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Revision as of 07:26, 22 April 2018 by Lionelt (talk | contribs) (This article fails WP:MERGEREASON. Consensus has changed WP:CCC. To merge this you have to go to WP:RM)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Charlie Kirk | |
|---|---|
 Kirk at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2017 | |
| Born | (1993-10-14) October 14, 1993 (age 31) Arlington Heights, Illinois |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | political activist, writer |
| Years active | 2012–present |
| Organization | Turning Point USA |
| Title | Founder and Executive Director of Turning Point USA |
| Political party | Republican |
Charlie Kirk (born October 14, 1993) is an American political activist and the founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, an advocacy group for young conservatives. In 2016, he worked with the Donald Trump presidential campaign to attract the millennial vote.
He is the co-author of Time For a Turning Point: Setting a Course Toward Free Markets and Limited Government for Future Generations (Simon & Schuster, 2016).
In 2018, the conservative website NewsMax ranked Kirk as the seventh most influential Republican under the age of 30.
Early life
Born in Arlington Heights, Illinois, Kirk was raised in nearby Prospect Heights. Kirk attended Wheeling High School in Wheeling, Illinois, where he was captain of the varsity men's basketball team and an Eagle Scout.
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). 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." On May 21, 2012, Kirk and his fellow leaders at SOS Liberty appeared on Fox & Friends.
Kirk was accepted to Baylor University but instead chose to enroll in general education classes at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois as he founded Turning Point USA.
Political activism
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In 2012 when he was a high school senior, Kirk wrote an essay for Breitbart News about alleged liberal bias in high school textbooks that led to an appearance on the 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 subsequently founded Turning Point USA, a "grass-roots organization to rival liberal groups such as MoveOn.org." At the 2012 Republican National Convention, Kirk met Foster Friess, a prominent Republican donor, and persuaded him to finance the organization.
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.
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 , Ivanka , and Donald Trump Jr. to attract the millennial vote." The Dallas Morning News described Kirk as leading the "millennial assault" for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Kirk is the co-author of Time For a Turning Point: Setting a Course Toward Free Markets and Limited Government for Future Generations, published by Simon & Schuster in 2016.
On December 22, 2017, President Donald Trump tweeted in praise of Kirk and Turning Point USA amid controversy surrounding the organization.
Books
- Time For a Turning Point: Setting a Course Toward Free Markets and Limited Government for Future Generations. Simon & Schuster. 2016. ISBN 9781682612477.
References
- "Newsmax's 30 Most Influential Republicans Under 30". Newsmax. January 30, 2018.
- 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) - "Wheeling High graduate behind conservative 'Professor Watchlist'". Daily Herald. November 30, 2016.
- ^ "Perfect storm launches 19-year-old Wheeling native into political punditry". Daily Herald. April 29, 2013.
- "A high school student's message for Washington". Fox News. June 1, 2012.
- "SOS Liberty on Fox & Friends". YouTube. May 21, 2012.
- "This Boy Wonder Is Building the Conservative MoveOn.org in an Illinois Garage". Bloomberg News. May 7, 2015.
- "The 21-Year-Old Becoming a Major Player in Conservative Politics". The Atlantic. March 25, 2015.
- "At the Republican Convention, Millennials Search for Signs of the Future". Wired. July 20, 2016.
- "Kirk, Hamachek of Turning Point USA Sell Out Heartland Institute for Talk". The Heartland Institute. February 2, 2017.
- "60 days with Don Trump Jr". Turning Point USA. November 16, 2016.
- "How two Dallas young guns helped deliver the White House to Trump". Dallas Morning News. November 11, 2016.
- "Time for A Turning Point". Simon & Schuster.
- "Trump praises conservative group one day after report alleging racial bias". The Hill. December 22, 2017.