Trailing MAGA acolytes and enemies, Turning Point ascendant in national GOP politics

PHOENIX - Turning Point is accustomed by now to notoriety. Founded by MAGA star Charlie Kirk, the Arizona-based constellation of groups and its allies have become the conservative movement’s youth mobilizers-in-chief and, in some states, top enforcers of loyalty to former President Donald Trump.

Plus, adds its spokesperson Andrew Kolvet, “We’re fun.”

It was hard to argue with him at Turning Point's bustling hangout spot at the 2024 Republican convention in Milwaukee. Delegates, politicians, and donors caroused inside an open-air sports bar parked immediately in front of the main convention center – prime real estate. Convention-goers chowed on French fries as the stereo blasted Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream."

It's the picture of youthful enthusiasm that Kirk promised in a speech at the 2016 Republican convention. In the address, which helped introduce him to a national audience, Kirk energized the Cleveland crowd with an applause line that the GOP was “the party of youth and diversity." He volunteered a to-the-point slogan irreverent for its time: “Big government sucks.” The then-22-year-old Kirk, whose tactics since then have included a social media campaign to discredit the civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., apologized if that sounded “a little caustic.”

In the two presidential election cycles since then, Turning Point has become a political heavyweight in Arizona and nationwide. Its dazzling ascent, and its willingness to turn against fellow partisans, has left a trail of acolytes and enemies in its wake. The group now boasts allies at the very top of the GOP's chain of command.

Turning Point's high profile and influence in Trump's world has been on full display in Arizona. The Turning Point-affiliated groups Turning Point Action and Turning Point PAC co-hosted Trump's Aug. 23 rally at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale. Sen. JD Vance, Trump's running mate from Ohio, is set to appear Wednesday with Kirk at a Turning Point Action event at Generation Church in Mesa.

"Charlie Kirk and Turning Point have been a major reason why the conservative movement is finally growing a spine," Donald Trump Jr. wrote in a statement.

"Turning Point's influence has grown because they pick the right fights, work their butts off, and they don't apologize for it," the former president's son continued. "That inspires people."

In Turning Point’s self-image, it was hard work and innovation that pushed them to the top. Kirk has gained an audience of hundreds of thousands through a strategic online presence and dedicated outreach on college campuses.

“It disrupted a space, namely on college campuses, and injected energy and positivity and enthusiasm into a space that desperately needed it,” Kolvet said.

“Kids responded, and the movement grew, and it took off like wildfire. That came from a lot of hard work."

Like Trump, Turning Point’s leadership and its allies have less of the forbearance that was once more common among fellow partisans. They have transparently, and without apology, taken steps to purge the party of people who diverge from their vision for the GOP.

“Intoxication of youth” is the phrase that comes to Rusty Bowers, a former Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives who Turning Point allies helped oust. Bowers resisted Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election after Trump failed to provide him convincing evidence of a stolen election, a political trend that historians say is a hallmark of an ailing democracy.

When Bowers, R-Mesa, came up for reelection, Turning Point allies branded him a “RINO," or a Republican In Name Only, and held events that boosted his challenger leading up to Bowers’ 2022 defeat.

“They obviously came after me, so you could say, ‘sour grapes,’” Bowers said. “I’m not perfect. Far from it. But at least I have a guiding set of principles that I think are divine. And I don’t think it’s divine to be a bully.

“There are people who are afraid of them. … Maybe I’m too old to care.”

Turning Point and its allies have used their stature as a bargaining chip at the national level under the party's former chair, Ronna McDaniel. Kirk publicly criticized her leadership as inept and called on his donors to stop giving to the national party. McDaniel stepped down earlier this year.

Stacey Feinberg, a Turning Point donor, shrugs at the charge that the group has pushed people out of the party.

"That's not a lie. I mean, there are RINOs. I firmly believe that. But those are the people who didn't welcome me to the Republican Party growing up,” she said.

The old “country club Republicanism” was exclusive, too, Kolvet said: “khakis with ties.”

Bowers rejected the equivalency.

“Anybody can rewrite history to create a narrative that justifies their behavior,” Bowers said. “I was there.”

Over time Kirk and the group’s priorities have shifted along with the national GOP. The talk of “big government” that Kirk foregrounded in his 2016 address now takes a back seat to immigration and social "culture war" issues.

Turning Point USA, the group's 501(c)(3), remains focused on campus activism and educating students, Kolvet said. Though in national GOP circles, Turning Point is most visible for its political wing's get-out-the-vote push in several key swing states, including Arizona.

Some former donors have been troubled by a perceived shift in the group’s mission, or by their involvement in primary elections, said Shiree Verdone, a conservative fundraiser and activist based in Arizona. During the 2022 election cycle, Turning Point’s political wing supported a slate of Arizona candidates that went on to lose races for the U.S. Senate, governor, and secretary of state.

“I thought the world of the group. I thought they were fabulous. Kudos to Charlie Kirk for starting that in his garage, and growing it to this phase,” Verdone said. “All I know is I’ve had complaints from donors.”

Ambling through Turning Point's buzzing Milwaukee depot, Terry Schilling, president of the socially conservative American Principles Project, dismissed talk of unhappy donors.

"This is what happens when you reach the top," Schilling said. "When you're at the top, everyone shoots."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How Charlie Kirk's Turning Point climbed the Trump GOP's ranks