Charlie Kirk (photo, left), a community college dropout, is the founder and leader of Turning Point USA, a controversial rightwing campus-activism group sometimes called a “cult” (read details here).
Although Kirk lacks academic or other credentials, it would be hard to conclude he’s dumb. He assembled a large organization, raised millions of dollars in donations, and promoted a complex ideology (albeit one based on lies and false conspiracy theories). He’s disreputable, but that’s not the same as stupid.
So, what’s Kirk up to now?
He’s exploiting the balloon ruckus by accusing Biden of planning to “fake an alien invasion.” Sound crazy? Even crazier, “Kirk also speculated that the ‘whole thing could just be a ruse’ where Biden ordered ‘our own aircraft’ to be shot down” (see story here), apparently alluding to U.S.-launched balloons.
This needs clarification, which Kirk himself provides. He said, “But should we even trust anything that the government is saying? Could this all just be a false flag operation to fake an alien invasion or fake a UFO hysteria crisis to try to justify more power, lockdowns, control?”
As this shows, he’s promoting distrust of government. That’s consistent with his track record, which includes election denialism and opposing Covid-19 public health measures.
On his end, it isn’t crazy; it’s calculated. But you can make a good case that people who listen to Kirk and take what he says as gospel truth are, to put it politely, unmoored from rationality.
Propagandists, as a rule, don’t believe their own lies. (Sometimes they do; Hitler probably really did believe Jews were responsible for Germany’s defeat in World War 1.) Typically, they have an objective clearly in mind, and view their audience as raw material to be shaped into an instrument for achieving their political ends. To do this, they first must get their attention, then get them fired up. Making outrageous claims is a tried-and-true way to do this.
Kirk himself is something of a tool. He wouldn’t have his organization, funding, or influence without the sponsorship of rightwing billionaires. He’s been integrated into a rightwing propaganda network funded and run by extremely rich and powerful people to influence public policy in their favor. They probably see value in him as an inroad into the bastion of liberal academia.
But he’s influential because there’s also a ready-made following for the ideology he espouses. Most of that following is off-campus; his group is far more popular in the MAGA grassroots than on campuses, and almost none of his funding comes from students. In fact, his efforts to recruit students haven’t been very successful; Turning Point USA has been around for over a decade now, and Kirk has increasingly expanded his reach into the broader community, where he’s found more acceptance (see story here).
The idea that Biden is scheming to “fake an alien invasion” in order to justify more “government control” is crazy on its face. But it taps into an undercurrent of the fear and resentment that fuels rightwing politics in America. Talking this way will turn off the vast majority of Americans. But in recent years Kirk’s profile and influence on the far right have only grown; and if this keeps him in the spotlight, and enlarges his audience, from his point of view it isn’t crazy at all.
Related story: Kirk also claimed a train derailment in Ohio is proof of a Biden administration “war against white people” (read that story here).