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Conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was a teenager when he had an idea to “start a youth organization to try and save Western civilization.” Kirk founded Turning Point USA in 2012 and expanded its presence over the next 13 years, primarily on college campuses and through social media. The organization exploded in popularity alongside Donald Trump’s rise to power — millions of people watched TPUSA-branded debate videos boasting supposed takedowns of leftist arguments on topics like racism, religion and feminism. So when Kirk was assassinated in front of thousands of people at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, it was no minor loss for the Republican Party. The 31-year-old married father of two gave a youthful, wholesome face to an aging GOP and presented the party’s archaic worldview to millions of young people. He and TPUSA were, quite literally, the future of conservatism. But Turning Point’s mission — and that of the Republican Party — didn’t die with Kirk. “This is a train that doesn’t stop running after Kirk’s death,” says HuffPost senior editor Andy Campbell, who also reports on extremism. “In fact, I think that it only rolls faster.” (For the full story, watch the video above.) Turning Point USA boasts approximately 3,500 high school and collegiate chapters nationwide. The organization pushes conservative values through hosting conferences and faith groups, funding Christian schools, and donating to Republican political candidates through its political action committee (PAC). The organization reports that it has received over 120,000 inquiries for new chapters since Kirk’s death in September. Campbell said TPUSA sounds good on paper. “It gets college students activated,” he said. “It brings them together, and it helps conservatives push their message into schools.” But Turning Point USA is funded by GOP special interest groups, and the organization’s coffers are full. TPUSA amassed nearly $400 million in donations between 2012 and 2023, according to tax records collected by ProPublica. Campbell said that “war chest of money” is funding a widespread plan to rid the American public education system of leftist thinking. “[Kirk] used Turning Point USA to push far-right ideology and Christian ideology into schools across the nation,” he said. “One of the reasons we’re living through a constitutional crisis is that we no longer have a Christian nation, but we have a Christian form of government, and they’re incompatible,” Charlie Kirk told the crowd at a Turning Point event in Aug. 2024. “You cannot have liberty if you do not have a Christian population.” Turning Point USA is the tip of the spear in a wider GOP plot to upend public education in America, largely for the benefit of white Christian conservatives. In Republican-led states like Texas and Florida, politicians are loudly waging war on “woke” thinking. In 2021, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis introduced the Stop W.O.K.E. Act, which would not only censor educators on topics like racism and privilege but also allow parents to sue school districts that teach critical race theory. A federal judge struck down provisions of the bill the next year, calling it “positively dystopian.” In Texas, Republican state lawmakers passed a bill that requires public schools to display the Ten Commandments. Bill sponsor state Rep. Candy Noble (R) said students should see the doctrine and remember “God is watching.” Old-School Politics, New Generation Kirk branded himself as a champion of free speech, once saying: “You should be allowed to say outrageous things.” During his tenure as CEO of Turning Point USA and host of his eponymous podcast, he certainly did. Kirk openly opposed same-sex marriage and believed that only monogamous, heterosexual spouses should be allowed to adopt children. He denounced the notion of white privilege and denied the existence of systemic racism. He described trans people as a “throbbing middle finger to God.” He called the 1964 passage of the Civil Rights Act a “huge mistake.” “He put a face on what is effectively the rantings of a Reagan-era conservative radio host,” Campbell said. “That includes what the right-wing movements call ‘venerating the housewife.’” “Getting married and having children is a values-based decision, and women have to stop thinking about themselves all the time,” Kirk said on the Sep. 8 episode of his show. “Me, me, me.” Alongside his wife Erika, Charlie Kirk directed young women to eschew professional goals in favor of getting married, having babies and submitting to their husbands. And yet weeks after his murder, Kirk’s wife became the new CEO and chair of the board at Turning Point USA. “Erika Kirk taking over really speaks to the hypocrisy of everything she and Charlie Kirk have stood for,” said HuffPost senior reporter Lydia O’Connor, who profiled 36-year-old Erika Kirk in the days following her husband’s murder. “Throughout her marriage, she has had a career. She has had a podcast. She’s had a clothing line. She’s had other ventures,” O’Connor said. “She has multiple degrees, and apparently this worked fine for them, even though, publicly, she’s been saying the opposite, saying things like a woman’s main job is to be a, quote, ‘helpmate’ to her husband.” Passing The Torch Following her husband’s death, Erika Kirk addressed “Charlie Kirk Show” viewers with an emotional promise that Turning Point would continue its mission even without Charlie. “They should all know this: If you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea…You have no idea the fire you have ignited within this wife. The cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry,” she said. A grieving widow is a powerful symbol at the forefront of a movement, and Erika Kirk has demonstrated savvy in wielding her influence. At Kirk’s nationally televised memorial service in Glendale, Arizona, Erika Kirk quoted scripture and forgave her husband’s accused killer, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. She received raucous applause. At that same memorial, Turning Point USA registered thousands of voters. “If the assassination of Charlie Kirk was meant to thwart his influence, it seems to have had the exact opposite effect,” Campbell said. “Donald Trump and his administration have turned Charlie Kirk into a martyr.” Campbell believes the GOP will use Kirk’s murder as a political tool for years to come — particularly to ingrain conservative Christian ideology in schools. President Trump has already established a Department of Justice task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias.” On Oct. 14, he posthumously awarded Kirk a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, on what would have been his 32nd birthday. “This death is being used to further that ideology and crystallize it into something that will last beyond Kirk and Trump,” Campbell said. “This is a well-funded, well-operating machine that was here before Charlie Kirk, and will continue on after.”
