Here’s an interesting article about how churches have turned a tragedy into a false prophet. They went from AI images of him to fake quotes and they even had megachurches playing ai generated sermons using his voice to say things he never said.
This is sick stuff.
wallstreet-butts on
If you’re a fascist, yeah, it’s bad.
Notapartyhobo on
Charlie Kirk: The Manufactured “Boy Wonder” of the Right…
The myth goes something like this. An 18-year-old kid, straight out of high school, has a stroke of genius: start a nationwide conservative youth movement to save America. With grit, hustle, and a few prayers, he builds Turning Point USA into an empire. Inspiring, right? Except that it is pure fiction. The truth is that Charlie Kirk didn’t even think of the idea himself. He didn’t bankroll it, he didn’t build it alone, and he sure as hell didn’t pull it off on the strength of his teenage mind. Like so much of the MAGA machine, Kirk was manufactured.
Here is what really happened. In 2012, a 72-year-old Tea Party activist named Bill Montgomery heard Kirk give a talk at a small local event. Montgomery took one look at this kid with ambition in his eyes and told him to skip college and start an organization. Within weeks, Turning Point USA was born. Montgomery wasn’t just a mentor. He was the co-founder, treasurer, and strategist. In plain English: Kirk didn’t invent Turning Point USA. He was recruited into it by an older political operative who saw in him a useful mouthpiece.
Then came the money. Kirk didn’t scrape together pennies from bake sales. He stalked the Republican National Convention in Tampa in 2012 memorizing donor faces. That’s how he buttonholed multimillionaire Foster Friess, pitched him, and walked away with a five-figure check. Add in Bruce Rauner, the future governor of Illinois, and the DeVos family, and suddenly this “teenage entrepreneur” had more capital than most actual start-ups. By 2016, Turning Point’s budget had ballooned from $50,000 to over $5 million. That doesn’t happen because of hustle. That happens because deep-pocketed billionaires decide you are worth buying.
And those billionaires weren’t random. Kirk’s early lifeline came directly from the Koch donor network, DonorsTrust, and foundations like Bradley and DeVos. He was plugged into the same machine that bankrolls every other right-wing think tank and dark-money group. FreedomWorks gave him credibility. Ginni Thomas, wife of Clarence Thomas, signed on as an advisor. Adam Brandon from FreedomWorks joined the board. This wasn’t a kid’s side project. It was a conveyor belt operation: find a willing young face, hand him talking points, surround him with old guard donors, and push him forward as the “future of conservatism.”
The right loves to talk about “merit” and “bootstraps.” But Charlie Kirk is the anti-bootstraps story. He didn’t build it. He was built. His speeches were derivative. His ideas weren’t his. His network was manufactured by billionaires who wanted a college-age mouthpiece to run campus operations they could never pull off themselves. Without Bill Montgomery, Foster Friess, the Koch donor network, and the DeVos family, Charlie Kirk would be a forgotten kid still trying to get into West Point.
What makes this important is not just debunking the Kirk myth. It is understanding the machinery of American conservatism. These people don’t grow movements organically. They don’t rise from the grassroots. They are cultivated, recruited, and bankrolled. They are test-tube populists. Charlie Kirk wasn’t a prodigy. He was a project. And when you look at TPUSA today, raking in nearly $80 million a year, the fingerprints of that project are all over it.
The next time you hear someone gushing about Kirk as a “self-made” activist, remember this: he didn’t even think of the idea himself. He was told what to do, handed money, plugged into a network, and carried to national prominence by people decades older and millions richer. That’s not vision. That’s ventriloquism. And Charlie Kirk has been the dummy on their lap ever since.
I thought the post was talking about the fact that that billboard exists
DosCabezasDingo on
I am truly amazed at the penmanship of the graffiti producer. Those letters are near perfection.
SausageBuscuit on
These people are the biggest drama queens.
I really wish they would just at least hang their hat on someone worth martyrdom, instead of one of the most hateful people out there who masqueraded as a man of faith.
Tri_fester on
Shaken to the core. Ridiculous idiot.
ElectronHick on
Noted “True metal supply”.
DANDELOREAN on
Antifa raped my billboard
ThriftianaStoned on
All maga do is cry like little bitches
anothershadowbann on
wont somebody please think of the homophobes??
Bibblegead1412 on
Graffiti “shakes them to their core”?
thall72 on
“I had hope that things weren’t as bad as they seemed” Things are bad dipshit. Nazis have taken over America!
belunos on
Racism. Homophobia. Transphobia. Removing healthcare. Labeling the other party as enemies of the sate. Tax reduction for the already wealthy. Twisting religion to meet their needs. Turning away immigrants, and harping on immigrants. Scams. Lies. Subterfuge.
It’s hilarious they think they’re the good guys here. It’s literally anything but. If what I read of Jesus was even remotely true. he would kick their ass out of the temple.
GreyTrader on
This has to be a bot post. I’ve seen some shit in my lifetime but nothing has ever compelled me to say or post the phrase, shaken me to my core. GTFOH nobody talks like that.
lovelylisanerd on
everybody knows asheville is the lesbian capital of the south. of course nobody appreciates him there. it’s full of boho hippie hiker dog moms.
ENVIDEOUS on
Dentros1 on
The “fuck your feelings” crowd sure are a bunch of pussies.
Allott2aLITTLE on
Not just a billboard, but a billboard honoring a racist.
fieroar1 on
About time. Don’t just say it, now do it!
jahwls on
No one but pe – do supporters like that Kirk guy anyways. Not a loss to have it defaced.
violentbydezign on
Go ahead and admit yourself to a psychiatric ward and get your head examine by a professional as soon as humanly possible.
PM_ME_YER_MUDFLAPS on
Not honoring Charlie Kirk isn’t even a record scratch.
AuthorityAnarchyYes on
RiverHarris on
These people are clueless.
Tbagzyamum69420xX on
This is the most Asheville thing they could have done what is OOP even on.
SuspiciousImpact2197 on
Drama queen much?
Kaleria84 on
You have to be a special level of snowflake to be “shaken to your core” by someone destroying a billboard.
45 Comments
Has there never been any graffiti in Asheville before. Anyway, what sort of monster puts up a billboard to praise a homophobic racist misogynist?
CK is not the saint he is being portrayed as.Someone said “enough”. Good for them.
Looks like an improvement from here.
“o, my very real and totally not clownishly performative feefees!”
I was just in Asheville and I missed this gem, what a bummer.
MAVIS! GET YOUR PEARLS!
I can’t stand empathy
Oh, no! Anyway…
What happened to us being the snowflakes and facts don’t care about your feelings? Seems awfully snowflake to me
Good. Fuck Charlie Kirk. He was a terrible person with terrible beliefs. He shouldn’t be celebrated.
Awww
Charlie Kirk wasn’t worth the effort or paint used.
I wonder if there core is shaken every time Emmitt Till’s sign gets shot up.
Note:
“The blood of the martyr is the seed of the church”
That’s not a Charlie Kirk quote.
[Article: Charlie Kirk and the making of an AI Generated Martyr](https://theconversation.com/charlie-kirk-and-the-making-of-an-ai-generated-martyr-265834)
Here’s an interesting article about how churches have turned a tragedy into a false prophet. They went from AI images of him to fake quotes and they even had megachurches playing ai generated sermons using his voice to say things he never said.
This is sick stuff.
If you’re a fascist, yeah, it’s bad.
Charlie Kirk: The Manufactured “Boy Wonder” of the Right…
The myth goes something like this. An 18-year-old kid, straight out of high school, has a stroke of genius: start a nationwide conservative youth movement to save America. With grit, hustle, and a few prayers, he builds Turning Point USA into an empire. Inspiring, right? Except that it is pure fiction. The truth is that Charlie Kirk didn’t even think of the idea himself. He didn’t bankroll it, he didn’t build it alone, and he sure as hell didn’t pull it off on the strength of his teenage mind. Like so much of the MAGA machine, Kirk was manufactured.
Here is what really happened. In 2012, a 72-year-old Tea Party activist named Bill Montgomery heard Kirk give a talk at a small local event. Montgomery took one look at this kid with ambition in his eyes and told him to skip college and start an organization. Within weeks, Turning Point USA was born. Montgomery wasn’t just a mentor. He was the co-founder, treasurer, and strategist. In plain English: Kirk didn’t invent Turning Point USA. He was recruited into it by an older political operative who saw in him a useful mouthpiece.
Then came the money. Kirk didn’t scrape together pennies from bake sales. He stalked the Republican National Convention in Tampa in 2012 memorizing donor faces. That’s how he buttonholed multimillionaire Foster Friess, pitched him, and walked away with a five-figure check. Add in Bruce Rauner, the future governor of Illinois, and the DeVos family, and suddenly this “teenage entrepreneur” had more capital than most actual start-ups. By 2016, Turning Point’s budget had ballooned from $50,000 to over $5 million. That doesn’t happen because of hustle. That happens because deep-pocketed billionaires decide you are worth buying.
And those billionaires weren’t random. Kirk’s early lifeline came directly from the Koch donor network, DonorsTrust, and foundations like Bradley and DeVos. He was plugged into the same machine that bankrolls every other right-wing think tank and dark-money group. FreedomWorks gave him credibility. Ginni Thomas, wife of Clarence Thomas, signed on as an advisor. Adam Brandon from FreedomWorks joined the board. This wasn’t a kid’s side project. It was a conveyor belt operation: find a willing young face, hand him talking points, surround him with old guard donors, and push him forward as the “future of conservatism.”
The right loves to talk about “merit” and “bootstraps.” But Charlie Kirk is the anti-bootstraps story. He didn’t build it. He was built. His speeches were derivative. His ideas weren’t his. His network was manufactured by billionaires who wanted a college-age mouthpiece to run campus operations they could never pull off themselves. Without Bill Montgomery, Foster Friess, the Koch donor network, and the DeVos family, Charlie Kirk would be a forgotten kid still trying to get into West Point.
What makes this important is not just debunking the Kirk myth. It is understanding the machinery of American conservatism. These people don’t grow movements organically. They don’t rise from the grassroots. They are cultivated, recruited, and bankrolled. They are test-tube populists. Charlie Kirk wasn’t a prodigy. He was a project. And when you look at TPUSA today, raking in nearly $80 million a year, the fingerprints of that project are all over it.
The next time you hear someone gushing about Kirk as a “self-made” activist, remember this: he didn’t even think of the idea himself. He was told what to do, handed money, plugged into a network, and carried to national prominence by people decades older and millions richer. That’s not vision. That’s ventriloquism. And Charlie Kirk has been the dummy on their lap ever since.
Brent Molnar. Voice of Reason.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/171hQNwdn2/
Oh, the humanity!!!
I thought the post was talking about the fact that that billboard exists
I am truly amazed at the penmanship of the graffiti producer. Those letters are near perfection.
These people are the biggest drama queens.
I really wish they would just at least hang their hat on someone worth martyrdom, instead of one of the most hateful people out there who masqueraded as a man of faith.
Shaken to the core. Ridiculous idiot.
Noted “True metal supply”.
Antifa raped my billboard
All maga do is cry like little bitches
wont somebody please think of the homophobes??
Graffiti “shakes them to their core”?
“I had hope that things weren’t as bad as they seemed” Things are bad dipshit. Nazis have taken over America!
Racism. Homophobia. Transphobia. Removing healthcare. Labeling the other party as enemies of the sate. Tax reduction for the already wealthy. Twisting religion to meet their needs. Turning away immigrants, and harping on immigrants. Scams. Lies. Subterfuge.
It’s hilarious they think they’re the good guys here. It’s literally anything but. If what I read of Jesus was even remotely true. he would kick their ass out of the temple.
This has to be a bot post. I’ve seen some shit in my lifetime but nothing has ever compelled me to say or post the phrase, shaken me to my core. GTFOH nobody talks like that.
everybody knows asheville is the lesbian capital of the south. of course nobody appreciates him there. it’s full of boho hippie hiker dog moms.
The “fuck your feelings” crowd sure are a bunch of pussies.
Not just a billboard, but a billboard honoring a racist.
About time. Don’t just say it, now do it!
No one but pe – do supporters like that Kirk guy anyways. Not a loss to have it defaced.
Go ahead and admit yourself to a psychiatric ward and get your head examine by a professional as soon as humanly possible.
Not honoring Charlie Kirk isn’t even a record scratch.
These people are clueless.
This is the most Asheville thing they could have done what is OOP even on.
Drama queen much?
You have to be a special level of snowflake to be “shaken to your core” by someone destroying a billboard.