The Associated Press — which has shown an astounding lack of skepticism toward propaganda from terrorists or the international business deals of the president’s family — published an unfair hit piece last week accusing Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk of fleecing conservative donors to line his own pockets.
TPUSA is known for successfully establishing freedom-forward organizations on 3,500 high school and college campuses and its popular young activist conferences. Kirk is a key player in the organization’s widespread effort to mobilize young conservatives, but AP’s Brian Slodysko suggests the activist is only in it for the donor money.
In his Oct. 10 article “How Trump’s MAGA movement helped a 29-year-old activist become a millionaire,” Slodysko claims that Kirk found his financial success after linking his organization to former President Donald Trump and the populist policies that made him popular.
Slodysko accuses Kirk of using the roughly quarter-billion donor dollars TPUSA has raised since 2016 on not just “cultivating conservative influencers and hosting glitzy events” but enriching himself and “top Turning Point officials” with “pricey salaries,” “lavish perks,” and self-dealing.
He points to the group’s new $108 million get-out-the-vote campaign as further proof that TPUSA’s fundraising is a grift designed to benefit Kirk and his staff.
Political activists on the left have repeatedly escaped financial scrutiny from the AP or, in Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullor’s case, even earned a defense from the outlet. Kirk’s status as a multimillionaire who owns several high-dollar properties, however, is
