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Charlie Kirk (born October 14, 1993) is a bestselling Author, Columnist, Conservative Activist, Editor-at-Large, Guest Commentator, Speaker, and Social Media Influencer. He is the Founder and President of Turning Point Action and Turning Point USA and he is the Chairman of Students for Trump. He has authored one book and co-authored two books. He was named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list for 2018 and was ranked as the seventh most influential Republican under the age of 30 by the conservative website NewsMax.

Early Life and Education
Born in Arlington Heights, Illinois, Kirk was raised in nearby Prospect Heights. Kirk attended Wheeling High School in Wheeling, Illinois, where he was captain of the varsity men's basketball team and an Eagle Scout.

According to Kirk, he dreamed of attending the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, but his application was rejected. According to The New Yorker, Kirk said "the slot he considered his went to 'a far less-qualified candidate of a different gender and a different persuasion'" whose test scores he claimed he knew. Kirk later stated he was being sarcastic.

Kirk took general education classes at Harper College, a community college near Chicago, Illinois. He founded Turning Point USA before dropping out of Harper to pursue political activism.

Kirk addressed the 2016 Republican National Convention. In an interview with Wired magazine during the convention, Kirk said that while he "was not the world's biggest Donald Trump fan," he would vote for him, and that Trump's candidacy made Turning Point's mission more difficult. The Dallas Morning News described Kirk as leading the "millennial assault" for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

Turning Point USA
Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is an American conservative  nonprofit organization. TPUSA's stated mission is to "identify, educate, train and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets and limited government." Charlie Kirk founded Turning Point USA in 2012, when he was 18 years old. At the 2012 Republican National Convention, Kirk met Foster Friess, a Republican donor, and persuaded him to finance the organization. Friess also serves on the organization's advisory council, alongside Ginni Thomas, wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Barry Russell, president and CEO of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), is a key advisor.

Turning Point Action & Students for Trump
In July 2019, Kirk became Chairman of Students for Trump and launched a campaign to recruit one million students for the 2020 Trump reelection campaign.

Books
Kirk is the author of one book, which was on The New York Times Best Seller list, and has co-authored two other books including one with Donald Trump Jr..


 * In a review for The Weekly Standard, Adam Rubenstein described the book as a "hot mess", "nothing more a marketing pitch for TPUSA" and said the "thin" book was "stuffed with reprintings of his tweets and quotes from others."
 * In a review for The Weekly Standard, Adam Rubenstein described the book as a "hot mess", "nothing more a marketing pitch for TPUSA" and said the "thin" book was "stuffed with reprintings of his tweets and quotes from others."
 * In a review for The Weekly Standard, Adam Rubenstein described the book as a "hot mess", "nothing more a marketing pitch for TPUSA" and said the "thin" book was "stuffed with reprintings of his tweets and quotes from others."



Columns
- Editor at large for Newsweek - Regular Columnist for foxnews.com, Breitbart, Washington Times, and The Hill

Social media influencer
- Kirk has one of the most engaged twitter accounts in the world

Television and radio
- Kirk is a Guest Commentator on various media outlets with reportedly over 600 appearances on shows including: CNBC; Fox News; FOX Business News; The Sean Hannity Show (radio); Hannity (TV); Tucker Carlson Tonight (TV); Justice with Judge Jeanine (TV), The Ingraham Angle (TV), Life, Liberty and Levin (TV), The Limbaugh Letter; plus numerous radio and podcast appearances.

Awards
In 2018, he was named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list and was ranked as the seventh most influential Republican under the age of 30 by the conservative website NewsMax.

In May 2019, Charlie Kirk was awarded an honorary doctorate from Liberty University, a private evangelical Christian university co-founded by Jerry Falwell.

Conservative activism
Kirk became politically active during high school. In his junior year of school in 2010, Kirk volunteered for the successful U.S. Senate campaign of Illinois Republican Mark Kirk (to whom his family bears no relation). In 2012, as a high school senior, Kirk launched the political student organization "SOS Liberty," which he described as an "international distress call for help" related to "Washington's massive debts and deficits." On May 21, 2012, Kirk and his fellow leaders at SOS Liberty appeared on Fox & Friends. Later that year, Kirk wrote an essay for Breitbart News alleging liberal bias in high school textbooks, leading to an appearance on Fox Business Network. At a subsequent speaking engagement at Benedictine University's "Youth Empowerment Day," Kirk met Bill Montgomery, a retiree more than 50 years his senior, who was then a Tea Party-backed legislative candidate. Montgomery encouraged Kirk to get engaged in political activism full-time. He then founded Turning Point USA. At the 2012 Republican National Convention, Kirk met Republican donor Foster Friess and persuaded him to finance the organization.

Kirk addressed the 2016 Republican National Convention. In an interview with Wired during the convention, Kirk said that while he "was not the world's biggest Donald Trump fan," he would vote for him, and that Trump's candidacy made Turning Point's mission to "spread the conservative message in high schools and college campuses" more difficult.

70 days before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, "Kirk was asked to join the inner circle of the Trump campaign," where "he worked directly with Eric [Trump], Ivanka [Trump], and Donald Trump Jr. to attract the millennial vote." The Dallas Morning News described Kirk as leading the "millennial assault" for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

On December 22, 2017, President Donald Trump tweeted in praise of Kirk and Turning Point USA amid controversy surrounding the organization.

Controversies
In 2018, Kirk praised Kanye West for getting involved in politics and advocating for President Trump. Later that year when Taylor Swift endorsed Democrat Phil Bredesen in the Tennessee Senate race, Kirk condemned her and said she should "stay away from politics." Kirk suggested, without evidence, that Swift had not written her endorsement. Kirk said it was "ridiculous" for Swift to accuse Republican Marsha Blackburn of being hostile to LGBT rights and women's rights.