MILWAUKEE — Speaking during a prime-time slot on the first night of the Republican National Convention, far-right conservative talk show host and northwest suburban native Charlie Kirk said former President Donald Trump would reject a "fake, pathetic, mutilated version of the American dream" he claims has taken hold under President Joe Biden.
During a four-minute talk that was otherwise largely focused on economic numbers, Kirk bemoaned Democrats "whose vision is this: limit your dreams. Give up. Aim lower, be content with less."
Kirk is the 30-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting conservative values on high school and college campuses.
"I visit college campuses so you don't have to," Kirk said to laughs at Milwaukee's downtown Fiserv Forum.
The Wheeling High School graduate — who told the Daily Herald in 2013 he was a high school volunteer for former GOP Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk (no relation) — hosts a daily conservative web talk show with millions of followers on YouTube.
He’s also built a close relationship with the Trump family that culminated in his prime-time slot on night one of the presumptive nominee’s convention.
Hard-line conservatives have embraced Kirk’s younger, edgier brand of “anti-woke” commentary, but critics have regularly accused Kirk and his organization of promoting homophobic, transphobic and antisemitic ideas.
Kirk didn't ruffle feathers during his brief talk, targeting inflation under the Biden administration.
"The average American is having fewer children than ever before. Why? It's because for far too many, they simply can't afford them. The basic things our parents enjoy are increasingly out of reach for Gen Z and millennials," Kirk said.
Turning Point’s stated mission is to “empower informed civic and cultural engagement grounded in American exceptionalism and a positive spirit of action.”
But administrators at Taft High School on the Northwest Side rejected the group when it tried to start a chapter in 2021, calling it “an organization promoting racial intolerance.”
Kirk didn't mention his hometown during his speech, but South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott name-dropped Chicago earlier in the night's program.
"If you're looking for racism today, we find it in cities run by Democrats," Scott said. "Look on the South Side of Chicago: poor Black kids trapped in failing schools, thousands shot every single year."
