Vance respects Kirk by hosting his show from the White House
Vice President JD Vance hosted the White House “The Charlie Kirk Show” and honored his late friends and featured guests like Tucker Carlson.
Charlie Kirk’s open ceremony on Sunday, September 21st is expected to pay tribute to the life of a conservative firefighter, as well as his political activities.
Turning Point USA, an organization he founded years ago, holds a memorial in Glendale, Arizona, and presents speeches from top Republicans and conservative figures in America.
Speakers include President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, wife of the late commentator and new director of Turning Point USA, Erica Kirk. Several members of the president’s cabinet will also be present, the organization announced on September 17th, including Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump Jr.
Kirk was killed in one gunshot on September 10th while talking to a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, as part of Turning Point USA’s “American Comeback” speaking tour. Utah College was Kirk’s first stop at a dozen cross-country events.
Tyler Robinson, the suspect in the attack, was charged on September 16 with seven felony charges including worsening murder, discharge from a felony firearm, obstruction of justice and tampering with eyewitnesses. Local prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty.
What is Turning Point USA?
Turning Point USA was founded by Kirk in 2012 at the age of 18 and has since become a prominent political force. In addition to its presence on hundreds of college and high school campuses, the organization holds meetings, encourages young people to organize conservative issues, and produces a variety of media such as The Charlie Kirk Show.
Its mission states that it is to “identify, educate, train and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets and limited government,” and to build the most organized, active, powerful, and powerful conservative grassroots activists networks on high schools and university campuses across the country.
The group and Kirk are believed to be in close alignment with the Maga movement and helped mobilize Trump’s support for the 2024 presidential election.
Much of that power comes from connections with younger voters, and Kirk has long argued that his organizational chapters were necessary to combat the ideology of the “awakening” classroom. Kirk often met and discussed for the students. He was at Utah Valley University at the first stop on the “American Comeback Tour” when he was killed.
Today, Turning Point USA has chapters on 3,500 high school and university campuses, with 250,000 students as members, with an annual budget of around $80 million. In a social media post on September 18, the group said it had received over 62,000 requests from high school and university students since Kirk’s filming, requiring that they would either launch a new Turning Point USA chapter or join an existing chapter.
The group offers 12 “activism kits” to promote issues ranging from digital resources, access to demanding conservative speakers on campus, and issues ranging from voter registration, freedom of speech, access to guns to kits entitled “Make America Healthy.”
Its website hosts a “Professor Watchlist” tool that allows students to report their teachers and leadership because they have a “radical left” view. A similar watchlist from the School Board has been described as tools for finding and exposing leadership that supports “anti-American, radical, hatred, immoral, racist teachings,” including “critical racial theory, the 1619 project, and sexual/gender ideology.”
Erica Kirk chose to lead Turning Point USA
Turning Point USA said in a September 18th X post that the board unanimously elected Erika Kirk as the new CEO and chairman of the board.
“In previous discussions, Charlie has announced to several executives that this is what he wanted at his death,” the group said in the announcement.
Erika Kirk, 36, vowed in her speech after Charlie Kirk was killed by a gunshot wound to continue her husband’s job.
“The evil ones for the assassination of my husband don’t know what they did,” she said at her address.
Erica Kirk will give a keynote speech along with Trump and Vice President JD Vance at the public celebration in Glendale, Arizona on Sunday, September 21st.
Contribution: Reuters
Kathryn Palmer is a national trending news reporter for USA Today. You can contact her kapalmer@usatoday.com And with x @Kathrynplmr.
