SPLC labels Turning Point USA a hate group, adds to 2024 hate map

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has listed conservative youth organization Turning Point USA on its controversial “Hate Map,” grouping it alongside KKK chapters and other extremist groups. 

Turning Point USA (TPUSA), founded by conservative activist Charlie Kirk, is categorized by the SPLC as an “anti-government extremist group” in its 2024 “Year in Hate and Extremism” report, which also includes conservative nonprofit PragerU. Despite adding the TPUSA chapters to the map, the SPLC said that there has been a 5 percent decline in the number of claimed hate groups cited on the map, according to NBC News. Although, the SPLC has claimed that the hate groups are gaining more influence.  

In the report, the SPLC described TPUSA as a “well-funded, hard-right organization with links to Southern Poverty Law Center-identified hard-right extremists and a tremendous amount of influence in conservative politics.” It noted that President Donald Trump attended several events throughout 2024 hosted by Turning Point Action, a related 501(c)(4) organization. 

The SPLC claimed that groups like TPUSA reflect a shift on the political right toward “authoritarian, patriarchal Christian supremacy dedicated to eroding the value of inclusive democracy and public institutions.” 

“Turning Point USA’s primary strategy is sowing and exploiting fear that white Christian supremacy is under attack by nefarious actors, including immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and civil rights activists,” SPLC argued. “TPUSA and its spokespeople often warn their audience that their children, wives, religion, way of life and they themselves are under attack by various constructed enemies. TPUSA exploits complicated feelings of insecurity and anxiety to manufacture rage and mobilize support to revive and maintain a white-dominated, male supremacist, Christian social order.” 

The SPLC went on to accuse TPUSA of positioning Christianity as “superior and dominant” while “orchestrating myths of religious persecution.” The group said that TPUSA uses this framing to “justify its extreme, authoritarian vision for the country that threatens the foundation of our democracy.” 

The report published by the SPLC claimed to have documented 1,371 “hate and anti-government extremist groups” in 2024.  

The organization’s list of “hate groups” has faced scrutiny for several years and has been the subject of multiple defamation lawsuits, according to the Daily Signal. In 2012, a domestic terrorist used the SPLC's “hate map” to target the Family Research Council’s headquarters. The SPLC condemned the attack, but contested that it did not promote or inspire violence and refused to remove the council from its map.