This story was written by Teen Vogue's 2024 Student Correspondents, a team of college students and recent graduates covering the election cycle from key battleground states.
On the same day that Governor Tim Walz visited Reno for a rally, conservative YouTuber and activist Charlie Kirk visited the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA (TPUSA), is making stops at campuses in key battleground states like Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Arizona for his “You’re Being Brainwashed Tour” ahead of the election.
Kirk’s 2019 appearance on the UNR campus was met with protests, but things seemed quieter at his Tuesday afternoon event. Students gathered around the TPUSA canopies, some engaging with the conservatives while others stood back to watch. TPUSA claimed on Instagram that there were about 2,000 attendees and more than 300 students registered to vote; however, not everyone was at the event to support Kirk, and they described it as “watching a circus.”
Tour reps handed out stickers reading “Save the tiny humans” and “Joe Biden simps for China,” and stood near stacks of free shirts emblazoned with “Frats for Trump.” They also handed out a Nevada voter guide, which encouraged students to vote no on question six, an amendment that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
Teen Vogue spoke to several students who watched the scene unfold. Many were young women who described themselves as strong supporters of abortion rights.
Liv DesAutels, a sophomore and journalism major, went because she wanted to “take the temperature” of the campus visit and see if any of her peers were participating in the commotion. She left “a little bit shocked and disappointed” at the pro-Kirk attendees.
“I yearly consider myself a single-issue voter, that being abortion, because it just matters so much to me," DesAutels explained. "Just to know that there’s this many people that would like to take my right as a woman away is so mind-boggling. I think that’s sort of what I wanted to see, but I’m unfortunately kind of regretting seeing that right now.”
The event was characterized by the kind of in-your-face, “Debate me, bro” bravado that Kirk has become known for since he founded TPUSA in 2012 at age 18. The nonprofit organization was set up to promote conservative politics in high schools and on college campuses, and Kirk became a close ally of Donald Trump. Kirk, now a 30-year-old dad, remains focused on challenging what he claims is the “left-wing indoctrination” of college students.
Kirk recently went viral for his video on Jubilee for debating young liberals on topics such as abortion, race, and the LGBTQ+ community. Many TikTok users were making fun of Kirk, latching onto a clip where a USC student challenged him on abortion.
“Charlie Kirk has really blown up over social media the last month or so,” sophomore and journalism major Morgan Kilbourne told Teen Vogue. “He’s definitely become like an online persona for our generation just because he’s debated so many college students — and a lot of them have really held their ground and made good points.”
Kilbourne added, “He’s kind of just a weird guy. He’s a big interrupter. I just wanted to see him in real time.”
Ashley Thornton, a sophomore and criminal justice major, said she went to the event after seeing the debate videos go viral on TikTok. “Him being here is lovely because I get to make fun of him,” Thornton said. “I don’t agree with his views and the things that he says…. One of the videos I saw was him talking about abortion and how he thinks about abortion. I look at him and I’m like, ‘You don’t have a uterus, why do you have an opinion?’”
Sofia Basurto, a freshman and political science major, described herself as an independent who cared about hearing everyone’s perspective and wanted to see what her peers had to say about certain topics. Said Basurto, “A lot of his views on abortion, I feel, as a woman, I don’t agree with.”
Students against Kirk stood off to the side, watching the commotion as he made his entrance to the debate site. As he arrived, red hats were tossed into the mostly male crowd, and some students even stood on the shoulders of their friends, begging to receive a Make America Great Again hat. “They are literally throwing MAGA hats right now,” one student said in disbelief.
Isaac Bowers, a graduate student studying hydrogeology, questioned the purpose of the tour, noting that Kirk’s on-camera debates don’t really persuade anyone of anything they don’t already believe. “He's only going on these tours to obviously debate people," Bowers said, "but it doesn't seem like a lot of his views are going to shift one way or another.”
Bowers continued, “It's a little ironic to me: It's called ‘the Brainwashed Tour,’ but a lot of the people that are here can't seem to change their opinions on anything, so it seems like they're brainwashed themselves, one way or another.”
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