Charlie Kirk isn’t backing down.
The Turning Point USA founder fired back Tuesday after the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled his conservative youth group a “hate group.” He appeared on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” to respond.
“Understand that they’re literally putting high school chapters of ours on a hate group list next to the KKK and next to neo-Nazi groups,” Kirk said.
He warned the SPLC’s label isn’t just words — it has dangerous consequences. He pointed to the 2012 shooting at the Family Research Council, where the attacker cited the SPLC’s hate list as inspiration. “This is them trying to make us basically surrender at Turning Point USA,” Kirk said.
But Kirk made it clear: they’re not surrendering. “We’re going to do the opposite,” he said. “Our students are only going to lean in even more.” He added that his critics won’t debate ideas — they just label.
“They must smear us with the age-old one-liner that you are a racist or that you are a hater,” Kirk said. “They’re finally realizing the power of Turning Point USA.”
The SPLC’s 2024 report claimed 1,371 extremist groups are undermining democracy. It grouped Turning Point USA with known hate groups — and that’s drawing serious backlash.
This isn’t the first time the SPLC has been criticized. In 2023, it labeled parental rights groups like Moms for Liberty as extremists. Conservatives accused the group of targeting mainstream advocacy.
Even a former SPLC staffer turned on the group. Bob Moser called it a “highly profitable scam” in The New Yorker, accusing it of exploiting donors and hiding internal problems like racism and harassment.