Turning Point USA accused of 鈥榖oosting their numbers with racists鈥� by long-established conservative student group
Turning Point USA (TPUSA), the high school and college campus student organization founded in 2012 to 鈥渋dentify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government,鈥� is under fire once again for its connections to racists, as well as inflating its membership numbers, engaging in unethical activities, and unprofessionalism.
But this time the criticisms aren鈥檛 coming from TPUSA鈥檚 ideological adversaries, but rather Young America鈥檚 Foundation (YAF), a young conservative organization founded in 1969 that counts Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House senior policy advisor Stephen Miller among its alumni.
In a May 25 on June 14, YAF attacks TPUSA and its founder, 24-year-old Charlie Kirk, on multiple fronts, not least of all accusing TPUSA of 鈥淏oosting Numbers With Racists & Nazi Sympathizers.鈥�
TPUSA鈥檚 flirtation with racists and racism is well documented. In a December 2017 , reporter Jane Mayer was provided screenshots of a text message from TPUSA鈥檚 (now former) national field director, Crystal Clanton, that read, 鈥渋 hate black people. Like f--- them all鈥� I hate blacks. End of story.鈥�
Kirk himself has been criticized for his and tweets, and he out racist dog-whistles , 鈥淚t would take 40 years worth of blacks killed by cops to equal the number of black [sic] killed by other blacks in one year.鈥�
The critical YAF memo, titled 鈥淎dvising our Students about TPUSA,鈥� highlights the racist text message from Clanton reported in the New Yorker, along with recent incidents from TPUSA鈥檚 December Student Action Summit, .
In a hotel room that Mediaite reports was paid for by TPUSA, Juan Pablo Andrade was filmed exclaiming, 鈥淭he only thing the Nazis didn鈥檛 get right is they didn鈥檛 keep f------ going!鈥� Mediaite identifies Juan Pablo Andrade as TPUSA鈥檚 Florida field director in 2015 and leader of of its informal Latino caucus in 2016. Also in the hotel room was Cesar Subervi, a racist 鈥渁lt-right鈥� activist who marched at the deadly August 2017 white supremacist 鈥淯nite the Right鈥� rally in Charlottesville.
Mediaite also reported 鈥� and YAF highlighted in its memo 鈥� that Subervi was initially put on a 鈥渂lacklist鈥� of activists that TPUSA wanted to keep away from its conference, but TPUSA ditched the list in order to boost its attendance numbers.
The racist 鈥渁lt-right鈥� weren鈥檛 the only extremists TPUSA was associating with at the December 2017 summit. The conference also featured the anti-LGBT hate group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which has linked homosexuality to pedophilia, worked to criminalize same-sex relationships abroad, and claims a nefarious 鈥渉omosexual agenda鈥� is afoot which will damage or destroy society.
ADF had a booth at TPUSA鈥檚 conference, and ADF senior counsel and director of its Center for Academic Freedom, Tyson C. Langhofer, gave a presentation titled 鈥淪uing Your School 101: Knowing and Defending the 1st Amendment on Campus.鈥� During the presentation, Langhofer offered ADF鈥檚 services pro bono to students and attendees and told the crowd to reach out to him or ADF should anyone run into any 鈥渇ree speech鈥� issues.
ADF has represented TPUSA chapters on multiple occasions in suits against universities, including , , and .
TPUSA is no stranger to anti-Muslim figureheads, either; founder Charlie Kirk has thanked anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant stalwart David Horowitz for his 鈥�,鈥� and Kirk , now TPUSA鈥檚 communications director, at the November 2017 David Horowitz Freedom Center鈥檚 annual Restoration Weekend.
YAF鈥檚 anti-TPUSA memo also accuses Kirk鈥檚 group of 鈥淔alsification of Numbers and Activities,鈥� highlighting a claim by Kirk that TPUSA helped elect more than 50 conservatives to student body president at campuses in the U.S. A in April seemed to refute that claim, with the reporter writing, 鈥淚n total, I spoke to seven college candidates whom Turning Point USA has, in one form or another, claimed to have supported in their successful bids for student body president. To a person, all said they鈥檇 never worked with the group.鈥�
It all adds up to a very bad week for Turning Point USA and its founder, Charlie Kirk, who just last Saturday at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver was onstage boasting about TPUSA鈥檚 presence on 1,300 campuses across America. (The YAF memo disputes this number as well, and also notes TPUSA 鈥渇ails to take into account the quality of student interactions.鈥�)
The YAF memo concludes, 鈥淭he long-term damage TPUSA could inflict on conservative students and the Conservative Movement can no longer be ignored. Although it runs counter to our instincts to advise students against becoming involved with other conservative organizations, students deserve to be warned about TPUSA.鈥�
