The late Charlie Kirk and Tucker Carlson were longtime pals. Each appeared on each other’s shows and they shared a lot of views. It seems before his death Kirk was catching grief from certain quarters over his bromance with Carlson and it was showing up in donations to Turning Point, or more accurately the loss of them. It was alleged Kirk, who’d always been a strong advocate for Israel had shared concerns about the donation issue. According to conservative influencer Candace Owens a rift was developing within Turning Point and her mention of texts got her raked over the coals. However it turns out she was right about Kirk’s re-evaluating his support for Israel.
Admittedly this is one of those ‘in-the-weeds’ things but it could turn out to be a big freaking deal. The texts that initially were decried by many as bogus have, according to an article from Alternet you can read here have turned out to exist. More importantly they back Owen’s contention that Kirk might rethink his unqualified support for Israel.
This gets a bit complicated as some dots have to be connected. Carlson and Kirk were as I said quite good friends. Carlson however has in recent months taken a critical view of Israel to the point where prominent people in MAGA World have blasted him. Despite this Kirk was still planning to have Carlson at an upcoming event and it did more the piss people off. As I noted Kirk’s unwillingness to create distance from Carlson was starting to affect donations. Then came the loss of a $2 Million donation from a Jewish donor. Apparently due to Kirk refusing to disinvite Carlson. THAT got Kirk’s attention for sure.
Add it all up and it turns out there’s been some unreported unrest going on within the ranks of Turning Point USA. Given it’s made up of self-professed Evangelicals who’s support for Israel is unquestioned Kirk continuing to be buddies with Carlson has apparently caused some discontent. Although quiet it’s been there. Then Owens spoke up about some texts of Kirks and kicked over a hornet’s nest. She caught plenty of flak over her posts, which Kirk’s followers said were rumors and conspiracy theories. Their authenticity was challenged but one of Turning Point USA’s own, someone at the top confirmed them:
In the texts, Kirk, who was a strong supporter of Israel, said that he had lost a $2 million donation from a Jewish donor over his refusal to disinvite Carlson from an upcoming event.
The authenticity of the texts, described as “unsavory” by The Bulwark’s Sam Stein, was confirmed Tuesday by Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet, who shared the texts to government officials immediately following Kirk’s assassination, Newsweek reports.
“I did share it with some people in government because it happened really quick,” Kolvet said. “It was, you know, it took 33 hours for authorities to get their suspect. And in those first moments, we wanted no stone unturned.”
This has got to be a bombshell for Kirk’s followers. They dug in with ‘this is NOT Charlie’ thinking and statements. Now they are confronted with the fact, from Turning Point USA’s official spokesperson the texts Owens posted are in fact authentic. What must be going through their minds now? Being a lifelong baseball guy the old “Say it ain’t so Joe’ line comes to mind! (what a kid, a neighbor of Shoeless Joe Jackson’s said when it was revealed he was part of throwing a World Series) The point however is that Owens’ posts of screenshots can’t be ignored:
Kirk’s death has caused what now seems like a genuine rift to bubble up to the surface. Owens got bashed but like I said earlier there are receipts she can point to and Kirk’s followers are not at all happy that this has come to light. What did he say you ask. Well, here’s some of what’s in the linked article:
‘In the text message, Kirk said donors were getting mad at him for hanging out with Carlson, an outspoken critic on Israel.
“Jewish donors play into all the stereotypes,” Kirk wrote. “I can not and will not be bullied like this.”
In a following text, Kirk said recent events were “leaving me no choice but to leave the pro-Israel cause.”
Yikes. It’s no wonder a debate is breaking out within Turning Point over where things go from here. The organization already was facing having to deal with finessing his widow’s ‘Wives should run the household and take care of the kids and leave business/breadwinning to their husbands’ platform into taking over as head of the whole thing. Yeah, that’s Trumpian level hypocrisy. Now this. Does the organization think about Charlie’s leanings at the time of his death or make a bigly public show of casting out the demons Carlson and Owens?
Owens is using the texts to create a ‘Israel is behind Kirk’s assassination’ narrative and the WH, Stephen Miller in particular is more than a little unhappy about it. He’s been spreading a ‘we can use this to CRUSH the left’ philosophy and working up a plan on how to market it. Owens is tossing turds into the punchbowl in which Miller is mixing his toxic brew:
Carlson and Owens, Sommer says, “are throwing up to more rational people on the right that it’s kind of a smokescreen and they’re distracting from what should be the big ‘crush the left moment’. I think this is becoming a real issue for Turning Point USA. They’re kind of being led around by Candace Owens here.”
Stein agrees and says now people will be looking at Turning Point USA to see “what do they say about Israel?”
“There’s a real divide in the ranks over the U.S.Israeli alliance here,” Stein said.
Why does this matter? If it breaks out into a full-blown Turning Point civil war it WILL impact the GOP. Kirk and Trump were on great terms as you know. I don’t give her credit for much (given her views over the years) but even if she didn’t mean it her expression of forgiveness to the man who murdered her husband sure seemed genuine. Then Trump took the podium and stomped all over her words meant to bring about some healing. And let’s face the fact that while Charlie was a Trump guy, a white male who helped him politically as a smoother salesman of Trump’s bullshit some WOMAN isn’t going to carry any weight at all with Trumpty. He literally succeeded her at Kirk’s memorial and said ‘Don’t pay attention to anything SHE has to say.’
Turning Point is no flash-in-the-pan organization. It is large, has been well-funded and the key to Trump’s and the GOP’s outreach (more successful than many progressives want to admit I should add) to young voters. However as I’ve said tiny cracks were present in the facade. Now we see them and they widened with Kirk’s death. Will entire bricks fall out, and if so will enough do so to bring the whole thing crashing down? That remains to be seen.
However a food fight within Turning Point over the future direction of the organization has started. For all her abilities the plain fact is that it’s new head, Charlie Kirk’s widow is a GIRL. Or for what passes for enlightened RWNJ Christian minds a WOMAN and no woman is going to hold the same command presence as a man. Nor as I said earlier will it hold any value to Trump. He’ll just see her as a former beauty queen and try to figure out how he can convince her to f**k him.
Charlie Kirk turned Turning Point USA into a major force in conservative politics. Funding for candidates and more importantly organization to get young voters to the polls. If it falls into disarray which is possible then the GOP will have lost something invaluable. I’m sure the organization will go on, but if they aren’t the force Kirk made them it will cost the GOP at the polls when election time rolls around. Given how evenly divided the country is even a percentage point or two in many races makes the difference. So I urge you to read the linked article, and file it away because next year and beyond this for now open spat could turn into a very big, election altering deal.
******************************************
Zoomers, we are always in need of donations. We work hard to get you analysis that you will not find in the mainstream media, but all media have been hit hard since the big companies have gobbled up and monopolized commentary. Anything you can spare will be immensely appreciated. And thank you to all who have donated generously already. UrsulaÂ
