Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA are building a reactionary cult for young people....

[Nevilledog]

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Matthew Sheffield
@mattsheffield
Thread: Charlie Kirk is building a reactionary cult for young people. Do Democratic or progressive leaders care?

This is a summary of my latest @TheoryChange episode featuring @MatthewBoedy.

Watch, listen, or read at the link or continue the thread.

Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA are building a reactionary cult for young people, does anyone on...
Rhetoric professor Matthew Boedy discusses in-depth how a far-right group is radicalizing young Christians, and how little center-left groups are doing in response
flux.community
4:34 PM · Jan 3, 2022

https://flux.community/matthew-sheffield/2022/01/charlie-kirk-and-turning-point-usa-are-building-reactionary-cult-young

Polling over the decades has shown that most Republican voters are heavily motivated by white Christian identity politics. But Republican elites— politicians, writers, and many donors— were more interested in cutting spending and giving tax cuts to job creators, or rich people in other words.

Over the past 60 years or so, GOP politics has been an imbalance where the base of voters wanted an agenda that promoted Christian nationalist ideas like mandatory school prayer, open discrimination against lesbians and gays, and legal obstacles to non-Christians. But Republican leaders focused more on deregulation and tax policy.

Donald Trump changed all that, however. In addition to giving out tax subsidies to his rich friends, Trump also began implementing Christian nationalism by banning trying to ban Muslim immigration and undermining LGBT rights in America and around the world. He also talked frequently about how his goal was to help Christians have political supremacy and power.

Trump’s reorientation of Republican organizing was resistant at first by traditional Republican elites. But one person who jumped on board almost immediately was Charlie Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Point USA. The group was originally created in 2012 to spread the market fundamentalism of Republican fat cats to America’s youth. But after Trump took over the Republican party, Kirk completely changed TPUSA toward being a Christian nationalist organization.

*snip*

[PortTack]

1. They know they have a shrinking base as fewer and fewer young adults chose toxic religion as a

Path forward

[AZProgressive]

2. The left does a much better job appealing to young people

There is a huge variety of content compared to what the right wing is trying to do with Charlie Kirk who does a poor job of it when it comes to the youth vote.

[NickB79]

3. Charlie Kirk's face looks like a witch doctor tried to shrink his head

But said fuck it and gave up halfway through.

[Nevilledog]

4. Well, there is that....

[msongs]

5. it's all about fleecing the flock. religion is just an excuse and tool nt