Turning Point USA

Journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin’s DealBook summit, sponsored by the New York Times, made a lot of news yesterday, though it felt more like 1975 than 2025, particularly when it came to “women’s issues”. We were one degree of separation from participants arguing over galleys of Ms. Magazine or getting into shouting matches with Norman Mailer. In the role of Phyllis Schlafly, the beautiful right-wing career woman leading a charge for a return to traditional values, was Erika Kirk, CEO of Turning Point USA and recent widow of Charlie Kirk. She claimed it was “ironic” that women in New York City had voted for Zohran Mamdani, given that many of them are childless but voiced support for his promise to provide free childcare for children under six years old.

“I’m a Christian man,” the college student at the University of Mississippi said to J.D. Vance, our future 48th (or 49th) President, during a TPUSA event attended by thousands. Uh-oh, here we go. “And I’m just confused why there’s this notion that we might owe Israel something… or that they’re our greatest ally or that we have to support this multi-hundred-billion-dollar foreign aid package to Israel… to quote Charlie Kirk, ‘ethnic cleansing in Gaza.’” That was nothing you wouldn’t hear outside of, say, Glenn Greenwald’s Twitter feed, but then it got dark. The student continued, “I’m just confused why this idea has come around considering the fact that not only does their religion not agree with ours but also openly supports the persecution of ours.

Contrary to the claims of his critics, Charlie Kirk did not marry a handmaiden. A 2012 Miss Arizona USA, NCAA basketball player and current doctoral student, Erika Kirk also has her own ministry, podcast and clothing line. And now Turning Point USA has named her as its new CEO. Fighting the caricature of the left, Erika, like so many strong conservative women whom Charlie championed, is highly educated, accomplished and articulate. A veritable army of these women, including Riley Gaines, Candace Owens and Alex Clark, has spoken out in the days since Charlie’s assassination to describe his impact on their lives and leadership trajectories. Charlie Kirk was no misogynist; he supported conservative women just as he inspired conservative men.

Charlie Kirk was, from an incredibly young age, the sort of person willing to try things that seemed impossible. Last night, in his remembrance of meeting Charlie for the first time, my Fox colleague Guy Benson realized that he was probably one of the first conservative speakers Kirk had invited to share ideas to students in Illinois – at the ripe age of around sixteen.

President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday gave his first rally speech since winning the 2024 presidential election, delivering the keynote address at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference for young conservatives. The former and future president spoke for more than an hour and made plenty of headlines with his suggestion that the United States take back control of the Panama Canal, a rejection of the Democrat attack that he is a shadow puppet of billionaire Elon Musk, and a renewed promise of his second-term priorities.

Roseanne Barr, the QAnon Shaman and a gang of angry white teenagers walk into a bar. This may sound like the start of a horrible joke, but it was also the scene in downtown Phoenix, Arizona as Turning Point USA hosted its annual AmericaFest at a local convention center. Normal speeches by GOP mainstays such as Senator Ted Cruz were overtaken by some of the shenanigans afterwards — most glaringly headlined by a group of purported white supremacists at a fringe event reportedly shouting “nigger,” “gay sex,” and “faggot” at Rob Smith, who is black, gay and conservative. In one video, posted by @ValleyZoomerVZ, Smith is asked “how does anal sex help us win the culture war?” among other highly relevant questions. Smith calmly left the premises.

Porn star Brandi Love made waves at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit in Tampa this weekend after the group revoked her VIP pass. Love — whose real name is Tracey Lynn Livermore — ticked off social conservatives on Twitter when she posted photos at the event with the caption, ‘It's good to be around so many young conservatives. Gives me some hope!’ https://twitter.com/brandi_love/status/1416489638592659459?s=20 Hours later, Turning Point sent Love an email notifying her that her pass had been ‘revoked’ but said she is welcome to apply for other conferences ‘in the future’. Love responded by accusing the organization of being a ‘cult’ and a ‘Trojan horse’ for organized religion.

Last month, two 17-year-olds were arrested in New Jersey for harassing and urinating on four black middle school girls. The boys allegedly called the girls the n-word and now face charges of bias discrimination and lewdness. When the story broke, if you happened to be standing on Eight Avenue in Manhattan, the faint sound of rapturous panting you heard was probably coming from the New York Times building. However, there was one small problem, the ‘racist’ boys were of Indian descent, not white. Don’t worry, the Times has a fix for such meddlesome fiddle-faddle. Bring in some stately-looking quack with lots of degrees, in this case a historian and activist named Nell Irvin Painter, to write about how race is a social construct and ‘whiteness’ evolves.