In late March, Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk repeatedly told his audience that they must take action against a demonic and tyrannical force that is targeting them for their conservative political views. While Kirk is no stranger to extreme rhetoric, his noticeably more incendiary and alarmist rhetoric is primarily in response to three news stories from the past week — the March 27 school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee; recent reports that the IRS visited the home of journalist Matt Taibbi; and the March 30 indictment of former President Donald Trump by a New York grand jury.

Trump indictment

As reports of Trump’s indictment in New York emerged on March 30, Kirk held a special livestream to speculate about the news and reasoning behind the sealed charges. Kirk claimed that the indictment is a distraction from the shooting in Nashville and is actually a “designed campaign” to goad conservatives into violence. Kirk stated, “They would love nothing more than for people to act uncharacteristic. They need to try to incite you to right-wing violence to justify their mass takeover of the country.”

Kirk also called for retribution against his political opponents, who he claimed are “acting like Stalinists,” and said “we must make them pay a price and a penalty” by indicting Democrats. “They crossed the Rubicon,”  Kirk claimed. “They have declared quote-unquote the Roman Civil War.” 

As a guest on Thursday night’s edition of The Ingraham Angle on Fox News, Kirk took to spreading more conspiracy theories following the news of Trump’s indictment. Kirk again insinuated that the left and the “national security state” are “almost trying to incite the American conservative community to act uncharacteristic” and carry out right-wing violence which, in turn, would be used to presuppose the creation of “a Patriot Act 2.0, and that could then further justify their power grab across the country.” 

Later on in the segment, Kirk claimed that Trump’s indictment was an act of revenge by those still upset over his election in 2016, saying that “it seems as if there is this bloodthirsty appetite and desire at the highest level of the Democrat elite to quote-unquote get Trump.” Kirk went on to claim there’s a “kind of Stalinization of the American criminal justice system” that he hopes independent and moderate voters will recognize before the upcoming presidential race. Fox host Laura Ingraham agreed and added, “It’s like Stalin’s purges, right? That’s what we’re seeing.”  

Addressing his audience the day following Trump’s indictment, Kirk said the only way to “bring the country together” and “heal” is for conservatives “to win,” then told his listeners that winning will include “a lot of our side going to jail, a lot of their side going to jail.” Kirk reminded his audience to stay peaceful though quickly reverted to inflammatory rhetoric, saying, “The country we grew up in has ended, a new country is born. Who’s going to control it? If we want it, we can win.”

In the same March 31 episode, while introducing an interview with Donald Trump Jr., Kirk told his listeners, “You should be angry today. And this is a time for action, and this a time to realize that the country we love has slipped away and we have to get it back.”

Nashville school shooting

In the wake of the tragic school shooting in Nashville on March 27, Kirk unleashed vile attacks on the LGBTQ community following police reports that the shooter was transgender. 

On his March 28 show, Kirk claimed that activists are becoming “trans jihadists” in the name of “this lie of a quote-unquote trans genocide” adding that “people think they’re on kind of a holy crusade.” He said that “there’s a lot of violent fantasies, unfortunately, among the trans radicals,” and went on to specifically blame the transgender community for the tragic attack in Nashville, claiming that they have “a violent undercurrent that tragically manifested in three dead kids and three dead teachers yesterday.” (Labeling all transgender people as violent is a common anti-trans trope.) 

In his Tuesday episode with guest and Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec, Kirk read a statement from a group called the Trans Resistance Network referencing the shooting in Nashville and claimed the group “is blaming us, is blaming Michael Knowles, blaming Matt Walsh, blaming Jack Posobiec, blaming all of us for the massacre of children.” 

After discussing the Nashville shooting again on his March 29 podcast, Kirk told his audience, “The trans movement is almost on a jihad. They have been told that people like us want them dead and I’m afraid they’re on some sort of unholy crusade,” adding, “We have to stop it immediately.”

Supposed IRS targeting

IRS agents reportedly made a recent house call to Substack journalist Matt Taibbi, according to a statement from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Republicans on the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government based on Taibbi’s own claims. Kirk told his audience that the supposed IRS visit to Taibbi was just the beginning of a “targeted campaign to chill speech” and that the government will be visiting “Real America’s Voice listeners and viewers, grassroots conservatives” first. Kirk called the visit “Stalinistic, Maoist behavior from the Biden regime.” 

After once again referring to the IRS visiting Taibbi as “the Stalinization of America” during his March 29 show, Kirk called it “full outright Gestapo behavior.” He then told his audience that “we are living in an enemy-occupied country. They have taken over the government and we have to think as dissidents.”

Kirk’s fearmongering about the government targeting “political enemies,” specifically conservatives, included claiming that “the IRS is one of the most dangerous” and “powerful government agencies that is able to ruin your life,” telling his audience that “political force” will be used to “try and crush you.”

Kirk also suggested the government planned the IRS visit to scare Taibbi out of testifying against “the liberal quote-unquote street gang,” claiming, “If you want out, they beat you up, they kill you.” Kirk questioned, “You have to wonder did somebody plan the IRS visit so Matt Taibbi would reveal his sources? Did they do the house call to his front door the day he was going to testify for the purpose that he would break? Was it the equivalent of waking up with a horse’s head in your bed, how the mob used to operate?” 

Other extremist comments

On his March 29 podcast with guest Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Kirk defended the Second Amendment by claiming someday Americans may need guns to fight against a “tyrannical, usurpatious government.” Kirk claimed that “the last 100 years shows 150 million people slaughtered because they were disarmed.” 

At a Turning Point Faith event that same day, Kirk suggested that conservatives know evil is happening but are afraid to act on it because “the cost is being called something they wish they would not be called. Racist, bigot.” Kirk then said that “racism and bigotry mostly comes from the left,” saying. “We are such a decent, not racist country, that the incentive structure is to fake your own hate crime.” 

At the same Turning Point event, Kirk compared the existence of transgender people to “homeless encampments” and said, “We should not have tolerance for public degeneracy or depravity of our streets.” 

During an earlier live event on March 28, Kirk went on a rant about how the “woke mind virus” is a product of Satan sent to “destroy the greatest nation ever to exist in the history of the world.” He encouraged American pastors “excommunicate … the demons of the woke,” stating, “Evil should not be tolerated in the American church.”

At the March 28 Turning Point Faith event, Kirk also attacked universities and academics, claiming their actions are “rooted in anti-whiteness” and that “I think they’re trying to start a race war in this country.” Throughout his seemingly endless stream of extreme comments, Kirk also issued calls to action to his listeners. 

At the same event, when asked about critical race theory, Kirk called the educational theory a “tumor” in our schools that happened because “good people have allowed evil to spread.” Kirk then called on the audience to be part of stopping such “evil,” claiming it will ”require good people with courage and boldness to stand up against what seems to be an overwhelming force and to say stop.” 

“CRT has spread, and now it’s time for us to remove the tumor,” Kirk concluded.

Kirk used the “tumor” metaphor again when discussing a recent Wall Street Journal poll showing a decline in patriotism in America. Kirk claimed this generation of Americans are “the most depressed, most suicidal, most alcohol-addicted, most drug-addicted generation in history.” He then told his listeners, “Sometimes you need to get harsh, honest news and then have a battle plan, a plan of attack to remove the tumor” — implying the need to remove unpatriotic people from the country.

Kirk has not specified what he means when he tells his audience to “stop” transgender people or critical race theory, but he’s also promoted preparing for future events by investing in gold and “buying a lot of bullets.”