Far-right internet personality Candace Owens is unimpressed with the current state of Turning Point USA, the right-wing student program founded by the late Charlie Kirk.
Tensions spilled into the open on Thursday, after TPUSA Deputy Director Nikkelle Hudak-Cardoso posted a video of an assembly at a school in Nampa, Idaho.
"500+ OUTSTANDING high school students attended the @TPUSA Club America Tour Stop at Nampa Christian School this morning!" wrote Hudak-Cardoso, who noted that Charlie Kirk's widow Erika "delivered a powerful message to this generation of America First leaders. The future is bright!"
But Owens, a notorious conspiracy theorist who has largely fallen out with fellow right-wing influencers over the last year, slammed the event on X.
"The students were forced to attend this event as a school assembly. They could not opt out. The parents were informed they were not allowed to attend alongside them. It is insane to me that you have administrations forcing events on underage kids and then are trying to spin it to the public as successful club growth," she wrote.
She then tagged TPUSA spokesman Andrew Kolvet, saying, "harlie’s vision never included FORCING his ideas on students— ever. He wanted to expand TPUSA organically. He wanted people to sign up for his events and clubs willfully. He believed in the free markets. He did not believe in FORCING young kids to sit through a mandated assembly that they didn’t want to attend so that you could lie to donors about attendance numbers. Club America was envisioned by Charlie as a grassroots movement from willful students. Whatever the hell Erika is doing is clearly not that."
Kolvet then responded, disputing her version of events.
"Wrong again," he wrote. "Students were free to opt out. Three students did so. Over 500 chose to attend. Nothing was forced. What else you got?"
But Owens dug in.
"They did not CHOOSE to attend an event that took place in the middle of their regular school day," she wrote. "It was planned for them by the school. Parents were informed of this event in the weekly newsletter and were told that neither turning point USA nor the school would be posting about it across their socials. Hence, why parents emailed me their [sic] upset. Are you suggesting students willfully signed up for this event? If so, where? And how? Please be specific."