Who might be nursing a bigger hangover today: the Seattle Seahawks’ defensive line or the team at Turning Point USA?
It’s likely that the leaders of Charlie Kirk’s conservative organization had every reason to celebrate last night.
Their quickly put-together YouTube alternative to Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show turned out to be a resounding success, amassing nearly 20 million views and still climbing. Not bad for a performance announced back in October, amidst the controversy over the popular Latin artist’s all-Spanish act.
“People are paying attention,” TPUSA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet told Fox News on Sunday evening, expressing enthusiasm for their All-American Halftime Show. He hinted at even bigger plans for the future, saying, “If you give us a year to plan this thing, I’m really excited to see what we can pull off.”
It seems they’ve won this cultural skirmish and earned a moment of triumph. However, a shadow looms over their victory.
Another conflict is brewing, one that threatens to unravel everything Kirk and his team have achieved.
Multiple well-placed sources both inside and outside of TPUSA tell me that there are moles in the organization. And, it seems, they are determined to destroy it.
TPUSA leaders are not taking this sitting down. Heads have started rolling, but according to one insider, ‘Online rumors that 30-40 employees were fired is laughably untrue and false. It’s more like 3-4.’
Not too shabby for a performance announced in October amid Americana backlash to that handsome Latin crooner’s todo en español act
The hastily organized YouTube alternative to Bad Bunny’s Super Bowlhalftime show was an unqualified success – with nearly 20 million views and counting
One of those who was recently relieved of her post was PR peon Aubrey Laitsch. Laitsch put out a nearly 13-minute video on X last week claiming she was ousted for allegedly bad-mouthing her bosses to an Uber driver. She denies it.
Laitsch, however, says she was really given the boot over something more sinister: ‘I have a gut feeling that I was terminated from Turning Point because I am questioning the narrative of what happened to my role model and CEO, Charlie Kirk, on the day of his assassination.’
Ah, the old questioning the narrative gambit. I could have set an egg timer to how long it was going to take everyone’s least favorite conspiracy hog to pick up this scent.
About 30 minutes after Laitsch’s post, Candace Owens dug it up, tweeting: ‘One of the fired employees from Turning Point USA speaks out about the organization’s new direction!’
Candace, of course, appears to have made it her mission in life to make compost of TPUSA.
After Charlie was assassinated in September, his widow Erika was overwhelmingly voted in as CEO to lead the staff through an unimaginable labyrinth of grief and Candace pounced.
Mind you, Candace had previously staked her reputation (for whatever that’s worth) on the belief that the First Lady of France Brigitte Macron is a dude (which is obviously false), so let’s just say credibility is not her strong suit. Now she’s betting her career on wacko conspiracies that TPUSA employees, Israel, France and any number of other people colluded to kill Charlie.
Well, if Owens’ aim is to destabilize the organization, she’s doing a bang-up job.
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Laitsch put out a nearly 13-minute X video last week claiming she was ousted for allegedly bad-mouthing her bosses to an Uber driver. She denies it (Pictured: Aubrey Laitsch, center, with Erika Kirk, right)
About 30 minutes after Laitsch’s post, Candace Owens dug it up, tweeting: ‘One of the fired employees from Turning Point USA speaks out about the organization’s new direction!’
Who has a bigger hangover this morning: the defensive line of the Seattle Seahawks or the staff of Turning Point USA? (Pictured: Turning Point’s All-American Halftime Show)
There was a momentary truce between Erika and Candace after they met for a four-hour private meeting in mid-December. By all accounts, the meeting was productive until Candace decided to brandish her shovel and start dredging up more sludge once again.
She delighted in a leaked video of Erika holding a Zoom meeting for distraught Turning Point staff in the days after Charlie’s murder.
Candace framed this as an apparent ‘gotcha’ moment, describing Erika as ‘giddy’ and highlighting how the grieving widow called her husband’s public funeral ‘the event of the century.’
How did ‘Mrs. The Jews Did It’ get her hands on the leaked Zoom?
Our inside TPUSA source would only say, ‘The leaks have been confirmed and verified.’ They believe that specific Zoom call was sent to Candace after the firings.
‘The presumption is that [the leakers] didn’t share it before [they were fired], because they knew it looks really bad to attack a widow for thanking her team,’ the source said.
There were no specific allegations about the behavior of Aubrey Laitsch.
This isn’t the first internal TPUSA leak to Candace, of course.
Just days after Kirk’s killing, a WhatsApp thread showing a clearly frustrated Kirk venting about donors who were threatening to rescind a $2 million donation over his remarks on the Israel-Gaza war was made public. He fumed in the thread, ‘I cannot and will not be bullied this week.’
After Charlie was assassinated in September, his wife Erika was overwhelmingly voted in as CEO to lead the staff through an unimaginable labyrinth of grief and Candace pounced
That conversation took place days before his murder, the thread was verified by Turning Point and they said it was turned over to the Justice Department as part of the investigation into Kirk’s death. How it eventually ended up with Candace is still a mystery. But a close associate of Kirk’s suspects that someone high-up in the organization gave it to her.
So, who in TPUSA is feeding the trolls then?
The Kirk confidante told me, ‘It absolutely seems to me that Candace Owens has numerous close sources inside TPUSA. This is hardly surprising, as Groyper ideology has unfortunately seeped in and influenced much of TPUSA in recent years.’
A ‘Groyper’ is a far-right, ultra-nationalist, antisemite. Back in November, conservative journalist Rod Dreher reported that it’s an accepted fact that 30 to 40 percent of right-wing Gen Z staffers on Capitol Hill and in the Trump administration are Groypers. Would it be any surprise if TPUSA has been infected too?
This source is at their wits end, and fears for the future of TPUSA if leaks and disloyalty aren’t locked up post-haste. They told me, ‘Bottom line: TPUSA is in real trouble following Charlie’s assassination, and they need to figure out and clarify who exactly they now are what exactly they now stand for.’
Strikingly, Erica was absent from last night’s TPUSA Super Bowl show.
Was that an indication that she’s taking a step back? Or, perhaps, it’s a recognition that she can’t trust how some in the organization might spin her celebration?
Daily Mail contacted Turning Points for a response to these questions and more and did not receive a response.
Time will tell who wins this messy battle TPUSA seemingly finds itself in, but time is the one precious resource they’re running out of.
And now there’s no Charlie to turn to in this desperate hour.
