Robert McNeily takes Jenny Beth Martin back to the founding moments of Turning Point USA: 50 people, mostly college students, gathered for the very first conference in St. Charles, Illinois. Charlie Kirk was 19 years old, fresh out of high school with a couple of community college credits, giving "incredible presentations" that made everyone in the room ask the same question — who is this kid?
Robert walks through his earliest days with Charlie: the Save Our State Illinois days, the Bruce Rauner campaign, and the moment in 2016 when Charlie convinced him to leave the acting world and help launch the Campus Leadership Project — the program that took the playbook Robert had used as a student senator at the University of Illinois and scaled it nationwide, running conservative students for student government offices at universities across the country.
Robert closes with the three slogans that defined both Turning Point USA and Tea Party Patriots Action: warrior spirit, grassroots humility, and persistent innovation.
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00:00 — How Robert Met Charlie Kirk
01:01 — Save Our State Illinois and Bruce Rauner
02:36 — The First Turning Point USA Conference: 50 People
04:26 — Warrior Spirit, Grassroots Humility, Persistent Innovation
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