Turning Point Action

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Turning Point Action (TPA) is an American 501(c)(4) organization, which by law can campaign either for or against candidates running for office. It is an affiliate and the political advocacy arm of the conservative 501(c)(3) Turning Point USA, both founded by Charlie Kirk. [1]

Contents

In July 2019, TPA acquired leasing rights to the web domains and social media platforms of Students for Trump, which had been founded in 2015 by John Lambert and Ryan Fournier.

History

In May 2019, it was reported that Kirk was "preparing to unveil" Turning Point Action, a 501(c)(4) entity allowed to campaign against Democrats. [2] While the group claims to be a "completely separate organization" from Turning Point USA, Forbes noted that both were founded by Kirk and use common marketing and branding styles. [3] Kirk has received pay from both Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action. [4]

In July 2019, TPA acquired leasing rights to web domains and social media platforms of Students for Trump, a youth group founded in 2015 at Campbell University in North Carolina by John Lambert and Ryan Fournier. [5] [6] [1] The Washington Post reported in 2023 that Students for Trump was separating from Turning Point organizations after disputes such as whether to drop "Trump" from the group's name. [1]

2020 presidential election

In September 2020, The Washington Post reported Turning Point Action had paid young people in Arizona, some of them minors, to post Turning Point content on their social media accounts without disclosing their affiliation with Turning Point, and that Turning Point had given them instructions on making minor alterations to the content to prevent detection that it came from the same source. The posts cast doubt on the integrity of the electoral process, and downplayed the threat from COVID-19. [7] The campaign was likened to a "troll farm", avoiding the content moderation processes of social media platforms. [8] According to an examination by the newspaper and an independent data science specialist, the campaign was highly coordinated and included similar messaging under the instruction of Turning Point to prevent detection. Some of the messages were false and some were partisan. [7] One message posted on Twitter claimed that coronavirus numbers had been inflated intentionally and "it's hard to know what to believe", according to The Washington Post. Another tweet warned to not trust Anthony Fauci. [7] Twitter responded to the newspaper's questions by suspending at least 20 accounts for their involvement in "platform manipulation and spam." [9] [10]

On Facebook, a comment cast doubts on mail-in ballots because of the potential of mail fraud. [7] An Instagram comment claimed that 28 million ballots went missing in the past four elections, implying voter fraud. [7] In actuality, the missing ballots were neither returned as undeliverable nor returned by voters. [11] Also targeted in the messaging were 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, other Democratic politicians, and news organizations on social media. One message claimed that Biden "is being controlled by behind the scenes individuals who want to take America down the dangerous path towards socialism." [7] Facebook removed a number of accounts during its ongoing investigation. [7] [10] Austin Smith, a field director for Turning Point, told The Washington Post: "This is sincere political activism conducted by real people who passionately hold the beliefs they describe online, not an anonymous troll farm in Russia." Jake Hoffman, CEO of a Phoenix-based digital marketing firm that joined Turning Point for the project, said that "dozens of young people have been excited to share their beliefs on social media" and were "using their own personal profiles and sharing their content that reflects their values and beliefs." [9] [7]

After the 2020 election, Kirk disputed the results and denied that Trump had lost. [12] On January 4, 2021, Kirk announced in a tweet that Turning Point Action would be sending more than 80 buses to a January 6, 2021, Trump "Stop the Steal" rally near the White House in Washington, D.C, to protest the outcome of the election. [13] [14] [15] They sent seven buses with approximately 350 participants. [13] Turning Point Action also funneled money to several "Stop the Steal" rally speakers, including Kimberly Guilfoyle, but did not organize or take part in the march to the Capitol that erupted in violence. [16] [17] The rally, which was attended by several thousand Trump supporters, ended in a riot and the attack at the U.S. Capitol, where Biden's win was about to be certified. [14] Kirk later deleted the tweet [15] and said on his podcast that it was "bad judgment" and "not wise" to enter the Capitol but not necessarily insurrectionist. [18] A Turning Point Action spokesman later said the group condemns political violence. [14]

COVID-19 vaccination in the United States

In 2021, Kirk compared Biden's vaccination efforts to an "Apartheid-style open air hostage situation". [19] [20] [21] Text messages sent by Turning Point Action using Twilio automatically enrolled donors under a recurring monthly plan. Kirk's spokesperson said they are not anti-vaxx, reiterating that "the vaccine makes logical sense for millions of Americans" but they should "have the freedom to chose", and Kirk was advocating against vaccine mandates and passports for healthy young people. The same spokesperson said the text messages from Turning Point Action were not approved by Kirk and that the automatic contribution function was added by a vendor. [19]

2024 presidential election

TPA hosted a conference in July 2023 called "ACTCON", [22] it was hosted in West Palm Beach and drew roughly around 6,000 attendees. [23] It had several guest speakers including the event headliner Donald Trump and keynote speaker Tucker Carlson. According to the New York Times, the two day event drew roughly a third of the Republican presidential field as speakers. [24] [25]

Resignation of Austin Smith

In April 2024, Arizona state representative Austin Smith who was an "election integrity warrior" and the TPA National Field Administrative Director resigned his TPA position and quit his state reelection race after he was accused of forging voter signatures on documents he filed for his reelection run. [26] [27]

Tyler Bowyer indicted in Arizona fake electors plot

On April 24, 2024, TPA COO Tyler Bowyer was indicted on 9 charges in connection with the 2020 Arizona fake electors plot. [28] On May 21, 2024, Bowyer and 10 of his 17 co-defendants pled not guilty after being arraigned in Maricopa County Superior Court. [29] [30] Bowyer was among five people who made their not guilty plea virtually rather than in-person. [31]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Stanley-Becker, Isaac (February 9, 2023). "Charlie Kirk's right-wing empire loses a key asset: Students for Trump". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  2. ↑ Schwartz, Brian (May 20, 2019). "Pro-Trump college GOP activist Charlie Kirk will launch a new group to target Democrats in 2020". CNBC . Retrieved July 22, 2019.
  3. ↑ Sandler, Rachel (October 8, 2020). "Facebook Bans Marketing Firm That Made Fake Accounts For Conservative Nonprofit Turning Point Action". Forbes . Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  4. ↑ Zadrozny, Brandy (July 13, 2022). "Behind Turning Point USA's funding boom – with half of it coming from 10 anonymous donors". NBC News . Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Turning Point Action Launches 2020 Expansion, Acquires 'Students for Trump'". Democracy in Action. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
  6. ↑ Brown, Stephen Rex (August 6, 2019). "Students for Trump founder pleads guilty to posing as lawyer in $46K scam". New York Daily News . Archived from the original on August 7, 2019. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Stanley-Becker, Isaac (September 16, 2020). "Pro-Trump youth group enlists teens in secretive campaign likened to a 'troll farm,' prompting rebuke by Facebook and Twitter". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on September 16, 2020. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  8. ↑ Lopatto, Elizabeth (September 15, 2020). "Conservative group used a bunch of teens to evade Twitter and Facebook moderation". The Verge. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  9. 1 2 Flood, Brian (September 16, 2020). "Turning Point USA-affiliated, pro-Trump teenagers violated Twitter policy with coordinated posts: report". Fox News. Archived from the original on September 18, 2020. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  10. 1 2 Paul LeBlanc and Donie O'Sullivan (September 16, 2020). "Twitter and Facebook shut down accounts linked to youth conservative group's misleading social media campaign". CNN. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  11. ↑ Mikkelson, David (May 21, 2020). "Did 28 Million Mail-In Ballots Go 'Missing' in Last Four Elections?". Snopes.com. Archived from the original on December 13, 2020. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  12. ↑ Baragona, Justin (December 14, 2020). "Geraldo Slaps Down Charlie Kirk: 'You Have to Stop This!'". The Daily Beast . Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  13. 1 2 O'Harrow Jr., Robert (January 17, 2021). "Rallies ahead of Capitol riot were planned by established Washington insiders". The Washington Post . Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  14. 1 2 3 Tanfani, Joseph; Berens, Michael; Parker, Ned (January 12, 2021). "How Trump's pied pipers rallied a faithful mob to the Capitol". Reuters. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  15. 1 2 Thalen, Mikael (January 10, 2021). "Charlie Kirk deletes tweet saying he sent '80+ buses full of patriots' to D.C." The Daily Dot . Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  16. ↑ Zadrozny, Brandy (July 13, 2022). "Behind Turning Point USA's funding boom – with half of it coming from 10 anonymous donors". NBC News .
  17. ↑ Stanley-Becker, Isaac; Reinhard, Beth (June 15, 2022). "Publix heiress paid Kimberly Guilfoyle's $60,000 speaking fee on Jan. 6". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286.
  18. ↑ Palmer, Ewan (January 12, 2021). "Charlie Kirk Says Not Everyone in Capitol Mob Was an Insurrectionist". Newsweek . Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  19. 1 2 Stanley-Becker, Isaac (July 29, 2021). "Charlie Kirk's pro-Trump youth group stokes vaccine resistance as covid surges again". The Washington Post . Retrieved December 11, 2021.
  20. ↑ Ecarma, Caleb (July 8, 2021). "The Right-Wing Vaccine Rebellion Has Arrived on Campus". Vanity Fair . Retrieved July 13, 2021.
  21. ↑ Korecki, Natasha; Daniels, Eugene (July 12, 2021). "'Potentially a death sentence': White House goes off on vaccine fearmongers". Politico . Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  22. ↑ "Turning Point's #ACTCON was a pro-Trump lovefest designed to intimidate". MSNBC.com. July 17, 2023. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  23. ↑ Vigdor, Neil (July 17, 2023). "A Pro-Trump Crowd, Sensing Disloyalty, Drowns Out Dissent". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  24. ↑ Vigdor, Neil (July 16, 2023). "In Florida, Trump Says DeSantis Has No Path to Victory". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  25. ↑ "Turning Point Action official resigns after accusation of election-related fraud". Washington Post.
  26. ↑ Roberts, Laurie (April 17, 2024). "An election integrity warrior may have forged signatures to get on the ballot? Nooooo". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
  27. ↑ Duda, Jeremy (April 18, 2024). "Arizona GOP Rep. Austin Smith ends campaign amid forgery allegations". Axios.
  28. ↑ Leingang, Rachel (April 24, 2024). "Arizona grand jury indicts Trump allies including Rudy Giuliani over 2020 fake elector scheme". The Guardian. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  29. ↑ Heuer, Mike (May 21, 2024). "Giuliani, 10 others plead not guilty to felony election charges in Arizona". UPI. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  30. ↑ Heuer, Mike (May 21, 2024). "Giuliani, 10 others plead not guilty to felony election charges in Arizona". UPI. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  31. ↑ Marquez, Alexandra; Tabet, Alex (May 21, 2024). "Trump allies plead not guilty in Arizona 'fake electors' case". NBC News. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
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