Chloe Moes and Marissa Aten drove more than 500 miles to see conservative commentators Matt Walsh and Michael Knowles live at the University of Idaho.
“I just listen to Michael Knowles. I love watching his stuff,” Moes said. “I’m really interested in just going to see different conversations.”
Moes, 20, drove from California and Aten, 23, from Nevada to Idaho’s flagship university, the last stop on the Turning Point USA spring tour. Despite the distance, the two friends didn’t want to miss it, even if they had to travel hours to make it happen.
Aten wanted to make the trek because she consumes a lot of content produced by the organization. She found herself agreeing with a lot of the conservative stances Turning Point USA took, and Aten said it helped her articulate how she felt about certain issues to others, especially those she disagreed with.
“I’ve had conversations that were a lot of the frequent topics of Turning Point’s and learning different things to say and how to answer those questions better to try to change their minds on topics like abortion or immigration,” said Aten.
Moes felt similarly. While attending college in California, Moes said she often found herself in disagreements with her professors about abortion.
She said she used Turning Point USA’s videos as an educational resource to formulate arguments that aligned with her views on abortion. It also made Moes more invested in Turning Point USA. She said there isn’t any other organization quite like it.
“This is the way to reach younger minds, especially younger, well-influenced minds,” she said.
Aten and Moes were two of hundreds of mostly young people in line for the event. As Turning Point USA, often abbreviated to TPUSA, works to find its footing after the murder of its founder Charlie Kirk, the events scheduled for the “This is the Turning Point Tour” have faced mixed reactions.
But the keynote speakers at the University of Idaho rally didn’t resemble other headliners at previous college campuses throughout the tour. So the enthusiasm among the crowd in Idaho and the casual approach of the speakers with the audience seemed to capture what other tour stops seemed to lack.
Walsh and Knowles, conservative political pundits and podcasters with The Daily Wire, were the headliners. It was the only Turning Point tour stop that didn’t feature high-profile Trump administration officials, such as Vice President JD Vance, or political candidates like Ohio gubernatorial hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy.
Some of the events, like one held at the University of Georgia on April 14th, had sparse turnout and low-energy crowds. Erika Kirk, the CEO of Turning Point USA and widow of Charlie Kirk, canceled her appearance prior to the event in Georgia citing security concerns. Most recently, Turning Point canceled an April 30 event at Iowa State University where Erika Kirk was slated to headline with Vance.
But the organization didn’t have to worry about low energy at the University of Idaho. Walsh and Knowles cultivated a big crowd in the rural northern Idaho college town with its backdrop of rolling hills and wheat fields. The closest big city is Seattle — a five hour drive away. Their performance emulated the energy Charlie Kirk once brought to college campuses before his death. Walsh and Knowles answered audience questions and engaged in debates with attendees who disagreed with their conservative views.
Attendees began lining up outside the Idaho Central Credit Union Arena hours before the event and as the start time ticked closer, the line snaked far down the sidewalk and began wrapping around the dome where the University of Idaho football team plays.
Inside the arena, a group of young women associated with TPUSA were handing out free hats and mini American flags. Other volunteers were helping people check their voter registration. Tables with free merchandise lined the black curtained barrier that led to the seats. The arena seating, which typically has capacity for more than 4,000 people, was heavily restricted for the event.
A University of Idaho employee who was not authorized to speak publicly said TPUSA requested to limit seating three times. Initially, the event was slated to host 3,000, then it was reduced to a little over 1,000 people before the organization settled on 869 seats. Turning Point USA did not respond to NPR’s question about why it decided to reduce the event’s capacity. As a result, swarms of people were turned away from the event.
“I’m very sorry for the over 1,000 people who did not make it in the room tonight, but who wanted to be here,” Knowles said as he entered the stage.
The two men spoke briefly about the mission of Turning Point USA and carrying on Kirk’s memory and legacy. They encouraged young people in the audience to get involved in politics and continue “the movement.” But, unlike other tour stops, Walsh and Knowles spent the majority of the two hour event taking questions from the crowd. TPUSA does not require people to give names to ask questions or speak at the microphone.
Two of those questions turned into a debate-style conversation. One young adult attendee asked about the accuracy and the purpose of a graph Walsh cited in one of his Youtube videos that claimed a growing number of mass shooters in America are transgender. Another person asked why the two conservatives continued to defend the Department of Justice and President Trump over what they perceived to be mishandling of the Epstein files.
The debates were a nod to the foundation on which Turning Point was built. Charlie Kirk gained notoriety by going to college campuses and debating students on issues that they disagreed with Kirk about.
When Walsh and Knowles weren’t debating with members of the audience, they were answering questions from young people concerned about the direction of the Republican Party. One attendee, a 17-year-old, said he believes “the right-wing civil war is real” and that the divide in the Republican Party is trying to figure out what its new identity is. There was roaring applause when he suggested the party was leaning toward the “America First” path.
“I think among my generation, we’re sick of all foreign influences in our country, whether it be China, Mexico or Israel or any other nation,” he said.
Knowles said he knew where the questioner was coming from and that Gen Z political opinions are influencing how Republican politicians are making decisions.
“It’s actually very encouraging that especially young people are shaking up the way that the GOP talks about issues, whether we’re talking about foreign policy or whether we’re talking about economic policy,” he responded.
But a recurring theme from the young people in the crowd was where does the Republican party go when Trump is out of office.
One attendee shared his view that the MAGA movement is dying. He asked Walsh and Knowles what else Republicans have to stand on and if another political party, like the Whig Party, should be reignited in its place.
Walsh pushed back a little, stating that MAGA isn’t dead but that he doesn’t think “there is a MAGA movement in the post-Trump GOP.” Instead, Walsh argued, now is the time to figure out what the party should stand for next.
“What’s going to define it for the next ten years?” Walsh asked. “Now’s the perfect time to get in that fight and get into the conversation about what the next ten years of the Republican Party’s going to look like.”
