Charlie Kirk

Turning Point USA launched the Professor Watchlist in 2016, cataloguing academics accused of spreading left-wing propaganda. Charlie Kirk defended it as a tool for exposing teachers he considered to be 'out of bounds'. Academics and academic freedom advocates denounced intimidation, harassment risks and echoes of McCarthyism.

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Directly implicated

Kirk said that passing the 1964 Civil Rights Act had been a 'huge mistake', strongly disparaged Martin Luther King Jr and provoked controversy after saying that, when confronted with a Black pilot, he wondered whether the pilot was qualified. Critics accused him of racism over these remarks.

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Personally implicated

In late 2024, Kirk explicitly adopted 'great replacement' language, stating that native-born Americans were being replaced by foreigners and linking immigration to a Democratic political project. The remarks intensified criticism classifying him among promoters of identitarian conspiracy theories.

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Personally implicated

Kirk accused a liberal group online of trying to 'inject chaos' into the election by submitting 20,000 registration forms on the last eligible day in Maricopa County. FactCheck.org concluded that neither the figure nor the alleged intention was substantiated and that election officials were capable of processing such a volume.

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Personally implicated

Several of Kirk's health-related claims were debunked or found unsupported: notably that hydroxychloroquine was '100% effective' against COVID-19, that Dr Anthony Fauci would earn millions from a book, or that Jamie Foxx had become paralysed and blind following a COVID vaccine.

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Personally implicated

During the 2022 midterm elections, Kirk claimed that Maricopa County had intentionally reduced the number of polling places. PolitiFact rated the claim 'Pants on Fire'; FactCheck.org also explained that ballot tabulation problems did not prevent voters from casting their ballots.

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Personally implicated

Before the 6 January 2021 rally in Washington, Kirk announced that Turning Point Action and Students for Trump would send '80+ buses' of supporters. Turning Point Action representatives later said seven buses carrying approximately 350 students were sent. The organisation was among the groups associated with the rally preceding the Capitol attack.

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Political responsibility

CREW filed a complaint asking the Federal Election Commission to investigate Turning Point Action, alleging that the group had disclosed no donors despite more than $1.4 million in federal independent expenditures in 2020. Kirk led the wider Turning Point network.

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A ProPublica investigation described financial disclosures at Turning Point USA as misleading and highlighted lucrative contracts awarded to several associates or executives while the organisation was growing rapidly. Kirk led the organisation during the period reviewed.

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Institutional responsibility

The Washington Post revealed that Turning Point Action had paid teenagers to circulate coordinated pro-Trump political messages, sometimes through fake accounts. Facebook subsequently banned contractor Rally Forge and removed numerous accounts and pages; Twitter suspended hundreds of accounts for platform manipulation and spam.

State of the evidence

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Kirk claimed that eight Iowa counties had more adults registered to vote than voting-age residents. PolitiFact rated the claim false.

Attribution

Personally implicated