Turning Point USA held an event at NC State on Wednesday featuring Lara Trump and TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk. Outside the event, the protesters chanted, “racists, go home,” while Kirk chastised white supremacy inside the venue.
RALEIGH, North Carolina — Charlie Kirk and Lara Trump spoke at NC State on Wednesday evening for the last stop of TPUSA’s fall semester campus tour, dubbed, “Culture War.” During the Q&A portion of the event, a man confronted Kirk over his TPUSA student members at the University of Florida.
People who openly identify as white supremacists came to my event tonight
They have no place in the conservative movement
We must unequivocally denounce this vile ideology whenever it shows it’s ugly head
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) November 14, 2019
“Do you think that I am evil?” the man asked.
“If you are here under America First policies and making America great again, you are not evil,” said Kirk, “however, there have been individuals that have come to our events, such as Patrick Casey, who runs Identity Evropa’s American Identity Movement that advocates for the neo-Nazi takeover of our government.”
Kirk’s mention of Casey had been in reference to a recent TPUSA event at Ohio State University (OSU), where the Identity Evropa leader and others tried to spar with the TPUSA founder regarding “identity,” among other topics.
A similar instance had taken place at the University of Florida’s Culture War event, which prompted the student TPUSA members to release a statement expressing their dismay over a crowd of “non-students” who had “hijacked” the event to heckle and boo Kirk “for condemning white nationalism as evil.”
Thus, apparently prompting the anonymous man to confront Kirk at NC State on Wednesday.
“Are you familiar with Identity Evropa?” said Kirk. “Are you familiar with this group? Identity Evropa is a Neo-Nazi, white nationalist organization — their goal is to take over the United States government under the idea of white supremacy.”
“Do you denounce Identity Evropa?” asked Kirk, to which the man would not give a definite answer. The TPUSA founder went on to ask the same question four more times — but to no avail.
“I will take your silence as consent that you do not denounce the organization,” said Kirk, who then asked the audience if anyone else in the room had support for the organization.
“You support Identity Evropa?” said Kirk, pointing to a man who had raised his hand. “Come to the front of the line. I’d like to talk to you.”
“Tell me why you support Identity Evropa,” said Kirk.
“Because they do great things and they support white people,” the man answered.
“Identity Evropa is a widely recognized white supremacist, neo-Nazi organization,” said Kirk. “Are you worried America is becoming less white?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to be a minority in my own country,” said the individual.
“What does it mean to be an American?” asked Kirk. “Is it an idea — or is it a skin color?”
“Well, I mean, you could go back to, um, the original Founding Fathers, uh, the immigration act of, I believe it was…”
“What does it mean to be an American? Is it a skin color, or something else?” pressed Kirk, to which the man responded by claiming that the Founding Fathers intended immigration to be for “white men of good stock.”
“So, can you show me where in the United States Constitution it says that?” asked Kirk.
“It wasn’t in the Constitution,” the individual conceded.
“It wasn’t in the Constitution because they didn’t believe in it,” affirmed Kirk, who then asked the man to tell him what the phrase, “E pluribus unum” means.
“Why is that relevant?” the man asked.
“Because it was on every founding document and presidential seal from our founding, which means, ‘Out of many, one,'” said Kirk.
The TPUSA founder went on to proclaim that identitarianism “has no place in the conservative movement,” which elicited a standing ovation and chants of “USA” from Kirk’s audience.
Meanwhile, hundreds of leftist protesters stood outside the venue, chanting phrases like, “Racist, Go Home” while wielding anti-TPUSA signage — a bizarre and ironic display, given that the TPUSA founder had spent a large portion of the event’s Q&A segment condemning and lambasting white nationalism.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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