TP USA - It's Just the Beginning – Top 3 Takeaways, September 23rd, 2025
Takeaway #1: Greater after death
Edgar Allen Poe. Vincent van Gogh. Nikola Tesla...these are examples of people who became far more successful after death than they were while alive. For example, Poe was known as a writer, poet, and critic, in his day but he struggled financially and was often met with mixed reviews never finding meaningful financial success with his works like The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Fall of the House of Usher in his day. He died in poverty under mysterious circumstances at age 40. In the case of van Gogh the outcome during his lifetime was even more extreme as the now world-renowned painter who fetches millions for his original works sold only one painting during his life and similar to Poe struggled with poverty and mental health. As for Tesla, was he a big deal in his day? Yes, but only to a point as his groundbreaking innovations were deemed too risky to pursue at the time and he almost instantly became overshadowed by Thomas Edison. Tesla died a poor man in 1943 as he poured all his resources into projects society wouldn’t support (he was ahead of his time). Now, of course, the world’s most valuable automative company, founded by the greatest innovator of our time, is named after him. Here’s another name that fits the mix. Jesus Christ. He’s a man that certainly became well known in his time, in fact, fun fact – he's the one name that comes up as a historically significant figure in every major world religion (16 in total). Now Charlie Kirk was no Jesus Christ, however he did end up like all but one of his disciples – as he was martyred for his faith. He’s also almost certainly set to become among the next to have a bigger impact in death than he did in life. Consider this, according to YouGov 46% of Americans had no clue who Charlie Kirk was before his assassination with only 24% who said they were very familiar with Charlie’s works. It's unclear where exactly those numbers rest now, but after having had a House resolution pass honoring his work, a senate resolution pass establishing his birthday, October 14th, as Charlie Kirk Day and a record setting Memorial with 95,000 in attendance...with 65 million people who had watched or listened at least some of the Memorial either live or online by Monday...It’s pretty clear that his name is already bigger in death. But importantly too is...
Takeaway #2: Turning Point USA
In addition to the greater than 62,000 new chapter requests, already an estimated $15 million has been raised through donor pledges, merchandise sales and event ticket sales – a number that’s expected to grow very quickly to $100 million based on guidance from TP’s top donors. Or in other words, the fundraising following Charlie’s death appears to be on track to clear what his entire organization had most recently raised in a year. This is hugely important because the rapid demand for new chapters and new reach should be able to be scaled accordingly with the resources on hand to meet the surging demand. To put this in perspective, if even 10% of the requests for new chapters turn out to be successfully established it would effectively triple the regular reach of Turning Point USA. And look at how incredibly effective and successful the organization had already been. The potential reach for what’s about to be in this next chapter of Turning Point USA would likely have taken numerous years to achieve previously. And speaking of reach...
Takeaway #3: The Comeback continues
Charlie Kirk’s last stop on this earth was the first of the scheduled American Comeback tour stops. Erika Kirk was insistent that the comeback tour continue as scheduled and that’s exactly what happened yesterday as the second scheduled stop, at the University of Minnesota, with Michael Knowles took place before a sold-out crowd. On Wednesday it’s on to Virginia Tech where Megyn Kelly and Governor Glenn Youngkin will be taking the stage for Turning Point USA. Future events on the comeback tour will feature Erika Kirk, Glenn Beck and Vivek Ramaswamy among many others. So, the bottom line is that the American Comeback continues too with many of the biggest voices on the right holding the line. It’s encouraging to see what continues to be an unprecedented level of support for TP USA, and it’ll be exciting to see how it translates across this country. In fact, when you look at the grassroots outpouring of support we’ve seen – especially demographically – I'm the most optimistic I’ve been since I first spoke of the opportunity for generational change in this country back in October of 2021. Generation political and cultural change is here and TPUSA is leading the way. The comeback continues.