Haley Victory Smith

USA TODAY

Corrections & clarifications: References in this column to an event in the United Kingdom have been updated.

Charlie Kirk, the founder of conservative student group Turning Point USA, seems to have a fraught relationship with facts when they get in the way of his worshipful approach to President Donald Trump. The leader of an organization that boasts more than 1,000 campus chapters and whose Twitter following has surpassed a million people, has a particular problem with history.

One recent distortion came in a tweet that read, “Trump is the first leader in the history of the world to be attacked for improving the lives of the citizens that voted for him.” Before you ask, no, while this statement was incredibly hyperbolic, it wasn’t a joke. Clearly, this statement is patently untrue.

All one has to do is recall a single conservative leader. Even Trump supporters have to admit that our current president presents no special exception. President Ronald Reagan cut taxes and slashed regulation in an effort to reinvigorate the economy. He got attacked countless times for doing so. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher suffered the same fate for her program of deregulation and privatization. Upon her passing, protesters cried out, “The bitch is dead.”

From a nonpartisan perspective, examples abound both domestically and globally. President Lyndon Johnson oversaw integration while much of the nation was still holding on to overt racism. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill got aggressive with Germany long before it was politically advantageous to do so. Both of these leaders paid a political price for trying to improve the lives of their constituents.

Kirk has a bad habit of hyperbole

This isn’t Kirk’s first comment overstating the 45th president’s historical significance. Kirk believes that the president is the “greatest president of our lifetime,” and that history will judge Trump as our “greatest president ever.”

On Fox News last month, he said of the president, “He's so quick, he's relentless, but you look at what he's been able to accomplish with the amount thrown at him. I don't think that combination has ever happened in American history.” In a particularly hilarious tweet, he called Trump “the most moral president on record.” Yes, the man who has cheated on multiple wives, slept with a porn star and hasn’t ever asked God for forgiveness is more moral than the man who freed the slaves. Never mind the many women who accuse him of everything from unwanted kissing to outright rape.

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My favorite instance of the hyperbole around Kirk has to be a news release promoting his then-upcoming trip to the United Kingdom: “A private event that is being billed as a gathering of political genius and the introduction of a fresh new political philosophy may be the most important American philosophical arrival to Europe since Thomas Jefferson arrived in Paris in 1784.” Yes, a Twitter influencer was being compared to a Founding Father.

But Charlie Kirk’s inane remarks don’t exist in a vacuum. At the time of my writing, his tweet on Trump’s moral virtue had over 3,000 retweets and 6,000 likes. He hosts some of the largest conferences in the conservative movement. Just this month, 1,400 attended TPUSA’s Young Women’s Leadership Summit in Dallas, and it wasn’t just think-tank intellectuals who came to speak. Some of the most prominent voices on the right were invited to make an appearance: Charlotte Pence, the vice president's daughter; Dana Loesch of the National Rifle Association; Fox News commentator Kat Timpf; BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey; and even a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley.

For the most part, those are people I respect and admire, but it’s time to stop allowing this charlatan to reign unchallenged.

Far too many on the right are actively cheering for Kirk. Last month, he received an honorary doctorate from Liberty University for his “exceptional leadership and energetic voice.” Liberty University might spend a little less time commending the energy behind the voice and a little more time on the truthfulness of what the voice has to say.

But why are conservatives continuing to put up with this?

In my experience though, the most common reason Charlie Kirk goes unquestioned is that many conservatives are afraid to criticize him. Very few popular members of the movement are doing it publicly. A smattering of brave voices from people you probably don’t know, and muddled whispers at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) from people you probably do, are all that can be heard in opposition to this powerhouse of a leader.

To give context to why this is likely happening, not only do the political personalities associated with Turning Point get invited to conferences, they get invited to speak at universities across the country. Similar student groups like the Young America's Foundation pay their speakers thousands of dollars to speak. It's hard to believe that Turning Point is paying anything less, and with the caliber of speaker they consistently attract, they are likely paying more. In other words, you criticize Charlie Kirk, and suddenly, an entire stream of revenue disappears.

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No one wants to alienate his audience, not just for financial reasons but for the sake of advancing conservatism. I’m sure some are worried that if they say negative things about Charlie Kirk, the students involved in his programs will write them off as a liar or a hack. These speakers want their message to be able to reach as many people as possible. The truth is, the vast majority of TPUSA students don’t understand the depths to which the organization and its leader have fallen. Regardless, it is the responsibility of more well-known conservatives to call Kirk out, conservatives who don't depend on the audience that Turning Point USA provides.

Don’t grant Kirk credence by speaking at his conferences, inviting him to be a guest on your shows, and singing his praises. Such actions only allow his brand of intellectual dishonesty to continue. I’m not arguing Charlie Kirk needs to be completely kicked out of polite society, but it would be nice to hear honest criticism of his statements once in a while. The reputation of conservatives and their honesty have been tarnished enough by President Trump. The right shouldn’t let Kirk’s brand of ahistorical sycophancy tarnish it further.

Haley Victory Smith is an editorial fellow for the USA TODAY Opinion section. Follow her on Twitter: @Haley_Victory