Conservative media personality Charlie Kirk spotlighted far right-wing talking points about abortion, gay marriage and affirmative action, challenging students to “prove me wrong” at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Thursday.
The Library Mall event was the first stop on Kirk’s “You’re Being Brainwashed” tour, which visits other college campuses later this month. Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, advertised the tour as a place for left-leaning college students to engage with conservative politics through one-on-one public debates.
Though there were difficulties with audio and rain throughout the event, over 100 people crowded around Kirk’s tent to hear him debate students and community members. Students accepted “Make America Great Again” hats from Kirk and signed voter registration forms provided by Turning Point Action, the political advocacy arm of Kirk’s organization. Roughly 150 voters were registered during the event, according to TPA Harley Field Representative Sadie Roach.
During the event, Kirk made his pro-life stance very clear, calling for abortion to be abolished “everywhere.”
“We have to try to win people over,” Kirk said, noting the unpopularity of abortion bans. “That’s why I’m here — to try to convince people.”
Kirk also preached against gay marriage.
“I don’t agree with your lifestyle,” Kirk said to a gay conservative student. “I don't think you should introduce yourself just based on your sexuality because that's not who you are.”
When asked about affirmative action, Kirk took a strong stance on both race and gender, blaming female hiring initiatives in the Secret Service for the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in July and decrying anti-white racism.
Kirk also said women’s liberation over the last 30 years was an overall negative, claiming women are the “most depressed group in the history of the species” and the “most miserable they’ve ever been.”
“Women are far more suicidal,” Kirk said to a student who argued for affirmative action. “But when men commit suicide, they’re much better at it. Women have far more suicidal ideation than men.”
Visit validates conservatives but alienates many UW-Madison students
Despite controversy surrounding Kirk’s beliefs and combative persona, many UW-Madison students felt his presence validated the conservative political perspective on campus. Max Nictovic and Mark Buerger, two students who had paid attention to Kirk prior to the event, particularly agreed with Kirk’s support for Israel.
“He’s exercising his First Amendment right, and I think that’s extremely important,” Buerger told The Daily Cardinal. “Pro-Palestine protesters and a lot of other extremist groups are powerful [here], and it’s definitely not something we want to see.”
Some students had mixed or negative reactions to Kirk’s views and manner of speech. Griffin Carlino, a student at UW-Madison, referred to Kirk as a “clown” and a “pussy” while others criticized his tour’s purpose and format.
“Kirk [debates] for a living, and he chooses to go to places and argue with people who don’t have the same amount of education as him,” UW-Madison student Mia Kurzer said. “He nitpicks [people] in a way that makes teenage boys on Instagram feel like he ‘got’ them.”
Kirk said he will return to Madison on Sept. 14 for the Wisconsin v. Alabama football game in an event unaffiliated with Turning Point USA.
Campus news editor Gavin Escott contributed reporting to this article.
Tomer Ronen is the Features Editor for the Daily Cardinal. He has covered protests, state politics, sports and more. Follow him on Twitter at @TRonen22.
Sreejita Patra is a senior staff writer and the former summer ad sales manager for The Daily Cardinal. She has written for breaking news, campus news and arts and has done extensive reporting on the 2024 presidential race. She also covered the Oregon Village Board for the Oregon Observer.
