Turning Point USA (TPUSA), the popular conservative activist group, was listed in the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) 2024 report on extremism, a move that has drawn strong reactions from its founder and supporters.
The listing placed the group alongside the Ku Klux Klan and other organizations the SPLC labels as extremist.
The report, titled the “2024 Year in Hate and Extremism,” features a subsection called “Dismantling White Supremacy,” where the SPLC highlights TPUSA as a case study.
It describes Turning Point Action, the organization’s political advocacy branch, as a “well-funded, hard-right organization with links to Southern Poverty Law Center-identified hard-right extremists and a tremendous amount of influence in conservative politics.”
Tyler O’Neil, senior editor at The Daily Signal, drew attention to TPUSA’s inclusion in the SPLC’s list, noting the controversial grouping, the Washington Examiner reports.
The listing puts TPUSA alongside chapters of the Ku Klux Klan, sparking debate over how the SPLC defines extremist groups and political activism.
In its detailed write-up, the SPLC cited statements by TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk as justification for its classification.
“Kirk accused Democrats of embracing immigration as part of their plot to secure voters, permit crime and enact the ‘great replacement,’” the report reads.
“He warned his hundreds of thousands of listeners, ‘We native born Americans are being replaced by foreigners.’ He then promised Trump will ‘liberate’ the country from ‘the enemy occupation of the foreigner hordes.’”
The SPLC also charged that TPUSA is at the forefront of promoting Christian nationalism — defined as the belief that the U.S. is fundamentally a Christian nation and that government and culture should be shaped by Christian values.
“TPUSA is at the forefront of the movement to promote Christian nationalism, the theocratic worldview that the U.S. is a fundamentally Christian country and that Christian values and beliefs should inform the government and wider culture,” the report states.
Kirk rejected the SPLC’s accusations on social media.
“The SPLC has added Turning Point to their ridiculous ‘hate group’ list, right next to the KKK and neo-Nazis, a cheap smear from a washed-up org that’s been fleecing scared grandmas for decades,” Kirk wrote on X.
“They somehow still rake in over $100 million a year peddling their ‘hate map’ nonsense, sitting pretty in their Montgomery ‘Poverty Palace’ while crying about ‘hate’ to line their pockets. Even former staffers called their racket a ‘con’.”
Kirk continued his critique, attacking the SPLC’s credibility and fundraising motives.
“But it’s 2025, and nobody with a functioning brain buys their garbage anymore,” he added. “The SPLC is a laughingstock, a hollowed-out husk of an organization that’s been exposed as a grift time and time again.”
“They’re not just irrelevant—they’re a cautionary tale of how to torch your own credibility. Maybe someone should take a hard look at where all that ‘nonprofit’ money’s really going?”
Billionaire Elon Musk also took aim at the SPLC, echoing criticisms from conservatives.
“SPLC is a scam organization,” Musk posted on social media.
The SPLC’s report sparked a wave of criticism from conservative activists who argue that the watchdog group is politically motivated and seeks to silence conservative voices through such designations.
Supporters of TPUSA emphasize the group’s role in energizing young conservatives and shaping Republican politics nationwide, according to the Washington Examiner.
Kirk framed the SPLC’s designation as a sign of success rather than condemnation.
“Being on their list is a badge of honor,” he said.
“It means they’re terrified that we’re so effective. Keep crying, SPLC—America’s done with your scam.”
The controversy highlights ongoing disputes over how organizations are classified and the impact those classifications have on political discourse and activism in America today.
