Conservative speaker Erika Kirk and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt kick-started the “This is the Turning Point Tour” at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium on April 2, bringing a mix of attendees — hesitant and enthusiastic.
This event was part of Turning Point USA’s campus tours, which originally brought Kirk’s late husband and former TPUSA CEO Charlie Kirk to universities across the country for debates. Following his death, Erika Kirk shifted the stops on the tour to be lecture-based, with guest speakers.
GWU invited both students and community members from around the Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia area.
Anthony Miranda, who said he leans to the right politically, recently became a D.C. resident after moving to the District. He said he has been looking forward to this event.
“I’m here to be open-minded,” Miranda said. “I want to hear what they have to say.”
Ofe Cox and her family traveled over 30 miles from Haymarket, Va., to attend the event. Cox said that her son is the founder of the TPUSA chapter at his high school.
“It is very important to us to raise our children in a conservative Christian value and family system,” Cox said. “It’s about our faith, our love for this country.”
Before Kirk and Leavitt took the stage, Miranda said he was interested to hear what both speakers might say about how President Donald Trump’s administration is handling the U.S. and Israel’s war in Iran. Kirk’s pushback toward Trump’s initiation of a war with Iran was one of the main reasons Miranda supported him, he said.
“All Charlie Kirk said to [Trump] was, ‘If you’re elected in this position, make sure we don’t go to war with Iran,’” Miranda said. “So I am really curious to see what they’re going to say about it.”
TPUSA Foggy Bottom, GWU’s chapter of the national organization, promoted the event on social media. Ryan Van Slingerland, president of TPUSA Foggy Bottom, addressed the crowd before the event began and encouraged the audience to hold their “In Honor of Charlie Kirk” rally posters, provided upon arrival, in the air and cheer in his honor.
Arjun Amin, a freshman at GWU, was amongst many students who attended in opposition to the speakers.
“I came here to watch the American conservative movement implode itself violently,” Amin said.
He said he and his friends came to the event with extreme criticism of the current administration.
“I think they [Kirk and the TPUSA Tour] are trying to stoke public anger and vitriol for nothing other than its own sake,” Amin said. “This is a massive sham with pyrotechnics and flashing lights to distract from the fact that we are shipping billions of dollars off to Israel and Iran by defunding Medicaid and social services.”
Philip Hamilton, from Charlottesville, Va., is running for Virginia State Senate in the 11th District and said he has attended numerous TPUSA events in addition to the one at GWU.
After Kirk’s assassination in September 2025, Hamilton said he attended a TPUSA event at Virginia Tech University that garnered many attendees and protesters. There, he said a protester held a sign that read “The only good Nazi is a dead Nazi.”
“That’s the kind of vilification we’re trying to stand up against,” Hamilton said. “You can have different opinions, but don’t say that your political enemy should be killed or murdered just for having opposing views.”
George Braun, a voluntary attorney to the Trump administration and “friend of Charlie’s [Kirk],” said he has been at TPUSA events since the dawn of the organization.
“Me and a number of the Supreme Court lawyers are not in the administration right now,” Braun said. “But we’re there helping out from the sidelines because of the fact that someone has to take care of the clients.”
As Leavitt and Kirk approached the stage, the audience rose in a standing ovation. However, after about 10 minutes of the program, some college-age attendees walked out, leaving the remaining audience full of people who had traveled to attend.
Emma Day, a student at the University of Montana Western and president of her local TPUSA chapter, said that the younger generation is uneducated about politics, no matter the partisan divide.
“I think it’s really important to have organizations that are out there educating students, especially, and just showing them the truth and how the government actually works,” Day said.
Day, an intern at the U.S. Senate, said she came to D.C. to learn more about politics. She said that nothing is bipartisan anymore.
“The other side just has a lot of hate towards us, which is really unfortunate to see because I think at the end of the day, we could work together on some things,” Day said.
Ellie Casias, a freshman in American University’s School of International Service, was also in the audience, hoping for more exposure to perspectives different from her own, she said.
“I think it’s really important to understand where other people are coming from,” Casias said. “The politics polarize people so much that it’s hard to just have conversations, and I think it’s a perspective I don’t get at AU.”
Jack Posobiec, a far-right activist and podcast host, also addressed the audience. His short speech about family and God ignited applause from supporters but laughter from some skeptical audience members.
“Be a rebel. Start a family,” Posobiec said.
This article was edited by Gabrielle McNamee, Payton Anderson and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Avery Grossman and Mattie Lupo. Fact-checking done by Andrew Kummeth.
