a big part of what he does. Let's take a look at some examples of what they stand for, or in some cases, against. In December of 2023, Charlie spoke at AmericaFest, a political convention organized by Turning Point USA. While speaking in front of a crowd, Charlie said, quote, “We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s.” You know, the landmark law that prohibited discrimination based on race, sex, religion, or national origin. 

During a 2024 episode of his podcast, Charlie Kirk suggested executing Trump's political opponents, particularly those who, quote, disrupted Trump's ability to carry out his constitutional duties. He also pushed to televise these executions and to allow them to be sponsored by companies like Coca Cola. Charlie went on to suggest that children should be forced to watch the public executions. 

Charlie Kirk: This is my other problem with the death penalty. It takes too long, too many appeals, it should be public, it should be quick, it should be televised. You could have like brought to you by Coca Cola, and, no I'm not kidding, you should see it, what is the age, at what age should you start to see public executions? As far as other death penalties, I think what some of those guys did to Donald Trump, to use the instruments of government to destroy the constitutional order, that should be under consideration. 

Jill (host): One of Turning Point's most infamous works is the Professor Watch List, the directory is a compilation of university professors who have been flagged by the group for promoting liberal viewpoints. Students can submit tips on professors they think should be flagged. This dangerous practice puts the professor's livelihood and safety at risk. Then in 2021, TPUSA initiated the School Board Watch, a platform Kirk described as aiming to ensure district leaders are held accountable for dangerous agendas. The website features a list and images of school board members who have endorsed mask mandates or encourage teaching history, race, gender and sexuality in schools. 

You can also see what kinds of ideas Turning Point supports by whom they partner with. In 2021, they invited Kyle Rittenhouse to speak at one of their events. If you don't remember, Rittenhouse shot and killed two unarmed men, but at the event, Charlie Kirk called him a hero to millions. They also have deep ties with former President Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens, Sarah Palin, and countless other conservative leaning celebrities and figures. Charlie Kirk also has made several controversial statements on public appearances and on social media. He faced backlash for his remarks about immigration, feminism, race, and just about every other topic you could name. 

Charlie Kirk: I'm sorry. If I see a Black pilot, I'm going to be like, boy, I hope he's qualified. We're just going to outbreed these people. We are. I mean, we're just going to go out, we're going to have more babies. And 20 years from now, they're going to say, why is the country so right wing? Well, you were too busy having abortions and having gay sex. And we got married and had kids and we will repopulate the species. We got to get our testosterone rates high. Young ladies got to get married and we have to have the babies. 

Jill (host): If you go to Turning Point's social media pages, you can find countless videos of Charlie sitting behind a folding table on college campuses, purposely trying to argue with the students who come up to their booth. He often has this infamous smirk on his face, and he's confident that he's winning the fight he started in the first place. 

Charlie Kirk: I hear all the time from young women, Why can't I find a man? Well, because you've been sleeping around. I hear from men, why are there no good women? Well, because the women are, you know, pseudo prostitutes, most of them. 

What is a woman? What is a woman? What is a woman? A six year old can answer that question. 

Jill (host): TPUSA has also faced accusations of racial insensitivity and fostering a hostile environment toward minority students on college campuses. Critics have pointed to incidents such as the use of racially charged language by some TPUSA members and the distribution of provocative materials, including posters and flyers, which many view as racially insensitive. But what's important to remember is that using inflammatory language to rile up their opponents is on purpose. 

Kyle Spencer: Tactics there are generally to be loud, to be a little bit offensive, to be in your face, to take it to the edge, right? So in the very beginning when, when Turning Point was starting, one of their actual first campaigns was “socialism sucks.” Which now seems kind of innocuous, I mean, at least to understand that point of view, but at the time it was really risque and he had to convince donors that this was a good idea. 

But you know other tactics that he'll use that come from this liberal guidebook would be to get in people's face with your ideas. And so what I found when I was on college campuses was, and I'll just kind of never forget this visual, of these huge signs that students tabling at these Turning Point USA, you know, tables and these signs were huge and they would have you know three or four different types of semi-automatic guns pictures of them and then underneath it would say “we're pro choice. Choose one.” But it does two things: it agitates the left so it sort of pushes progressive students back. We are here, present, voicing our views and we're scary.

And to folks on the right, what it does is to say you can say those bad things out loud. We'll say them for you. It's okay to be aggressive and in people's faces. And there's something about gun culture and violence that appeals to us and that is part of what we do and what we think. That's really important to Turning Point USA's messaging. Revolution. This might get violent. We like guns. Defiance, you know, it's important. 

Jill (host): Turning Point's messaging is a vital part of its recruitment tactics. It's how they build their community, which serves as a catalyst for mobilization, engagement, and advocacy. They build upon the anger that's already present and give it a place to be seen and heard.

Kyle Spencer: There's a rage, a simmering rage, that lives in our country. And it's just below the surface. And we thought a lot of us that after 2016, after we'd had two, two eight years of a Black president, that that simmering rage was kind of dissipated, but it hadn't, there was still a sizable population of the country that is very, very angry about people of color. And people who are not falling into a very, very traditional sort of white male hierarchical order that they are gaining power. 

And so Trump and Charlie are very similar in so many ways and like each other a lot, by the way. Really what they do is they incite rage and they normalize rage. They bring rage up. And so Trump does it in his own way. Charlie's way of doing it is to basically vocalize rage and anger as power and as acceptable, matter of fact, common sense sentiment about what's going on in our country.

Samantha Kutner: The male grievance communities existed before Trump, but Trump was such a huge catalyst because despite being in one of the most privileged positions in the world before even becoming president, being a billionaire. He spoke the language of victimhood and he framed America in like very gender specific terms like saying things like they were the country was getting “raped” on trade deals like like framing America in this way as like a sort of damsel to save really appealed to people who wanted to adopt the mantle of savior of the country. While also having this mantle of victimhood to kind of fall back on. So it's very appealing to many different people. 

Jill (host): That was Samantha Kuttner, host of the Glitter Pill podcast, subject matter expert on the Proud Boys, and a researcher specializing in violent extremism and the gender dynamics of radicalization. 

Samantha Kutner: Many figures saw Trump as an aspirational figure. I think sometimes the default, because I grew up working class, and like a lot of working class people, they might see figures like that, see the wealth and like, “well, he's mean to people and he's rich, therefore should I be mean to people? Will I get rich if I'm mean?” The logic is really distorted.

But he appealed to many, many, many different people who saw him as an aspirational figure, who gave them permission to kind of be openly biased and bigoted. People who feel isolated and may have that kind of edgy sense of humor that a lot of people may not fully understand. That's not necessarily bad, there's ways to harness that, but some of them aren't super adaptable or exposed to different perspectives and they might feel isolated because they don't have a lot of people to talk to about these views. 

And so like when you're trying to find yourself and you're socially isolated groups like this, kind of like, let's give you an identity, let's give you a sense of purpose, let's give you a sense of empowerment while also disempowering you by like putting everything in the context of you being a victim by liberal elites or whatever you want to call it. But that comes a little bit later. They first appeal to the sense of belonging, need for community and desire to form some coherent identity.

Jill (host): And luckily for Turning Point, they have access to an endless number of young men longing for community on college campuses. 

Kyle Spencer: So the first thing that Turning Point USA does is to create a place for people to convene. So that's why the campus groups are very, very powerful. 

Jill (host): Often for the first time in these young men's lives, they're given a sense of community and power. They finally have a target to focus on. Someone to blame for all their challenges in life. Enduring these transitional phases of life, it's especially easy for them to fall into extremism. At a time in their life where they're grappling with their sense of identity and longing, Turning Point hands them a sense of purpose and meaning. In the process, Charlie becomes an older brother figure to them. 

Kyle Spencer: A large part of this movement is creating a space for disillusioned people. Young men. So one of the things that Charlie Kirk does a lot on his, he has a, he has a show that's listened to by a lot of, you know, tens of thousands of young people. And his show offers political advice and ideas and, and, and, and pushes arch conservative, anti democratic ideas. But it also talks to young men about, you know, how to live their lives, how to man up, how to envision their futures. 

And so it's sort of a package deal which can be extremely enticing to young men who are… we know that a lot of young men in our country are struggling. We know this to be true and Charlie knows it too. And so Charlie speaks to those young men quite a bit about lots of different things And of course the power of a group like Turning Point USA and the power of the, of the radical right, and the thing they do so well is the Trojan horse technique, right? So they present ideas that are innocuous or common sense, like “hey you know, if you want to, if you want to be successful in life, you gotta get out of bed in the morning, make your bed and, you know, and figure out what you want to do and do it, right?” Oh, that's, that's good advice. “Oh, and by now I'm going to talk to you about why we're not a democracy and why you shouldn't think of our country as a democracy.”

Jill (host): As Kyle said, the presentation of extremist ideas is slow growing. It sneaks into the narrative without you even realizing it. They only need to catch your attention on one thing. Once they establish a connection with you through their community or guidance on life's success, the focus may gradually shift, evolving into more radical ideologies.

So highlighting key pressure points such as gun rights or immigration works to their advantage by acting as an on ramp to engage single issue voters. Single issue voters prioritize one specific topic, such as abortion, gun control, immigration, or healthcare, above all other considerations when selecting a candidate to support.

They may overlook or downplay other policy positions or qualifications in favor of a candidate that's aligned with their chosen issue. So if Turning Point can catch someone's attention on one issue, they can lead this voter further down the alt right extremist rabbit hole. 

Samantha Kutner: What I try to say about groups like Turning Point USA or the Proud Boys is that these surface level components of fascism are interchangeable. So someone talking about COVID vaccine skepticism, turning to critical race theory, turning to being against what they perceive to be an illegitimate election. Like these transitions happen very quickly because the end goal is disruption of local and federal authority. So these types of groups spread messaging that benefits billionaires and benefits or advances an agenda that doesn't really respect the institution of democracy. 

Kyle Spencer: The challenge and the fear of a Turning Point USA is the way in which it tries to normalize anti-democratic ideals and also to really erode away at the idea that we live in a democracy. Because one way to think about what Turning Point USA does and what these other groups do is to look at this, um concept which a lot of people know the overton window which is The Overton Window. It's a political science term that was actually coined by a guy named Overton who was conservative. But the idea is the Overton Window is what is acceptable to talk about, what is kind of inside the dialogue, the political socio-dialogue. And so the job of the right wants to radicalize this country and move it away from democracy is to insert ideas that used to be considered incredibly radical into the conversation.

And so one of the things that Turning Point USA is doing is introducing this idea that we're not a democracy. And once you introduce the idea that we're not a democracy and you start to normalize the idea and we start talking about whether we're not in democracy and one actually is now debating whether or not we're democracy, then you have, you really, you're off to the races. Because then you can start introducing undemocratic things into the culture as “oh, it's, it's normal to have a president who conducts an insurrection.” If you'll accept that the insurrection happened, but like insurrections are okay because we're not a democracy. Or, you know, book banning is okay because we're not really a democracy. Or you know, controlling people's health care is okay because we're not a democracy. And that's it. So it's a, that's like a slow, slow process of introducing ideas that can then introduce new ideas and to really transform the rights that we hold dear, the rights that we believe we ought to have in this country.

Jill (host): And nowhere is this community more visible than at Turning Point USA's infamous America Fest Conference. The annual event features speeches, panels, workshops, and networking opportunities for the future conservatives of America. Past guests include Roseanne Barr, Representative Lauren Boebert, Steve Bannon, Representative Marjorie Green, Sarah Palin, Tucker Carlson, Kyle Rittenhouse, Candace Owens, and countless others.

But America Fest is more than just a conference. It's a multi-day-long party for the future conservative leaders of America. It's rowdy, expensive, and an integral part of building their growing community. 

Jacob Marson: These America Fests bring in, I mean, just very, you know, high level elected officials like President Trump and others who come to these festivals, usually like they're like three day conventions, and draw these enormous crowds of young voters. And so this gives young people, right, it gives them something to do. “Let me go to this fest. Let me have fun with my friends. Let's, you know, enjoy this time and while we're at it, you know, let's meet other people from around the country who also believe the same things I do. And then let's collaborate after it all.” 

Jill (host): Jacob Marson is the Executive Director of the Keep Arizona Blue Student Coalition. The organization works as a counter to Turning Point by registering young voters and educating Arizonans on the importance of voting up and down the ballot. As only a sophomore in college, Jacob sees firsthand how these partying conferences draw in an audience.

Jacob Marson: So it's creating this very weird environment where they have a lot of money and they're picking up steam, and that is not good for election season, right? When we actually need to get voters out to vote, and we have so many on the ground volunteers that are shifting with Turning Point. Now, as I always say, Turning Point does not represent the majority of young voters, but they have the money and the resources behind them to really activate the voters that do want to align with them, that are on their side with issues. And so that's a concerning part is they have the money, they have the people, and they have the events to really get out their base. 

Kyle Spencer: I mean, that's one of the things that I found interesting when I was on college campuses was that young people who were being recruited to Turning Point USA were asked to come to movie nights, to come to parties, to go to events, and then to come to conferences. And the conferences are unbelievable. I mean, there are fancy hotels. They're free for a lot of the kids. Oftentimes actually getting there is free. They're in fancy hotels. There's free food. There's a lot of partying. There's a lot of drinking. Uh, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of sex, some of it non-consensual.

Jill (host): While researching her book Raising Them Right, Kyle Spencer got a front row seat to these conferences. She describes rooms full of drunk 20 something year olds and an out of control spring break like atmosphere. There have been various accusations of sexual assault and harassment taking place at Turning Point USA's conferences. And according to multiple women who talked to Kyle, the event is known for attracting older conservatives searching for hookups. In her book, Kyle recalls a 68 year old man handing her a business card and saying that he was looking for his, quote, Republican goddess. 

Kyle Spencer: What happens at these conferences is that, at least the ones that I attended and the ones that I reported on, there was a lot of unmonitored activity. So there were young people inside hotel rooms, uh doing a lot of drinking. So yes, there was a lot of that type of thing and there were some of it, as I said, you know, non-consensual. I think that's what happens when you you know, you get a lot of young people together and they're rowdy and they're also getting fueled by rageful power hungry speeches from folks who are telling them that a lot about the subjugation of women, a lot about the hierarchy that needs to be maintained in the country, a lot about the role women ought to play. So a lot of, it's a lot of kind of male chest thumping. 

Charlie Kirk: At Turning Point USA we resoundingly reject this. We believe in strong, alpha, godly, high T, high achieving, confident, well armed, and disruptive men are the hope, not the problem. 

Young men, we're just gonna cut right to it. If you want to be an immovable mountain in your life, if you wish to be a strong alpha, I beg you, find a woman, fall in love, get married, have more children than you can afford, have insane amounts of kids. 

Jill (host): While we focus this episode on the radicalization of young men, it's important that we acknowledge that women also played a role in growing this organization. Any gender can be an extremist, but there's a reason why men are more commonly drawn to Turning Point. 

Francesca Martin: I mean, at the end of the day, it is male dominated, because at the end of the day, conservative ideals really try to lower women.

Jill (host): Francesca Martin works alongside Jacob Marson as the co-founder and deputy director of Keep Arizona Blue's student coalition. She's also a sophomore at Arizona State University, and as a young woman working in politics, she knows the importance of empowering women in the political space. But she's also keenly aware of how organizations like Turning Point USA aren't working in favor of women, including the women in their own ranks.

Francesca Martin: They try to, in a way, oppress women. You know, the traditional gender roles of staying at home with a child, not having your own career, not being self sufficient, having to rely on a man, having to, you know, cook for the man, having to provide in those ways. You know, women, they should be allowed the option, but conservative ideals at Turning Point USA are kind of putting forth do in a way kind of hinder women' ability to be seen as equal, ability to run for office at the same rates, you know, be the woman for the movement. Really, I think, you know, especially in Turning Point USA, they don't attract young women. Because their policies and their values don't align with empowering young women. 

Jill (host): They even pushed this agenda at their annual conference. 

Charlie Kirk: If you're a young person here, and you say, boy, you know, what do I want to do with my life? Honestly, you should get married as young as possible and have as many kids as possible. Now some parents are probably, “Ooh, I, I don't like that, you know. They should basically, you know, they should go get a job first.” You're wrong. I'm sorry. Honestly. We are on the verge of a population collapse in this country. We can sit there and be upset about Muslims as much as possible and act like we're victims. You know what they're doing? They're simply having more kids than you. Why don't you go have 8 babies? 

Jill (host): And these conferences are well funded. And their latest IRS filing, which was the year of 2021, Turning Point disclosed spending 12.4 million on events in a single year.

Kyle Spencer: One of the things I noticed when I would go to CPAC or Republican conferences or Turning Point USA conferences was that they had a lot of fun. And I think the reason they have a lot of fun is because their politics is really about, you know, a kind of individualism, take care of yourself. Christian nationalist ideology is if you're really wealthy, it's because you deserve to be. 

And so you can see if you have those ideas, when you come to a political conference, you're feeling good. When we come together, when progressives, leftists, Democrats come together, we come together because we believe politics is there to serve the needy, right? We believe that our ideology is essentially that we need to find out who is the lowest person on the totem pole here, the person who's suffering the most, and we need to bring them up. So we're, so we're kind of by nature sort of depressed. We're by nature, if we're doing our job at a conference, we are really honing in on who needs us, who's suffering, who needs equity, who needs to get in on this American dream. When conservatives go to their conferences, they're like, “We got it, it's working for us, isn't this great, let's keep doing this.” And so, they're having more fun. 

Jill (host): At first glance, AmericaFest is a gauche display of American exceptionalism, but if you take a closer look, you can see that the event is the perfect avenue for spreading racist, sexist, and anti Semitic propaganda.

Here are just a few examples. Like when Dennis Prager, founder of PragerU, said, “if you believe that fewer policemen make safer cities, you probably support Hamas.”

Dennis Prager: If you believe that fewer policemen make safer cities, you probably support Hamas. 

Jill (host): Or when actress Roseanne Barr gave a compelling speech when she just screamed the word fight over and over.

Roseanne Barr: You want to talk about how great it feels to like, fight, fight. Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

Jill (host): And of course, we can't forget the time at AmericaFest, when Charlie Kirk, in his opening speech, painted a picture of what a left wing male looks like. 

Charlie Kirk: And I think this picture is a perfect picture of a left wing male. You know, they want a guy with a lisp, zipping around on a lime scooter with a fanny pack, carrying his birth control, supporting his wife's career, while he works as a supportive stay at home house husband, he has a playlist that is exclusively Taylor Swift. And their idea of strength is this beta male's girlfriend opening a pickle jar for him? 

Jill (host): Remember, a lot of the audience is impressionable teenagers, as young as 16 years old. Another key focus of their conferences is content creation. Ring lights are set up in front of Turning Point branded backdrops, and everywhere you look, there are attendees taking photos or filming videos of themselves. They've created their own special brand of influencers. 

Since the organization launched in 2012, Turning Point has moved beyond just campus organizing. They've shifted their focus to their online presence. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and just about every other social media platform has become their new battleground in the battle to recruit young, conservative voices. 

Kyle Spencer: Turning Point USA has always been excellent at its use of media. It's always understood that social media scales it, you know, gets inside people more quickly, it can rapidly reproduce. It's very meme friendly, it can send very simple messages and simple ideas to people very quickly. And so I, when I was inside the Turning Point USA headquarters, I saw, and this was, you know, four or five years ago, I saw really, really, really savvy and sophisticated uses of testing. What types of media would send messages and what we're, what we're spreading, what we're going viral, what types of messaging will go viral.

Jacob Marson: I mean, social media is how you get to the youth electorate. We're all on social media, X, Instagram, TikTok, I mean, it's easy to get to these young voters nowadays. We're not hiding in our rooms playing video games much, we're actually on social media interacting with other people. 

Jill (host): At the time of recording, Turning Point boasts over 2 million followers on Instagram, 600,000 on Twitter, and 2.7 million on both YouTube and Facebook. There are several hundred thousand other followers spread across the accounts for Turning Point's various other branches. They even expanded their platform to live TV with TPUSA Live and original media productions with their recorded shows. Their presence is seen everywhere you look, whether you realize it or not.

In 2020, Twitter and Facebook even had to shut down accounts linked to a misleading social media campaign run by Turning Point Action, a branch of Turning Point USA. The Washington Post reported that Turning Point had paid teenagers to post talking points rooted in disinformation, many of whom were still minors at the time.

Kyle Spencer: We know the power of the right wing and the right wing youth movement on, on, on the media and the way it can infiltrate our children's lives very quickly. We see that and that is a result of hard work and a lot of money. A lot of people think social media is cheap. It's not. Social media is expensive. It takes experts. It takes people who are really good at it. It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of testing and they've done it all and their donors spent a lot of money on that. 

Jill (host): When Turning Point USA initially began, it functioned solely as a nonprofit charity, enabling major donors to claim tax deductions while maintaining anonymity from the public eye. However, with this endorsement of Donald Trump and the 2016 election and its close association with Donald Trump Jr, Turning Point's financial contributions surged, especially during the COVID 19 pandemic. According to tax records, in 2022, the organization received over 80 million in donations, marking a 46 percent increase from the previous year.

As a result, founder Charlie Kirk's wealth escalated, with reported earnings for nearly $400,000 annually in 2021, according to the Associated Press. According to a leaked investor prospectus in 2021, Turning Point's media operation, including TPUSA Live, used 7.2 million of their total budget. Turning Point Faith's budget came next in line with $6.4 million, which was used to, quote, address America's crumbling religious foundation by engaging thousands of pastors nationwide. TPUSA Productions had a budget of 3 million and Turning Point Academy, a branch tasked with creating America First curricula, had a budget of 2.3 million. 

Remember, these numbers were from 2021. Since then, Turning Point USA has only continued to grow. For years, conservative donors have been pouring money into their effort to win over the youth vote. And they're out-funding the left in unimaginable sums. But that doesn't mean they're out organizing them.

Jacob Marson: Organizing efforts is the most important thing. So Turning Point can out-fundraise, but I think we will out-organize them every step of the way. Because our messaging is just better and it resonates with young voters. 

Francesca Martin: I think the real reason they're trying to appeal to young voters is because they know that if they can get them out to vote and they can get them out excited about their Republican candidates, that they will have this newfound voting block that's, you know, reliable for Republicans at a young age. That's just because that 18 to 29 year old age demographic is the lowest voter turnout out of all age demographics. So if they can make the outreach to young people, they'll come out to vote. They have the money to do it again.

You know, it all comes down to money and field. So if they're going to be putting boots on the ground this upcoming election cycle to get young people out to vote and really investing money into it, they'll get them out to vote. The status quo on the Democratic side for way too long has been that young people will just turn out for Democrats. Now, while young people do overwhelmingly vote for Democrats, they don't come out to vote in the first place. So I think what we've seen from Turning Point and the conservative movement is this newfound focus on the youth vote, because in such a critical swing state like Arizona, which Turning Point is headquartered in, by the way, they're actually headquartered in Phoenix. Because they know that if they can actually get young people out to vote in the first place, maybe they can gain some conservative youth traction here in the state. They understand that it is an untapped market. 

Jill (host): With conservative donors making significant investments to win over the youth vote, we must ask the question, how can the political left secure the youth vote? 

Jacob Marson: The thing is, we just have to get to enough young voters and talk to enough young people and say, this is what's on your ballot in 2024. Yes, president, yes, Senate, but go down ballot, vote for your school board candidates, vote for your city council and your state legislature, your county candidates, and that message, you know, needs to get out there. Because you know, Turning Point will be at it. Turning Point will be promoting these individuals and these local right wing extremists who are running from the bottom of the ticket to the top. 

Francesca Martin: Something that Turning Point USA does very regularly is get young people excited about the conservative movement. There's not much excitement when their policies happen to be anti-climate, anti-abortion, just conservative, anti-working class. I mean, really, terrible ideals. So if they're able to get a very small number of young people excited about some pretty terrible values, you know, imagine an investment put in on the left and imagine investment put in on the Democratic side, not just expecting young people to come out to vote for Democrats, but hyping up our Democratic candidates and saying, guess what? These are the people that are going to protect abortion for you. These are the people that are going to protect the climate for you. And highlighting that on all aspects of the ballot is something our organization is really yeah. pushing for this election cycle. 

Kyle Spencer: So I think that one thing that the left has to do is to continue to create a positive community around its own value system. We should not be afraid of promoting democracy and the democratic ideals we have and promoting why they're positive, why they work, why they create community and why they're common sense. 

And I think actually that's what Red Wine and Blue does such a good job of, of really saying, we're not really talking about politics here as much as we're talking about being decent human beings, decent parents, you know, decent members of our community, being welcoming, being polite. I mean, you could talk about racism and you can talk about hostility towards members of the LGBT community. You can talk about that on a political, on a political level. And you can also talk about it as an everyday “why would you be rude and insensitive and mean to your neighbor?” Right? “Why would you encourage your kid to bully a classmate,” right? 

Jill (host): Beyond engaging the youth vote, it's important to address another pressing concern, how to prevent the indoctrination of young men by the alt right movement. This indoctrination carries serious consequences that affect individuals and democracy as a whole. The internet and social media make it easy for these ideologies to spread and recruit vulnerable individuals. But we want to protect young people before they adopt these extreme beliefs.

Samantha Kutner: It's really hard to combat that stuff once it gets its hooks in a person. I think educators and administrators are very pressed right now and they have to juggle many different responsibilities. And I think even though they might want to really care and get invested with the weight of all the responsibilities they have, it might sometimes feel like just another thing they have to do. 

But I'm always an advocate for, you know, reviving the value of expertise by utilizing people like us. We are definitely here to help. Some people see it as such a huge thing that they don't even know where to start. And I think if people, everyday people, realize that they could be a positive force in someone's life and maybe taking the time to listen to someone who they know is going through something, they can't specifically place that, you know, that is a very, very good start.

But even one small act of kindness can have a ripple effect outward into the community that a person belongs into. But also, and I tell this to activists, to academics, to researchers, to seasoned career veterans, the best way to affect change in the world is to get right with yourself. And that's really hard to do. So with our community, we try to cultivate a shared value set that encourages creativity, deep thinking, and importantly, like most importantly, self reflection. 

Jill (host): One of the most important things we can do is pay attention to the young people in our lives. Listen to them, engage with them, and find out what's happening on their high school and college campuses. We can also support student organizations like Keep Arizona Blue Student Coalition and Voters for Tomorrow that are pushing back against Turning Point. Young people need our support, and we need their help more than ever.