Into the Breech of Turning Point USA’s “Culture War”

On the evening of October 24th, the University of New Hampshire’s campus crackled with energy as the controversial student organization Turning Point USA hosted an event titled “Culture War,” featuring their polarizing founder, Charlie Kirk, and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. On second thought, “crackled” may be too strong a word. It more resembled a dull buzz. Actually, outside of the event space itself, one could hardly tell that Charlie Kirk, a figure who once sparked widespread protests, was speaking on campus that night. It seems TPUSA simply can no longer create the kind of exciting and heated atmosphere that once lent it so much renown.

The lack of opposition, however, did not stop TPUSA from gearing up to face a riot. Tired-looking security officers stood scattered about the entrance to the event, trying their best to appear threatening, and a winding black curtain served as a bottleneck to funnel event-goers into a smaller, more controllable space. After passing through this harrowing checkpoint, attendees were free to release their energy and excitement in a crowd of like-minded, red-pilled intellectuals, equipped with facts and logic.
Before settling into their seats for the main event, each had the chance to show their support for TPUSA by wearing a number of free pins and stickers made available at a table just outside the door. Some pins went quickly, as they featured fairly uncontroversial slogans among Kirk supporters, such as “Big Government Scares” and “Socialism Sucks.” Other pins, however, proved quite polarizing. Many members of TPUSA, for instance, would not feel comfortable wearing a giant “I Heart Israel” button on their shirt, and while it’s safe to say almost the entire crowd passionately supports the second amendment, it became difficult for them to proclaim their support for this issue when the AR-15 on TPUSA memorabilia is stylized to resemble a gay pride flag.

Despite these controversial emblems, all divisions from within quickly vanished when a pair of TPUSAers took to the stage and rallied the crowd with chants of “USA!” and “socialism sucks!” The energy erupted as Charlie Kirk himself took the stage, along with Senator Paul. Fortunately for the speakers, Kirk had no difficulty in calming the crowd down. He simply muttered into the microphone, “good music,” (a comment referencing the Post Malone song to which the pair walked out) and nervously laughed.

Unsure of how to respond, the crowd chuckled uncomfortably along with him and fell silent. All became calm, and the feature was set to start.

The event generally followed a pattern of Kirk asking a simple question to Senator Paul, Paul then responding to the question for a period of time while Kirk stared off into the corner, and Kirk chiming in after Paul’s comments with a quick and snappy one-liner packed with facts and logic, perfect for a “Liberals Rekt” YouTube compilation. Most of the discussion revolved around the perceived oppression of conservative students on college campuses and the need for young Americans to be educated in the American tradition so that they do not grow up to destroy the nation. Occasionally, they covered current events. This is where the pair really shined.

First, they discussed the difficult situation in Syria and the threat posed by Turkey to the Kurdish people living along the Turkish border. “[The Kurds] should be eternally grateful to us,” said Senator Paul, refuting the notion that we have any duty to protect the Kurds. According to Paul, America was never necessarily allied with the Kurds, rather, we simply helped kick ISIS out of their “villages.” Kirk quickly jumped to bolster Paul’s claims, and offered the fact that the Kurds have Marxist tendencies as further evidence that America owes no deference to Kurdish interests.

They also covered the recent tension between Democratic Primary candidate Tulsi Gabbard and Hillary Clinton, who accused the former of being a “Russian asset.” Paul spoke at length at how upsetting it is that our current politicians must resort to such indecent assaults of character. In order for the American political system to function as intended, Paul argued, American politicians must be able to trust that each, in the end, desires to improve the lives of the American people and to protect American interests. By accusing one another of foreign allegiance, we hinder the trust felt between legislators and exponentially increase the difficulty of an already-difficult process. Therefore, we must avoid such accusations and, though we may disagree, we must trust one another to work together. Kirk responded to this argument by noting that Clinton behaves suspiciously like a Russian asset. Kirk later commented that “if the left didn’t have double standards, they wouldn’t have standards at all.” Perhaps he believes the same of himself.

Throughout this conversation, both participants seemed oddly on edge. Paul appeared uncomfortable with a number of Kirk’s statements, as well as the reactions of the audience members, and potentially spent the evening questioning why he agreed to participate in such an event in the first place. Kirk, on the other hand, seemed jumpy, probably because he desperately wanted to find a protestor in the audience.

He lamented over the lack of opposition during the entire course of the night. Once while he was speaking, he heard a singular voice cry out from the audience in response to Kirk expressing his support for gun rights. Kirk, thinking he had finally found a lib to destroy, wheeled around and pointed his finger at the perpetrator, a wild glint in his eye and a maniacal grin on his face. Unfortunately for Kirk, this so-called “protestor” turned out to be only a very timid supporter. The rest of the evening went smoothly, with no sign of oppression from the left.

TPUSA UNH did face a small-scale protest three days prior to the event, an incident Kirk was happy to expound upon, both in person during the event and on Twitter before he arrived on campus. “This is the ‘tolerant’ left tearing down @TPUSA posters…” he tweeted. “Colleges are becoming a breeding ground for ANTIFA. It shouldn’t be dangerous to be a conservative on campus.” This tweet is accompanied by a video showing the entire twenty-second ordeal: the filmer, presumably a member of TPUSA at UNH, approaches two unshowered men tampering with posters on a bulletin board. “You guys don’t like our posters?” he asks. “We f-in’ hate them. We hate them and we hope you die,” one individual responds, before adding in a “we live in a society” for good measure and throwing what appears to be a yogurt cup at the filmer. “That’s awesome,” the victim whispers to himself as the two violent individuals walk away. Much to the delight of Kirk, this video has been used to push the narrative that conservatives are oppressed on college campuses among many conservative circles; it even found its way onto Breitbart.

The individuals in question did not show up to protest the event in person, however. This is, of course, unfortunate for an organization whose existence is justified solely by these instances of so-called violence and hate, so in order to bolster their image as a group that stands boldly in the face of violence from the left, TPUSA UNH needed to promote a culture of protest. Thus when it came time for the audience to ask questions, event organizers moved down the line asking if anyone had a “confrontational question” for either Kirk or Paul. If the answer was yes, they quickly pulled the leftist oppressor to the front of the line and made sure to focus the cameras on his unshaven face as he tried to stand up to the unparalleled reasoning of Charlie Kirk.

The organizers found themselves again disappointed when the questioners opened their mouths, for instead of attacking Kirk from a “cultural neo-Marxist” stance, they accused Kirk and his organization of not doing enough to push what they viewed as the right-wing’s ultimate aims. “How can we save the USA from the least desirable immigrants without implementing a blood and soil clause into the immigration system?” asked one. “Why do you support a Jewish ethnostate in Israel yet you oppose movements for a European ethnostate?” asked another. “Why are you so obsessed with homosexuals?” said one young man, before adding a triumphant, “America is a Christian nation!”

Kirk, to his credit, did his best to discourage any such lines of questioning. After all, it would be quite harmful to his organization, which he desperately wants to be perceived as an open and accepting place, if it became clear that it attracts a fairly sizable portion of legitimate white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Unfortunately for him, almost all questions that did not echo sentiments already expressed in the talk revolved around racist claims. The only other “opposition” he faced that night came in the form of a questioner teasing Kirk about the tantrum he threw after being denied from West Point. Senator Paul, becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the rhetoric espoused by those in attendance, recognized that no substantial questions would be forthcoming and decided to cut the event ten minutes short.