One Day & Two Turning Points – Top 3 Takeaways – September 10th, 2026
Takeaway #1: 1 Year Later
Today is a day that marks two turning points. It’s the historical peak of the Atlantic Hurricane Season. It’s also the 1-year anniversary of a very dark moment in American history. It was a year ago today that Charlie Kirk was assassinated while hosting a Turning Point USA event on the Utah Valley University campus. As we reflect on these two turning points...there are many related points to be made about where we stand today and what’s changed in significant ways. As we saw in the immediate aftermath of Charlie’s assassination last year – there was a grassroots uprising in support for TPUSA. And while what’s happening within Turning Point USA no longer makes the news day-to-day – the organization has transformed in major ways. First and foremost – rather than Charlie’s killing marking the end of TPUSA – it's grown significantly over the past year. Turning Point USA has increased its college chapters by 64% over the past year to more than 1,500 nationwide. And for as strong as the college growth has been – the high school growth has been incredible. There are 3,500 TPUSA high school chapters in operation today with growth over the past year checking in at 179%! In terms of the total number of students who are members of Turning Point USA today...that number is even larger as it’s grown by 300%! There were approximately 250,000 students in high school and college combined who were members of Turning Point at the time of Charlie’s death – that total today is at a million plus! And as you might imagine all of this growth has translated financially as well. The most recent financial filings also show fundraising by TPUSA having increased by 36% as the organization has added approximately 1 million donors. This has also allowed for Turning Point to pour more money into grassroots operations heading into this year’s midterm elections than ever before and will set them up for 2028. With Charlie’s widow Erika Kirk taking the reins as CEO of the organization following the assassination – there's no doubt that TPUSA today has grown faster and larger over the past year than would have happened if Charlie were still here.
Takeaway #2: But then there are the intangibles and the things that only Charlie could do...
In many ways Charlie Kirk’s brand was bigger than the Turning Point USA brand. To that end, Turning Point’s reach through traditional media and social media isn’t quite what it used to be (despite having more followers). Also, there just isn’t anyone who can replicate what Charlie Kirk brought to Turning Point USA and his college campus tours for that matter as well. And then there’s the impact within the conservative movement. Charlie acted as a sort of intermediary within the MAGA movement generally. A person who had the respect of President Trump and the attention of the next generation of conservative leaders as well. He was someone who could help navigate the political discussion of the day through internal differences with conservative influencers. That type of leadership and uniqueness is missing on the right today and we’ve seen heated factions that have been splintering – especially with what ended up becoming the Tucker Carlson antisemitic faction. Maybe that would have happened anyway (there’s no acceptable form of antisemitism), however it didn’t rear its ugly head until Charlie was no longer in the mix politically. In so many ways Turning Point USA is a larger, stronger organization one year later...yet, the conservative movement and for that matter the country isn’t the same without Charlie Kirk leading Turning Point USA.
Takeaway #3: Hurricane history in the making
Today marks the historical peak of the Atlantic’s hurricane season...and we’ve managed to come this far without a hurricane having developed during the season. With only five weak tropical storms to date, we’ve entered today with another bonus...we have record hurricane season inactivity in the making. Since the advent of the satellite era in 1966 – the latest we’ve had a hurricane develop in the Atlantic basin is September 11th. That’s happened twice – with Gustav in 2002 and Humberto in 2013. A quick trip to the National Hurricane Center’s website shows there’s no way that’s happening this year as the 11 nicest words you can hope to see from the National Hurricane Center’s Tropical Weather Outlook are in fact the ones you see today...Tropical cyclone activity is not expected during the next 7 days. That means that we’re passing the peak of hurricane season today with a record-setting season underway in the best possible way. What’s more is that if we managed to keep this streak up through the rest of hurricane season...this is the company we’d keep. Since the onset of record keeping in 1851, there have only been two hurricane seasons without a recorded hurricane – 1907 and 1914. But that doesn’t actually mean there weren’t any hurricanes. Back in those days the meteorological community could only measure what they were able to witness. If there were any hurricanes that developed away from populated places and observation points – we wouldn’t have known. So what this means is that we’re in the middle of the most benign hurricane season of our lifetimes to date with at least the potential for this to be considered the most benign of all-time – based upon how you choose to account for these things. In any event what was anticipated to be a below average hurricane season most certainly has been, and it’s about to reach record-setting inactivity. God-willing that will continue to be the case the rest of the way. That would be great news for all but those who cover meteorological news. Notably, it would also be a huge help to the recovering property insurance industry. Another hurricane free hurricane season for the United States would continue to lead to lower rates.