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Conservative Nonprofit On College Campuses Faces Allegations of Racial Bias and Illegal Activity
Retweeted by Dave Weigel: https://twitter.com/daveweigel
Hey fellow teens, aren't fossil fuels the coolest? http://bit.ly/2BhBPEA
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The New Yorker obtained internal documents from Turning Point USA that suggest the group "may have skirted campaign-finance laws that bar charitable organizations from participating in political activity."
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A Conservative Nonprofit That Seeks to Transform College Campuses Faces Allegations of Racial Bias and Illegal Campaign Activity
By Jane Mayer 5:28 P.M.
On Tuesday, in a convention center in West Palm Beach, Florida, amid chants of USA! and The wall is going to be built!, Donald Trump, Jr., kicked off a three-day annual summit for Turning Point USA, a conservative nonprofit. Based outside of Chicago, Turning Points aim is to foment a political revolution on Americas college campuses, in part by funnelling money into student government elections across the country to elect right-leaning candidates. But it is secretive about its funding and its donors, raising the prospect that dark money may now be shaping not just state and federal races but ones on campus.
Turning Point touts its close relationship with the Presidents family. The groups Web site promoted Don, Jr.,s appearance for weeks, featuring a photo of him raising a clenched fist. Its promotional materials include a quote from the younger Trump praising Turning Point: What you guys have done is just amazing. Lara Trump, the wife of Don, Jr.,s brother Eric, is also involved with the group. In West Palm Beach on Wednesday, she hosted a luncheon promoting Turning Points coming Young Womens Leadership Summit. The groups twenty-four-year-old executive director and founder, Charlie Kirk, told me that he counts Don, Jr., as a personal friend.
Turning Point casts itself as a grassroots response to what it perceives as liberal intolerance on college campuses. Kirk has called college campuses islands of totalitarianism; he and his supporters contend that conservatives are the true victims of discrimination in America, and he has vowed to fight back on behalf of what he has called his Team Right. Kirk is a frequent guest on Fox News, and last summer he was invited to give a speech at the Republican National Convention. That was where he met Donald Trump, Jr., and hit it off with him, Kirk said. After the convention, Kirk divided his time between Turning Point activities and working for the Trump campaign as a specialist in youth outreach. I helped coördinate some rather successful events with him, Kirk told me, referring to Don, Jr., and I also carried his bags. When friends threw Kirk a surprise birthday party earlier this year, Don, Jr., attended, as did Sebastian Gorka, the former Trump White House adviser.
As Turning Points profile has risen, so has scrutiny of its funding and tactics. Internal documents that I obtained, as well as interviews with former employees, suggest that the group may have skirted campaign-finance laws that bar charitable organizations from participating in political activity. Former employees say that they were directed to work with prominent conservatives, including the wife of the Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in aid of Republican Presidential candidates in 2016. Perhaps most troubling for an organization that holds up conservatives as the real victims of discrimination in America, Turning Point USA is also alleged to have fostered an atmosphere that is hostile to minorities. Screenshots provided to me by a source show that Crystal Clanton, who served until last summer as the groups national field director, sent a text message to another Turning Point employee saying, i hate black people. Like fuck them all . . . I hate blacks. End of story.
By Jane Mayer 5:28 P.M.
On Tuesday, in a convention center in West Palm Beach, Florida, amid chants of USA! and The wall is going to be built!, Donald Trump, Jr., kicked off a three-day annual summit for Turning Point USA, a conservative nonprofit. Based outside of Chicago, Turning Points aim is to foment a political revolution on Americas college campuses, in part by funnelling money into student government elections across the country to elect right-leaning candidates. But it is secretive about its funding and its donors, raising the prospect that dark money may now be shaping not just state and federal races but ones on campus.
Turning Point touts its close relationship with the Presidents family. The groups Web site promoted Don, Jr.,s appearance for weeks, featuring a photo of him raising a clenched fist. Its promotional materials include a quote from the younger Trump praising Turning Point: What you guys have done is just amazing. Lara Trump, the wife of Don, Jr.,s brother Eric, is also involved with the group. In West Palm Beach on Wednesday, she hosted a luncheon promoting Turning Points coming Young Womens Leadership Summit. The groups twenty-four-year-old executive director and founder, Charlie Kirk, told me that he counts Don, Jr., as a personal friend.
Turning Point casts itself as a grassroots response to what it perceives as liberal intolerance on college campuses. Kirk has called college campuses islands of totalitarianism; he and his supporters contend that conservatives are the true victims of discrimination in America, and he has vowed to fight back on behalf of what he has called his Team Right. Kirk is a frequent guest on Fox News, and last summer he was invited to give a speech at the Republican National Convention. That was where he met Donald Trump, Jr., and hit it off with him, Kirk said. After the convention, Kirk divided his time between Turning Point activities and working for the Trump campaign as a specialist in youth outreach. I helped coördinate some rather successful events with him, Kirk told me, referring to Don, Jr., and I also carried his bags. When friends threw Kirk a surprise birthday party earlier this year, Don, Jr., attended, as did Sebastian Gorka, the former Trump White House adviser.
As Turning Points profile has risen, so has scrutiny of its funding and tactics. Internal documents that I obtained, as well as interviews with former employees, suggest that the group may have skirted campaign-finance laws that bar charitable organizations from participating in political activity. Former employees say that they were directed to work with prominent conservatives, including the wife of the Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in aid of Republican Presidential candidates in 2016. Perhaps most troubling for an organization that holds up conservatives as the real victims of discrimination in America, Turning Point USA is also alleged to have fostered an atmosphere that is hostile to minorities. Screenshots provided to me by a source show that Crystal Clanton, who served until last summer as the groups national field director, sent a text message to another Turning Point employee saying, i hate black people. Like fuck them all . . . I hate blacks. End of story.
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Conservative Nonprofit On College Campuses Faces Allegations of Racial Bias and Illegal Activity (Original Post)
mahatmakanejeeves
Dec 2017
OP
Crystal Clanton, who served until last summer as the groups national field director, sent a text
Eliot Rosewater
Dec 2017
#1
Eliot Rosewater
(31,112 posts)1. Crystal Clanton, who served until last summer as the groups national field director, sent a text
Crystal Clanton, who served until last summer as the groups national field director, sent a text message to another Turning Point employee saying, i hate black people. Like fuck them all . . . I hate blacks. End of story.
This is the GOP, the GOP exists for two reasons, take ALL of our money and to destroy black people.