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Charlie Kirk
Kirk at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2017
Born
Charles Kirk

(1993-10-14) October 14, 1993 (age 31)
Arlington Heights, Illinois
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Author, Columnist, Conservative Activist, Editor-at-Large, Guest Commentator, Speaker, and Social Media Influencer
Years active2012–present
Title
Political partyRepublican
Websitewww.charliekirk.com

Charlie Kirk (born October 14, 1993) is a bestselling Author, Columnist, Conservative Activist, Editor-at-Large, Guest Commentator, Speaker, and Social Media Influencer. He is the Founder and President of Turning Point Action and Turning Point USA and he is the Chairman of Students for Trump. He has authored one book and co-authored two books. He was named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list for 2018 and was ranked as the seventh most influential Republican under the age of 30 by the conservative website NewsMax.[1]

Early Life and Education

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Born in Arlington Heights, Illinois, Kirk was raised in nearby Prospect Heights.[2] Kirk attended Wheeling High School in Wheeling, Illinois, where he was captain of the varsity men's basketball team and an Eagle Scout.[3]

According to Kirk, he dreamed of attending the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, but his application was rejected.[4] According to The New Yorker, Kirk said "the slot he considered his went to 'a far less-qualified candidate of a different gender and a different persuasion'" whose test scores he claimed he knew. Kirk later stated he was being sarcastic.[5]

Kirk took general education classes at Harper College, a community college near Chicago, Illinois. He founded Turning Point USA before dropping out of Harper to pursue political activism.[6][7]

Kirk addressed the 2016 Republican National Convention. In an interview with Wired magazine during the convention, Kirk said that while he "was not the world's biggest Donald Trump fan," he would vote for him, and that Trump's candidacy made Turning Point's mission more difficult.[8] The Dallas Morning News described Kirk as leading the "millennial assault" for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.[9]

Career

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Turning Point USA

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Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is an American conservative[10][11][12] nonprofit organization.[13][14] TPUSA's stated mission is to "identify, educate, train and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets and limited government."[15][16] Charlie Kirk founded Turning Point USA in 2012, when he was 18 years old. At the 2012 Republican National Convention, Kirk met Foster Friess, a Republican donor, and persuaded him to finance the organization.[17][18] Friess also serves on the organization's advisory council, alongside Ginni Thomas, wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.[19] Barry Russell, president and CEO of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), is a key advisor.[20]

Turning Point Action & Students for Trump

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In July 2019, Kirk became Chairman of Students for Trump and launched a campaign to recruit one million students for the 2020 Trump reelection campaign.[21]

Books

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Kirk is the author of one book, which was on The New York Times Best Seller list[22], and has co-authored two other books including one with Donald Trump Jr..

  • Time for a Turning Point: Setting a Course Toward Free Markets and Limited Government for Future Generations. Post Hill Press. 2016. ISBN 9781682612477.
  • Campus Battlefield: How Conservatives Can WIN the Battle on Campus and Why It Matters. Post Hill Press. 2018. ISBN 9781642930948.
In a review for The Weekly Standard, Adam Rubenstein described the book as a "hot mess", "nothing more a marketing pitch for TPUSA" and said the "thin" book was "stuffed with reprintings of his tweets and quotes from others."[23]
  • The MAGA Doctrine: The Only Ideas That Will Win the Future. Broadside Books. 2020. ISBN 9780062974686.

Columns

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- Editor at large for Newsweek [24]
- Regular Columnist for foxnews.com, Breitbart, Washington Times, and The Hill

Social media influencer

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- Kirk has one of the most engaged twitter accounts in the world [25]

Television and radio

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- Kirk is a Guest Commentator on various media outlets with reportedly over 600 appearances on shows including: CNBC; Fox News; FOX Business News; The Sean Hannity Show (radio); Hannity (TV); Tucker Carlson Tonight (TV); Justice with Judge Jeanine (TV), The Ingraham Angle (TV), Life, Liberty and Levin (TV), The Limbaugh Letter; plus numerous radio and podcast appearances.

Awards

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In 2018, he was named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list [26] and was ranked as the seventh most influential Republican under the age of 30 by the conservative website NewsMax.[27]

In May 2019, Charlie Kirk was awarded an honorary doctorate from Liberty University, a private evangelical Christian university co-founded by Jerry Falwell.[28]

Conservative activism

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Kirk speaking at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Kirk became politically active during high school. In his junior year of school in 2010, Kirk volunteered for the successful U.S. Senate campaign of Illinois Republican Mark Kirk (to whom his family bears no relation).[6] In 2012, as a high school senior, Kirk launched the political student organization "SOS Liberty," which he described as an "international distress call for help" related to "Washington's massive debts and deficits."[29] On May 21, 2012, Kirk and his fellow leaders at SOS Liberty appeared on Fox & Friends.[30] Later that year, Kirk wrote an essay for Breitbart News alleging liberal bias in high school textbooks, leading to an appearance on Fox Business Network. At a subsequent speaking engagement at Benedictine University's "Youth Empowerment Day," Kirk met Bill Montgomery, a retiree more than 50 years his senior, who was then a Tea Party-backed legislative candidate. Montgomery encouraged Kirk to get engaged in political activism full-time. He then founded Turning Point USA. At the 2012 Republican National Convention, Kirk met Republican donor Foster Friess and persuaded him to finance the organization.[18]

Kirk addressed the 2016 Republican National Convention. In an interview with Wired during the convention, Kirk said that while he "was not the world's biggest Donald Trump fan," he would vote for him, and that Trump's candidacy made Turning Point's mission to "spread the conservative message in high schools and college campuses" more difficult.[8]

70 days before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, "Kirk was asked to join the inner circle of the Trump campaign," where "he worked directly with Eric [Trump], Ivanka [Trump], and Donald Trump Jr. to attract the millennial vote."[31][32] The Dallas Morning News described Kirk as leading the "millennial assault" for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.[9]

On December 22, 2017, President Donald Trump tweeted in praise of Kirk and Turning Point USA amid controversy surrounding the organization.[33]

Controversies

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In 2018, Kirk praised Kanye West for getting involved in politics and advocating for President Trump. Later that year when Taylor Swift endorsed Democrat Phil Bredesen in the Tennessee Senate race, Kirk condemned her and said she should "stay away from politics."[34] Kirk suggested, without evidence, that Swift had not written her endorsement.[35] Kirk said it was "ridiculous" for Swift to accuse Republican Marsha Blackburn of being hostile to LGBT rights and women's rights.[35]

References

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  1. ^ "Newsmax's 30 Most Influential Republicans Under 30". Newsmax. January 30, 2018.
  2. ^ Kirk, Charlie, and Hamachek, Brent (2016). Time for a Turning Point: Setting a Course Toward Free Markets and Limited Government for Future Generations. Simon and Schuster. p. 4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "Wheeling High graduate behind conservative 'Professor Watchlist'". Daily Herald. November 30, 2016.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Mayer, Jane (December 21, 2017). "A Conservative Nonprofit That Seeks to Transform College Campuses Faces Allegations of Racial Bias and Illegal Campaign Activity". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on December 23, 2017. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  6. ^ a b "Perfect storm launches 19-year-old Wheeling native into political punditry". Daily Herald. April 29, 2013.
  7. ^ "A Profile of Charlie Kirk". The Dartmouth Review. The Dartmouth Review. November 1, 2019. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  8. ^ a b "At the Republican Convention, Millennials Search for Signs of the Future". Wired. July 20, 2016. Archived from the original on October 21, 2017. Retrieved January 31, 2018. Cite error: The named reference "Wired RNC" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b "How two Dallas young guns helped deliver the White House to Trump". Dallas Morning News. November 11, 2016. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved February 15, 2018. Cite error: The named reference "DMN" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  10. ^ Lartey, Jamiles (May 9, 2018). "Trump praises controversial pundit Candace Owens as a 'very smart thinker'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on May 18, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  11. ^ "Commentary: Christian revivals prompted less by churches, more by..." Reuters. December 21, 2018. Archived from the original on April 11, 2019. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  12. ^ Pappano, Laura (August 4, 2017). "Professors as Targets of Internet Outrage". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 11, 2019. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  13. ^ Mele, Christopher (November 28, 2016). "Professor Watchlist Is Seen as Threat to Academic Freedom". The New York Times. New York City: New York Times Company. Archived from the original on February 23, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  14. ^ Lee, Eli (November 30, 2016). "Columbia professor targeted on 'watchlist' published by conservative group". Columbia Daily Spectator. New York City: Columbia University. Archived from the original on June 21, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2017.
  15. ^ Guinto, Joseph. "Trump's Man on Campus". POLITICO Magazine. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  16. ^ "Turning Point USA". www.tpusa.com.
  17. ^ "This Boy Wonder Is Building the Conservative MoveOn.org in an Illinois Garage". Bloomberg News. May 7, 2015.
  18. ^ a b Nelson, Rebecca (March 25, 2015). "The 21-Year-Old Becoming a Major Player in Conservative Politics". The Atlantic Monthly. Archived from the original on August 8, 2017. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
  19. ^ "Advisory Council - Turning Point USA". Tpusa.com. Archived from the original on September 4, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2017.
  20. ^ "Barry Russell". www.tpusa.com. Turning Point USA. Archived from the original on August 7, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  21. ^ Singman, Brooke. "Charlie Kirk launches GOTV campaign to enlist 1 million 'Students for Trump' in 2020". Fox News. Archived from the original on July 19, 2019. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  22. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2020/03/21/hardcover-nonfiction/
  23. ^ "Charlie Kirk's Campus Battlefield Is a Hot Mess". The Weekly Standard. October 10, 2018. Archived from the original on October 10, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  24. ^ https://www.newsweek.com/authors/charlie-kirk
  25. ^ https://thehill.com/homenews/media/430619-trump-harris-ocasio-cortez-charlie-kirk-among-twitters-most-engaged
  26. ^ https://www.forbes.com/pictures/5a036c5f4bbe6f37dda202fd/charlie-kirk-24/#38da1aef1dca
  27. ^ "Newsmax's 30 Most Influential Republicans Under 30". Newsmax. January 30, 2018.
  28. ^ Liberty University News Service. "Vice President Mike Pence challenges 2019 grads to 'go forth for Liberty'". www.liberty.edu. Archived from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  29. ^ "A high school student's message for Washington". Fox News. June 1, 2012.
  30. ^ "SOS Liberty on Fox & Friends". YouTube. May 21, 2012.
  31. ^ "Kirk, Hamachek of Turning Point USA Sell Out Heartland Institute for Talk". The Heartland Institute. February 2, 2017.
  32. ^ "60 days with Don Trump Jr". Turning Point USA. November 16, 2016.
  33. ^ "Trump praises conservative group one day after report alleging racial bias". The Hill. December 22, 2017.
  34. ^ Wilstein, Matt (October 8, 2018). "Fox Guests Want Taylor Swift to Shut Up, but Love Kanye's MAGA Embrace". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on October 8, 2018. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  35. ^ a b "Conservative activist says on 'Fox and Friends' that Taylor Swift didn't write her own Instagram post endorsing Democratic politicians". Business Insider. Archived from the original on October 15, 2018. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Charlie Kirk.



Category:Political activists Category:1993 births Category:Living people Category:People from Wheeling, Illinois Category:People from Prospect Heights, Illinois Category:Illinois Republicans Category:Activists from Illinois Category:People from Arlington Heights, Illinois

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