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Charlie Kirk is the Founder and President of Turning Point USA, the largest and fastest growing conservative youth activist organization in the country with over 250,000 student members, over 150 full-time staff, and a presence on over 2,000 high school and college campuses nationwide. Charlie is also the Chairman of Students for Trump, which aims to activate one million new college voters on campuses in battleground states in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election. His social media reaches over 100 million people per month and according to Axios, he is one of the "top 10 most engaged" Twitter handles in the world. He is also the host of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” which regularly ranks among the top news shows on Apple podcast charts.
Charlie Kirk Dismantles Project 2025 Myths and Explains Trump's Real Economic Platform at Denton Q&A
Charlie Kirk addresses common misconceptions about Project 2025 at a Denton event, clarifying that the Heritage Foundation document was never part of Trump's campaign. Kirk breaks down the actual Republican platform's 20 core promises while contrasting Trump-era economic data with current conditions. When challenged by a student on homeownership and employment, Kirk presents data on interest rates, unemployment statistics, and housing accessibility that paint a starkly different picture than mainstream narratives suggest.
Charlie Kirk was asked to clarify the relationship between Donald Trump and Project 2025, a document that has become a focal point of political attacks. Kirk explained that Project 2025 was authored by an outside group called The Heritage Foundation and was not part of the Trump campaign. According to Kirk, the document contains some good ideas and some problematic ones, but Trump is now being blamed for every single part of it.
Kirk offered an analogy to illustrate the absurdity of the situation: imagine if a group of Democrat think tank operatives put together suggestions for what they think Kamala Harris should do in a second term, called it Project 2025, Harris knew nothing about it, and then she had to defend every aspect of it. That's essentially what's happening to Trump, Kirk argued.
What Donald Trump will actually defend, Kirk emphasized, are the 20 items on his campaign website and the Republican platform: drilling for energy on day one, securing the border, and ending the Russian-Ukrainian war. Kirk reminded the audience that we don't have to wonder about what Trump would do because we have four years of his presidency to examine—a period characterized by no new wars, people getting richer, and a secure border.
The Real Numbers on Homeownership
When a student challenged Kirk's assertion about lower home costs under Trump, claiming her parents found it easier to buy a house under Biden, Kirk pressed for details. The student mentioned her parents saved for two months and got a good loan with a really low interest rate, though she couldn't specify the exact rate.
Kirk responded with hard data: interest rates were at 2% under Trump and are now at 10%. He acknowledged there might have been some special program the family participated in but emphasized that the overall trend tells a different story. Home ownership is declining dramatically while renting is increasing across the country.
Kirk explained the basic economics: under Trump, the country was averaging a couple million new homes being built every single year, which is not the case currently. The average interest rate for a 30-year mortgage has jumped from 2% under Trump to 10% now, meaning homebuyers are paying significantly more to banks over the life of their loans.
He painted a stark picture of current housing affordability: in Denton, even earning $90,000, $110,000, or $115,000 a year isn't enough to own a home. Kirk highlighted how absurd this is for college graduates who thought earning six figures would secure their piece of the American dream. According to data from Zillow.com, most people are not doing well in the current housing market, despite individual success stories.
Employment Reality Check
The student's final question addressed employment, noting that people are finding it hard to get jobs. Kirk agreed with this assessment and warned that the country is on the precipice of an economic collapse, having drawn down cheap money through monetary policy for several years.
Kirk outlined Trump's plan to address employment issues. First, lower energy costs by implementing a "drill baby drill" policy, which would make it easier for employers to hire and would create tons of jobs, especially in Texas where drilling is relatively easy. Second, get interest rates down through economic growth, which Kirk believes Trump can achieve.
Kirk criticized the current employment statistics, noting that numbers keep getting revised: initial reports claim employment is great, then it's revealed that 100,000 jobs were actually lost. He stated that 1.3 million jobs have been lost so far this year, with expectations that it will get even worse next year.
However, Kirk reminded the audience that during Trump's presidency, the country achieved the lowest ever Black unemployment, the lowest ever Hispanic unemployment, and the lowest ever Asian-American unemployment. He asked people to remember the Trump years when life was not as financially hard—things were less expensive, it was easier to take vacations, and easier to own a home.
Kirk attributed this success to Trump building the economy from the middle class first, which made things work better. In contrast, he warned that the current economy is built on a house of cards, suggesting fragility and potential collapse ahead.
