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Charlie Kirk

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Charlie Kirk
Kirk at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2017
BornCharles Kirk
(1993-10-14) October 14, 1993 (age 31)
Arlington Heights, Illinois
NationalityAmerican
OccupationPolitical operative
Years active2012-present
OrganizationTurning Point USA
Websitewww.tpusa.com

Charles Kirk (born October 14, 1993) is an American activist and the founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, an advocacy group for young conservatives.

Early life and education

Born in Arlington Heights, Illinois, Kirk was raised in nearby Prospect Heights. Although not active in politics, his parents were conservative, and his father, Robert W. Kirk, was the project architect manager for Trump Tower in New York. In 7th grade, he was a volunteer for then-representative Mark Kirk (to whom he is not related). While attending Wheeling High School in Wheeling, Illinois, he worked on Kirk's Senate campaign. He also founded SOS Liberty, a student awareness organization he described as an "international distress call for help" related to "Washington’s massive debts and deficits." An Eagle Scout and an athlete, he hoped to go to West Point but was rejected, claiming, without offering evidence, that his West Point slot was taken by a person "of a different gender and persuasion." Kirk was accepted to Baylor University, but chose not to attend. He later enrolled in Harper College, a community college in Palatine, Illinois .

Career

In 2012 Kirk wrote an essay for Breitbart News that led to an appearance on Fox Business Network. At a speaking engagement at Benedictine University's "Youth Empowerment Day," Kirk met Bill Montgomery, a retiree 50 years his senior, who was then a Tea Party-backed legislative candidate. Montgomery encouraged Kirk to skip Baylor and focus instead on a political career. He enrolled at a comprehensive community college, and 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 continued to live with his parents until 2015.

Kirk joined the Trump Campaign 70 days prior to the 2016 election. In an interview with Wired at the Republican National Convention, he 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. Kirk spoke at the convention. He led the "millennial assault" during Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

As of November 2016, Turning Point USA reported chapters at over 1,000 college and high-school campuses. Kirk was the "driving force" behind the organization's Professor Watchlist, a website that identifies professors that "discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom." Professor Watchlist has been widely criticized. The New York Times wrote that it was "a threat to academic freedom," while Salon wrote simply that it was "a sign of the stupidity of the post truth era."

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 and Schuster in 2016.

References

  1. 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)
  2. Garriga, Melissa (2016-12-06). "Meet Charlie Kirk, the ProfessorWatchlist Keeper: Just another brick in the wall". Washington Babylon. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
  3. ^ Sakai, Betty (September 8, 2015). "Turning Point USA National Student Movement". Conservative Forum. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  4. "Wheeling High graduate behind conservative "Professor Watchlist"". Daily Herald. November 30, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  5. Sakai, Betty (September 8, 2015). "Turning Point USA National Student Movement". Conservative Forum. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  6. Lester, Kerry (November 30, 2016). "Wheeling High graduate behind conservative 'Professor Watchlist". Daily Herald. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  7. Valade, Paul (April 29, 2013). "Perfect storm launches 19-year-old Wheeling native into political punditry". Daily Herald. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  8. Kirk, Charlie (June 1, 2012). "A high school student's message for Washington". Fox. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  9. Bykowitz, Julie (May 7, 2015). "This Boy Wonder Is Building the Conservative MoveOn.org in an Illinois Garage". Bloomberg. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  10. Lapowsky, Issey (July 20, 2016). "At the Republican Convention, Millennials Search for Signs of the Future". Wired. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  11. Hall, Cheryl (November 11, 2016). "How two Dallas young guns helped deliver the White House to Trump". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  12. Nelson, Rebecca (March 25, 2015). "The 21-Year-Old Becoming a Major Player in Conservative Politics". The Atlantic. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  13. Paiella, Gabriella (November 22, 2016). "This Conservative College Group Is Keeping a Watch List of Left-Leaning Professors Across America". New York Magazine. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  14. Mele, Christopher (November 27, 2016). "Professor Watchlist Is Seen as Threat to Academic Freedom". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  15. McClennan, Sofia A. (December 4, 2016). "Academic witch hunts are back: The new McCarthyism, a sign of the stupidity of the post-truth era". Salon. Salon. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  16. "Time for A Turning Point". simonandschuster.com. Simon and Schuster. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
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