Hundreds of students and Wyoming residents gathered on the University of Wyoming campus last week. Not for a band or movie star, but for political lectures and the chance to debate a prominent political activist: Charlie Kirk, a popular figure in conservative media circles, Trump loyalist and co-founder of the conservative youth activism organization, Turning Point USA (TPUSA).
The lines to see Kirk speak at the Arts and Sciences auditorium stretched well into Prexy's Pasture and partially around the building. The auditorium reached a max capacity of 1,800, while a small crowd of people still waited outside for a possible seat. Police and plainclothes security were stationed at every entrance and exit. Two large screens flanked the speaker podium on stage, running b-roll media highlighting interviews conducted by TPUSA on other college campuses. Students closer to the front could be seen with phones in hand, ready to record any debate debacle or opposition outburst. Clearly, these were students who had seen Kirk perform online.
Kirk gained popularity over a decade of debating college students, holding shock value protests and arguing for right-wing ideological views. His organization, Turning Point USA, is Kirk's most impactful political action. Founded in 2012, TPUSA says its focus is on “winning the culture war,” primarily through rallying young Republicans on college campuses. TPUSA touts over 250,000 members across college campuses.
Kirk in Wyoming
Kirk spoke at UW on April 24 as part of his “American Comeback Tour.”
Kirk was prefaced by Gabe Saint, president of Turning Point UW. A week before the event, Saint hosted a “prove me wrong” table to promote it. It’s a tactic Kirk himself uses ahead of events to debate students with views similar to and opposing his own.
Turning Point’s national organization paid for the logistics of the event and a fee for recording. The local UW chapter is a student organization, and as such did not pay for Kirk to attend.
After Saint spoke, Kirk appeared to overwhelming applause. Members of the public mostly took to the balcony while a crowd of students below rushed to the front. Kirk brought a stack of MAGA hats, which he tossed to men and women in the front, many of whom already had a MAGA hat of their own.
Kirk spoke for about 17 minutes, his focus primarily on the victories that justified his tour. For Kirk, these were the Supreme Court decision to end affirmative action, Pres. Trump’s executive orders on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and the dismantling of disparate impact liability. Additionally, Kirk celebrated the closure of UW’s DEI office.
“DEI is the slow moving bureaucracy that has found itself in so many institutions. Thrilled by the way University of Wyoming got rid of it,” he said. “DEI is these forced diversity recruitment departments, they are the commissars, they are the enforcement arm of critical race theory.”
Kirk also spent time speaking about the southern border, the “definition of woke” and oil drilling promised by Trump. During the event, Kirk would occasionally touch on themes of a conflict “for Western civilization,” such as a perceived fertility crisis or finding no value in liberal arts education that promotes foreign ideas.
Kirk’s points on a cultural threat to Western civilization have earned him an uphill battle against his opponents, who describe him as a “white supremacist.” When a journalist with the UW school newspaper asked Kirk how he could do his job better, Kirk said labeling him as a white supremacist would be “unfair” and indicate poor journalism.
Questions and debate
For many in attendance, Kirk’s style of debate was the main show.
Some in the audience, like Jesus Poe, were unaware of Kirk’s personal views and only knew him as the media figure who tries to win arguments with students on more liberal-leaning campuses.
“I'm just here to see people argue,” Poe said.
The sentiment was common, but the opposition necessary for that verbal chaos was not present. UW is not liberal compared to some of the other colleges Kirk has visited. By the words of one of TPUSA UW’s senior members, Lucie Holt, the red state's land grant university has only been getting more unapologetically conservative.
“Our campus has gone much of the conservative side in the past couple of years, especially because of our club and our involvement [with] the students here,” said Holt. “We're just not scared to show who we are because our majority is growing and it's a very obvious majority at this point. We used to be the silent majority and it's getting more and more obvious.”
UW’s chapter of TPUSA formed in 2022. While the group has not been active long, they’ve already hosted events featuring prominent members of their ideological counterpart, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus. The group has also backed candidates in recent student government elections at UW.
Before the “Question and Answer” segment had begun, people had already started lining up for the microphone. With some 20 people in line, each ready to have some kind of back-and-forth with Kirk, TPUSA deployed an individual to screen questions and send people over to the main microphone.
Kirk has loose ties with Trump, more so during campaign seasons. Despite not working for the administration, Kirk acts as a conduit for its policies and stances. As such, a majority of the questions were directed at Kirk as a sort of semi-representative of Trump, young conservatives and the MAGA wing in general. It’s a position Kirk was more than happy to hold.
Despite the room being well on Kirk’s side, both in a political and entertainment sense, the first question out of the gate was around the constitutionality of deporting a protected green card holder.
“Why are [the Trump administration] refusing to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia?” asked the first student up to question Kirk. “I care that [everyone in] the United States is afforded the rights under the Constitution and if we bypass that for him, what's stopping us from bypassing that [for] literally anybody else?”
Like with many of Kirk’s answers, he didn’t give a legal defense of the administration, although he cited the use of the Aliens Enemies Act as justification. Kirk’s debate style seeks to promote a moral and ideological difference from his opponents. Kirk and the student went back and forth on Garcia’s tattoos, protected status and country of deportation before Kirk said this:
“We admit that it was an administrative error, but what we will not admit is that it was not a moral error. There's nothing morally wrong with scooping up someone that's been [warranted] for deportation” said Kirk, to the applause of the auditorium.
In a separate exchange, a self-described “born and raised conservative” student asked Kirk for advice on a more sensitive situation. The student said she was considering “becoming an advocate for Hispanics” after finding out that one of her closest friends had been illegally brought into the country by her parents years ago.
“She's become my best friend and I love her dearly and I've seen her grow within the last year of working in this country, providing a lot to this country and helping America become excellent,” the woman said. “I guess my biggest conflict here is what would you like to see going forward for this Hispanic community, especially young women and men who are in their 20s, who are illegal, being able to have the same equal opportunity in this country as I do, because that's my conflict.”
Kirk responded first by “gently correct[ing]” some things, saying, “Not all Hispanics are illegal,” and, “Not all illegals are Hispanic.” Regardless, Kirk said that while it may be hard for the student, she also has to understand these are federal immigration laws.
“So then her parents are the ones that should go back to wherever she came from with her, because her parents made that mistake with her. I'm an incredibly, like, non-negotiating hawk when it comes to immigration,” said Kirk. “We need to be a nation of law, not feelings.”
“Right, yeah, I appreciate that, thank you so much,” said the student while the crowd applauded once more.
Reactions
Outside the event, a small number of counter-protesters rallied. Mostly high school students from Laramie held signs asking people to stand against fascism and held conversations with audience members as they left the auditorium.
Members of Turning Point UW were pleased with the event, and Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who was in attendance, said Kirk did “a wonderful job.”
Milan Wolff, a graduate student at UW, thought Kirk had fine debate skills but could have given deeper answers.
“I was impressed with Charlie's rhetorical flourishes and ability to sustain a debate, but I thought the questions he was answering weren't answered completely and sometimes the answers weren't substantial when you looked at them. So, I guess that's kind of my take away of the event,” said Wolff.
Asa Michalka, also a graduate student at UW, said Kirk seemed tired by the end.
“I think during the debate part, it wasn't very strong. It was more just like, ‘I'm very tired.’ Like Charlie Kirk, if I was in his shoes, I think I would feel very tired of what's happening, and he was just like, ‘I'm just done arguing because like we already won.’ That was the vibe that I got,” said Michalka.
Kambel Cox, a first year UW student, said being there for the event in person is a much better experience than a few shorts on social media.
“You see the clips online and it's just like, you know, arguing back and forth – and there were some of that, but I think [if] you go into this, you learn a lot more than what you do in a 32 second Instagram clip or TikTok,” said Cox.
This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.
