The left descends on Turning Point USA

American  Thinker 

Over at last few years, people on the left have taken exception to the mission of Turning Point USA (TPUSA).  Our leftist university campuses in particular have criticized the TPUSA mission, since it advocates conservative and religious values.

Since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the founder of the organization, attempts to ban the organization have grown exponentially.  And if they oppose the plans of TPUSA, they have good reason to be worried about maintaining their leftist agenda:

Since [Kirk’s] death, interest in Turning Point USA, the organization he co-founded has grown exponentially.

“In the past 2 weeks, TPUSA has received 121,000+ requests from high school and college students nationwide to start a chapter or get involved with an existing chapter,” the organization posted on X Wednesday.

The attacks on the organization have been vehement and hateful.  College campus executives, professors, and students have lied and misrepresented the actions of the organization.  Here are some of the fabrications that the left is promoting:

From its inception, TPUSA has sought to be confrontational. One of its most notorious tools, the Professor Watchlist, publishes the names, photos, and alleged offenses of professors the group deems “anti-conservative.” This public shaming campaign has been condemned by educators and civil liberties advocates as a threat to academic freedom and personal safety. In more recent years, TPUSA has expanded its targets beyond individual professors, with initiatives like the School Board Watchlist, designed to stir distrust of public education and stoke fear around diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

You might be interested to learn that the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Anti-Defamation League (both of which have been discredited by the FBI), and other journalists are leading the efforts to defame TPUSA.

A petition was filed at Rutgers University to remove TPUSA.  Here’s a sampleof what it stated:

The Rutgers chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) has been continuously promoting hate speech and inciting violence against our community. This disturbing behavior has created a toxic environment that has already led to tragic consequences. Alarmingly, a respected professor felt compelled to leave the country, fearing for the safety of their family due to threats and harassment cultivated by this group.

TPUSA filed its own petition against a professor at Rutgers University, Mark Bray.  After President Trump declared Antifa a domestic terrorist organization, Bray showed up in the headlines.  He is referred to as “Dr. Antifa“:

Bray is the author of “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook,” a book that openly calls for “militant anti-fascism.”

He has also been accused of being an Antifa financier, and noted in his book that, “at the very least 50 percent of author proceeds will go to the International Anti-Fascist Defense Fund which is administered by more than three hundred antifa from eighteen countries.”

Amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on Antifa, Bray announced this week that he and his wife are fleeing to Spain.

Anyone who has viewed the discussions on YouTube that Charlie Kirk had with students will know how bizarre these accusations are.  Here’s a statement of the TPUSA mission:

We are committed to identifying, educating, training, and organizing students to promote freedom. [snip]

Turning Point USA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk. The organization’s mission is to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government.

The encounters between Charlie Kirk and students were described as confrontations.  Here’s one description:

Across campuses, students and faculty report that TPUSA representatives deliberately provoke heated exchanges, record them, and circulate the footage to mobilize their base and fundraise off manufactured outrage. Former members have confirmed that such confrontations are not accidental, but rather part of the playbook. 

Here’s re-statement of the characterization above that is hopefully more honest and objective:

When representatives of TPUSA invite students to dialogue with them, the exchanges are passionate. But they are respectful, demonstrating good listening skills, and an abundance of patience by the TPUSA person. (Students are often misinformed or uninformed about the topics they raise and they are the ones who raise them.) Exchanges are videotaped and may be found on youtube.com, so that people can be fully informed about what is occurring and the tenor of the dialogue. As a point of information, you can’t discuss controversial topics without a degree of confrontation; the demonstration of respect makes all the difference.

The organization is also pushing back against the defamation and lies.  This statement was made by a student at Rutgers, Ava Kwan, outreach coordinator for the Turning Point USA chapter:

Any opinion that challenges their worldview is immediately branded as “hate speech,” a meaningless term weaponized to control dissent and protect their false narrative. The petition, Bray’s retreat abroad, and my own doxxing by unhinged Rutgers leftists all tell the same story: they know they’re losing.

Let’s hope she’s right.