ATLANTA (AP) — Charlie Kirk and Vivek Ramaswamy recently took the stage in downtown Atlanta, a decidedly liberal environment for two famous conservatives to hold court hearings with students.
Within minutes, Ramaswamy, the biotech entrepreneur running for this year’s Republican presidential nomination, and Kirk, the professional provocateur, were battling Georgia State University students over their choices in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
“What is Kamala Harris’ greatest achievement?” Kirk briefly asked two students who accused Donald Trump of being “un-American” and wanting to suspend the Constitution.
Kirk, 31, will play a major role in this year’s elections. He is using his online presence and the organization he founded, Turning Point Action, to make himself one of the most recognizable conservatives in the country and a central part of Trump’s operation. The former president has placed a particular emphasis on courting younger men, the “bro vote,” in an effort to reach them through podcasts, social media and influencers like Kirk.
Kirk is organizing a rally for Trump on Wednesday in Duluth, Georgia, part of the broad metro-Atlanta area where Trump underperformed in his re-election campaign four years ago and lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Kirk and Trump will appear at a rally in Las Vegas on Thursday evening.
Harris will be in Philadelphia for a live town hall broadcast on CNN on Wednesday evening.
The rally in Atlanta on Monday was part of the “You’re Being Brainwashed Tour,” with stops at college campuses in the swing states that will decide whether he becomes president.
Kirk’s Turning Point profiles state and local Republican officials as they campaign for office in Arizona, Wisconsin and elsewhere. Critics are questioning the group’s claims and its use of an app that offers minimal protections to secure voters’ personal information. In a recording of a meeting obtained by The Associated Press, an employee of one group stated: “We are now an official arm of the Trump campaign.”
Beyond the fieldwork, Kirk’s “Brainwashed” tour has become perhaps his most visible presence in the final months of the campaign.
Trump and his aides argue that his populist nationalism appeals to younger voters frustrated by an inflationary economy and rising home prices.
At Georgia State, Kirk drew a striking contingent of young men wearing Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” hats.
“I’m definitely voting for Trump because he reflects my values as a conservative and as a Christian more than Ms. Harris,” said 25-year-old Jean Pierre. He cited figures like Kirk and Candace Owens for “helping me realize that I had always been conservative.”
Yet Pierre seemed to be vastly outnumbered in the crowd by the students who were there to push back the host or simply to watch the combative conversations that ensued.
When Turning Point employees walked through the crowd handing out free “MAGA” hats, some students rejected them, while others put them on and began mocking the idea. A student ran around desperately trying to give it away: “Would a straight white man please take this hat away!”
Jason Evans and Tyler Hill appeared in ‘White Dudes for Harris’ attire.
“I definitely have a few questions for Charlie and Vivek,” said Evans, a junior from New York, although he was never allowed to ask them.
Said Hill: “I’m just here for show.”
Ramaswamy reprized some of the pitches he used in his own campaign. He accused the Biden administration of censoring internet speeches. He defended Trump’s protectionism as he explained to students that China is the US military’s main supplier.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
Kirk delved into misleading claims and conspiracy theories.
He repeated Trump’s misrepresentation that Harris was particularly responsible for immigration policy and said the vice president was the decision-maker on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and how the U.S. responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Kirk amplified the falsehood that 325,000 children have been “lost” at the border during Biden’s term.
Kirk also defended the Trump supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, as Congress was meeting to certify Biden’s election.
Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer inside the Capitol, was unarmed, Kirk said. He asked rhetorically whether the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed by a white Minneapolis police officer in 2020, was acceptable. That drew cheers and more than a few expletives.
Kirk, who is white, went on to say, “Black people in America come last, which seems to be a theme in which Democrats have been in charge for the past 60 years.”
The crowd, reflecting the racial and ethnic diversity of the state of Georgia’s enrollment, was largely unresponsive. Turning Point staffers and local conservatives cheered.
Kirk received his biggest applause, at least from many students in red hats, when he quoted from the New Testament. “We are all sinners,” he said. “We all fall short of the glory of God.”
