Loose lips sink ships, and apparently loose lips at Turning Point USA leak to Infowars, the conspiracy theory outlet that pushes stories about gay frogs, crisis actors at school shootings, and intergalactic spiritual forces possessing the bodies of presidential candidates.
The Young America’s Foundation warned in an internal memo that TPUSA and its founder Charlie Kirk could cause “long-term damage” to conservative students and the conservative movement. A report by the Washington Examiner detailed portions of that memo Wednesday afternoon.
While Kirk and TPUSA Chief Operating Officer Tyler Bowyer declined to comment for that story, they passed along an official statement through a spokesman after viewing screenshots of the YAF document to prove its veracity. That memo was not made public until late Thursday morning when the Young America’s Foundation published it in its entirety.
Somehow on Wednesday evening, screenshots — images identical to the ones the Washington Examiner shared with Kirk and Bowyer — made their way into hands of Paul Joseph Watson. Kirk and Bowyer did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
Leak.
Young Americas Foundation (YAF) – an establishment conservative group sent out an internal “warning” memo about Turning Point USA.
The memo advises students to be wary of Charlie Kirk & TPUSA because it is ‘damaging’ the conservative movement. pic.twitter.com/KMn9dZrZ8V
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) June 13, 2018
Here’s the timeline:
June 13
12:23 p.m.: This reporter requests comment from TPUSA
2:38 p.m.: TPUSA passes along comment after viewing screenshots of YAF memo
5:32 p.m.: Watson tweets screenshots
5:58 p.m.: The Washington Examiner publishes story
June 14
10:09 a.m.: YAF publicly publishes memo
Since Turning Point USA leaders have selectively excerpted one line in attempts to discredit our memo, here’s the full text: https://t.co/3rdZtxFJ2F
— YAF (@yaf) June 14, 2018
Watson, for those who don’t know, is the fast-talking, English-accented protege of Infowars anchor Alex Jones. Among other things, Watson has written that Osama bin Laden was a member of the Illuminati, that the Sept. 11 attacks and the Oklahoma City bombing were government cover-ups, and that the U.K. government “staged the London Bombings.”
It’s no secret that YAF and TPUSA compete for conservative students on college campuses. The two have vast networks, multi-million dollar endowments, and the ear of the Right. But TPUSA has attracted significant attention and controversy thanks to its leader. For instance, Kirk canceled a speech at Virginia Tech to hang out with Kanye West in Los Angeles.
Antics similar to those led YAF to blacklist TPUSA in the internal memo. No doubt, their apparent association with Infowars will raise more questions.
