OMG: Erika Kirk EMBARRASSES herself on stage at conference

If you're Erica Kirk, you've got one. job, and it is not to do this on stage. Please welcome Turning Point USA CEO and. chair, ERICA KIRK. >> [music]. [music].

>> WHY? Because after a while, it invites. mockery like this viral video from. comedian Drewski just days ago. >> [music]. >> So, if you're Erica Kirk and you. continue with the WWE style entrances. even after the comedians make these. jokes, you just validate their points.

So, this was an event titled Build the. Red Wall, which took place at Dream City. Church in Phoenix, Arizona and featured. Erica Kirk alongside Donald Trump as. part of a broader push to energize. conservative voters ahead of the midterm. elections. The event itself, standard. Turning Point USA fare. But, what. everybody is actually talking about, what is dominating the conversation. online, isn't anything that Erica Kirk. said, it's how she walked in, which is. to say, full WWE. And look, I grew up. watching WWE back when it was called. WWF. I watched The Rock and The.

Undertaker and D-Generation X. I saw. their entrances, which sometimes even. came from the ceilings. Erica Kirk's. entrances rival all of theirs. And I. don't say that as a cheap shot, I say it. as someone with a long history watching. the world's most theatrical sport. So, here's what I want to be precise about. because again, I'm not interested in. cheap shots. Since taking over as. Turning Point USA CEO following Charlie. Kirk's assassination, Erica Kirk has. drawn repeated scrutiny for frequent. public appearances featuring flashy.

outfits, heavy makeup, and pyrotechnics. The Phoenix entrance didn't happen in a. vacuum. It is part of a pattern that. people have been noticing and commenting. on for months now. And the reason it. keeps generating conversation is because. of the tension between the somber. circumstances that brought her to this. role and the increasingly maximalist way. that she is inhabiting it. >> [music]. [cheering]. >> Ladies and gentlemen, now welcome to the. stage the 45th and 47th President of the.

United States OF AMERICA, DONALD J. TRUMP. >> [music and singing]. [music]. [singing]. [music]. [screaming]. [music]. [music].

[singing]. >> AND LOOK, I WANT TO BE clear about. something. Grief is not a. one-size-fits-all uh uh phenomenon. There is no rulebook for how some widow. is supposed to carry herself, and I'm. not going to sit here and police that. What I am going to talk about is the. organizational strategy, because that's. where this gets interesting. Charlie. Kirk built Turning Point USA into one of. the most effective grassroots. mobilization machines on the right. The. product that he built was serious, even.

when it was provocative. What's emerging. now looks increasingly like something. totally different, a personality-driven. entertainment brand in search of its. next viral moment. The WWE entrance, the. theme songs, the pyrotechnics. And. here's the thing about spectacle, it. works until it doesn't. Critics have. pointed to empty seats at recent Turning. Point USA events with observers noting. the turnout was less than local church. services. Here, for example, is J.D. Vance. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I.

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I. In fact, those empty seats didn't escape. the attention of Jon Ossoff, either. I. don't know if you saw, but J.D. Vance. was in Georgia this week. >> [cheering]. >> Don't worry. No one showed up. >> [cheering]. >> The stadium.

The stadium was empty. Did you see that? >> [cheering]. >> But, J.D. came to UGA to attack the. Pope. >> [cheering]. >> Two days after Donald Trump depicted. himself as Jesus Christ. >> [cheering].

>> The faithless. president. depicts himself as Christ while he. plunges the nation into wars of choice. >> [cheering]. >> While he and his family rake in billions. from foreign princes. While he plunders our health care to cut. taxes for the rich. >> [cheering]. >> Meanwhile, rent, power, groceries, and.

health care have all hit all-time highs. this year. This year. Ground beef's up 20% since Trump took. office. Coffee, 40%. Health premiums through the roof. And. remember, while you pay more for. everything, the first family's wealth is growing by. billions of dollars. >> [cheering].

>> Because they're crooks. >> [cheering]. >> And everybody knows it. So, yeah, when your own base isn't even. filling the room, fireworks do not solve. the problem. They just make the empty. seats harder to notice from the stage. And look, going back to Kirk, much of. the online conversation following the. Phoenix event focused less on her. message and more on the optics of her. entrance. And that right there is the. tell. If you walk out to a WWE theme.

song with pyrotechnics and nobody's. talking about what you actually said, if. the entrance completely swallowed the. substance, then the entrance failed on. its own terms. You didn't energize the. crowd, you became the story. And in. politics, when the packaging becomes the. story instead of the message, that is. not a branding win, that's a branding. problem. Turning Point USA is trying to. hold together a movement that lost its. founder under genuinely traumatic. circumstances, and that is legitimately. hard. Nobody's disputing that. But, the. way that you sustain a movement built on.

ideas is with ideas, with arguments and. organizing and showing up and making the. case, not with theme songs and smoke. machines. Because when the smoke clears, and it always does, all that's left is. the question of whether anybody was. actually persuaded by what you said. And. right now, based on the conversation. coming out of Phoenix yesterday, it. doesn't look like that question even got. asked. Before you go, I'm very excited to. announce that I've written a new book.

titled The Day After: How to wield power. in a post-Trump world. The book explores. what is, in my opinion, the single most. important theme that we're dealing with. in politics today and moving forward, power. Specifically, how Republicans. abuse it and how Democrats refuse to. wield it. This book explains how we got. here and, more importantly, how we. should finally wield power if we're. lucky enough to get it back. It is the. blueprint for progressives who want to. do far more than just restore the status. quo. Please pre-order today by following. the link on this screen. You can grab. yours from any of the major retailers.

like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or. scroll down on the page and get a copy. from an independent bookstore closest to. you. Thanks so much for supporting. independent media.