Southern Poverty Law Center attacks Turning Point USA with 'cheap smear' in latest hysterical 'extremism' report



Liberal activists and their fellow travelers in business, government, and media frequently cite the Southern Poverty Law Center as an authority on what qualifies as a hate group or an extremist organization.

That's despite — or because of — the SPLC's heavy left-wing bias, the frequency with which it smears law-abiding conservatives as "extremists," and its link to alleged domestic terrorism.

'First, they wanted you to affirm, and then they wanted you to celebrate, and then they wanted you to participate.'

Exuding liberal sanctimony with an air of legitimacy helps keep the SPLC — a nonprofit sued numerous times for defamation, accused by one former staffer of exaggerating hate to "bilk" donors, and given an F-rating by Charity Watch — awash in cash.

After all, what's not to like when the SPLC largely fundraises on the premise that it is "exposing hate and injustice"?

True to form, the SPLC smeared agential conservatives in its latest annual hate and extremism report.

This time around, the smear merchants focused their attack on Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA, characterizing it as a pro-Christian extremist group with an "authoritarian vision for the country that threatens the foundation of our democracy."

But Kirk wasn't having it, responding in a statement that "the SPLC has added Turning Point to their ridiculous 'hate group' list, right next to the KKK and neo-Nazis, a cheap smear from a washed-up org that's been fleecing scared grandmas for decades."

"Their game plan? Scare financial institutions into debanking us, pressure schools to cancel us, and demonize us so some unhinged lunatic feels justified targeting us," continued Kirk. "But it's 2025, and nobody with a functioning brain buys their garbage anymore. The SPLC is a laughingstock, a hollowed-out husk of an organization that's been exposed as a grift time and time again."

According to the SPLC — whose recent top targets include Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok fame and the parental rights advocacy group Moms for Liberty — TPUSA is "emblematic" of the American political right's supposed embrace of "aggressive state and federal power to enforce a social order rooted in white supremacy" against a backdrop of "patriarchal Christian supremacy dedicated to eroding the value of inclusive democracy and public institutions."

RELATED: Own the hate: Why patriots should wear the 'hate group' smear with pride

RomoloTavani/iStock/Getty Images Plus

When trying to make the case that TPUSA somehow is an extremist outfit or at the very least extremist-adjacent, SPLC contributor Rachael Fugardi, aided by a pair of DEI-credentialed researchers, noted that Kirk:

  • dared to link the health of liberty in America to the religiosity of its people;
  • suggested that Democrats love what God hates;
  • championed motherhood and suggested women should get married and start having children at a younger age;
  • highlighted that in the case of non-straight activism, "First, they wanted you to affirm, and then they wanted you to celebrate, and then they wanted you to participate. And if you don't, they are willing to destroy your life";
  • suggested that Americans should buy weapons and ammunition; and
  • warned that "native born Americans are being replaced by foreigners."

The report also clutched pearls over TPUSA's supposed encouragement of "parents to be fearful the government was harming their children in schools" and its criticism of critical race theory and LGBT propaganda in the classroom.

'DEI narratives can engender a hostile attribution bias and heighten racial suspicion, prejudicial attitudes, authoritarian policing, and support for punitive behaviors.'

This desperate attempt on the part of the SPLC to paint Kirk and TPUSA as extreme might have less to do with the conservatives' views and more to do with their political effectiveness in changing minds and curbing the abuses of the left — as well as their alignment with President Donald Trump.

TPUSA videos notched billions of views in the lead-up to the 2024 election — and it was at this precise time that its members were engaging young Americans on college campuses across the country and promoting Trump. That momentum and engagement still have not tapered off.

Kirk stressed on X, "Being on their list is a badge of honor. It means they're terrified that we're so effective. Keep crying, SPLC — America’s done with your scam."

While evidently worried about TPUSA, the SPLC also warned of the "merging of anti-immigration and anti-LGBTQ+ activism with fear of demographic displacement" and framed efforts to dismantle the racist DEI regime as a campaign to "whitewash American society and protect white supremacy."

Yet, a study published late last year by the Network Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers University concluded that "DEI narratives can engender a hostile attribution bias and heighten racial suspicion, prejudicial attitudes, authoritarian policing, and support for punitive behaviors in the absence of evidence for a transgression deserving punishment."

RELATED: Damning study reveals what DEI does to people — and unsurprisingly, it's really bad

Race-obsessive activist Ibram Kendi, originally Ibram Henry Rogers. Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Netflix

Having evidently missed or ignored this damning insight into the divisive and dangerous nature of DEI, the SPLC claimed that DEI initiatives "are essential in ensuring pluralism, reducing inequities that spur division, and promoting democracy."

Working off the basis that DEI is necessary — and necessarily good — the leftist outfit attacked those attempting to eliminate it, including Moms for Liberty, normalcy advocate Robby Starbuck, Republican states and officials, and Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo.

The SPLC also conducted a number of drive-by hits in its annual report, deeming, for instance, the Christian legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom a "hate group" and suggesting that reports indicating the Obama administration worked to debank conservative clients was somehow a "false narrative."

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Rule by the people? Not anymore in the Western world



On Friday, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency officially labeled Alternative for Germany — the country’s most popular conservative party — as a “right-wing extremist” organization. The nationalist party surged to second place in February’s federal election, winning 20.8% of the vote. This new designation grants the ruling government expanded powers to surveil Alternative for Germany leaders and supporters and sets the stage for an outright ban.

Germany has now joined a growing list of Western governments that delay elections, disqualify candidates, and ban opposition parties — all in the name of defending democracy.

Democracy has become a marketing slogan — useful for justifying war and globalist expansion, but disposable when it interferes with ruling-class priorities.

To call Germany’s relationship with authoritarianism “complicated” understates the case. The country’s historical memory fixates on Nazism as the ultimate expression of right-wing extremism and mass atrocity. But that singular focus conveniently ignores the fact that the Soviet Union, which helped defeat the Third Reich, imposed its own brutal regime across East Germany until the Berlin Wall fell.

Modern Germany has seen tyranny from both the far right and the far left. Yet its national identity now orbits entirely around a rejection of right-wing politics. Anti-fascism has become something like a state religion. But when a country builds its identity on shame and self-repudiation, it risks cultural collapse. We’ve seen the same pathology infect America, where elite institutions push a national narrative defined entirely by slavery and racial guilt.

Every nation has dark chapters. A mature society learns from them. It doesn’t define itself by them forever.

While German history explains some of its deep aversion to nationalism, the trend of suppressing populist movements in the name of democracy has spread far beyond Berlin.

Brazil’s Supreme Court banned former President Jair Bolsonaro from seeking office until 2030. Romania’s Constitutional Court voided its 2024 election, citing supposed Russian influence in the rise of populist candidate Călin Georgescu. And in the United States, courts came dangerously close to removing Donald Trump from the ballot — while the president now fights legal battles over whether he can exercise executive power at all under Article II of the Constitution.

This isn’t democracy defending itself. It’s ruling elites trying to outlaw their opposition.

Western elites justify their dominance by invoking democracy and individual liberty. That wasn’t always the case. The West once called itself Christendom — a civilizational identity grounded in faith, tradition, and truth. But it abandoned that foundation in favor of secular platitudes.

The United States has waged entire wars in the name of exporting democracy to places like Iraq and Afghanistan — nations that never wanted it and were never going to keep it. These projects were doomed from the start. Yet at least they wrapped American power in the language of benevolence.

Today, even that fig leaf has disappeared.

The modern West treats democracy as a branding exercise, not a principle. Leaders like Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau, and Keir Starmer love lecturing the world about “liberal norms,” even as they jail political dissidents, censor speech, and turn domestic intelligence services against their own citizens. They condemn Vladimir Putin’s authoritarianism while staying silent as NATO allies crush dissent at home.

Democracy has become a marketing slogan — useful for justifying war and globalist expansion, but disposable when it interferes with ruling-class priorities.

Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both slammed the German government for labeling Alternative for Germany as extremist. On social media, Rubio went further, blaming Germany’s open-border policies for the Alternative for Germany rise and calling the state’s surveillance powers tyranny in disguise.

Germany’s Foreign Office issued a formal reply, insisting the decision stemmed from an “independent” and “thorough” investigation.

The claim is absurd on its face.

No government can “independently” investigate and condemn its most prominent political opposition — especially not when the accusation is “extremism,” a term that now means little more than holding views the ruling class finds inconvenient.

I’ve made no secret of my dislike of modern mass democracy. But the original concept, at least, had merit. Democracy once meant rule by the demos — the people of a particular nation, rooted in shared history, culture, and civic identity. Its legitimacy came not from procedure or process but from the bonds between citizens and their country.

Today’s ruling class has twisted that definition beyond recognition. As I’ve written before, globalist elites now use the word “democracy” to describe a system governed by unaccountable institutions they alone control. Populism, they say, is dangerous. Democracy, they insist, must be preserved. But in practice, they oppose the popular will and protect only the process they’ve captured.

Elections have become sacraments — rituals that legitimize the rule of bureaucracies, not expressions of the people’s will. The process is sacred, not the outcome. That’s why Western politicians now speak of “our sacred democracy,” which must be defended not from tyranny, but from actual democratic movements.

Western leaders still try to justify their global power by invoking freedom and liberty. But their credibility has collapsed. It’s farcical to hear men like Justin Trudeau or Keir Starmer preach about “shared Western values” while jailing political opponents and silencing dissent at home.

The moral authority of liberal democracy is crumbling. And the cause isn’t Putin or China. It’s Western leaders who’ve gutted the electoral process and replaced it with rule by managerial elites.

The Trump administration should continue to expose this hypocrisy. But it also must act. That means offering political asylum to dissidents facing persecution in places like Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Americans rightly recoil at repression in Russia. They should feel the same revulsion when it comes from our “allies” in Berlin, Ottawa, or London.

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Reuters shares sob stories about pro-Hamas student protesters exposed by anti-Semitism watchdog



Reuters shared sob stories over the weekend from anti-Israel student protesters who have been outed by the anti-Semitism watchdog Canary Mission. Reuters, which itself was criticized by an anti-Semitism watchdog group in November over ties to at least one likely Hamas freelancer, concern-mongered over the efficacy of Canary Mission's work Saturday, suggesting that it has exposed Hamas-anointed student radicals to undue "abuse," "harassment," and "attacks" online.

Reuters told the tale of how 20-year-old Egyptian-American student Layla Sayed found her way onto the watchdog's radar. Although apparently long a supporter of Palestinian causes, Sayed indicated the Oct. 16 anti-Israel rally at the University of Pennsylvania was her first. It would later shock her to discover that some people might take issue to her chanting, "When people are occupied, resistance is justified" — an apparent rationalization for the unprovoked massacre of over 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7 and for other attacks of that nature.

To Sayed's surprise and Reuters' apparent chagrin, the student found herself profiled on Canary Mission's website.

'These students have disqualified themselves from a career in medicine.'

Canary Mission notes on its website that Sayed attended a rally "supporting the Hamas terrorist organization after the group committed war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, on October 7, 2023."

As with most profiles on the site, the watchdog provides some biographical details about Sayed as well as links to her now-deleted social media pages.

According to Reuters, the watchdog also posted a picture of Sayed to its X and Instagram accounts with the caption, "Hamas War Crimes Apologist." After indicating what war crimes Canary Mission was referencing, Reuters made sure to cite the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry's death toll figure of Palestinians killed in Israel's counter-offensive.

Sayed is far from the only radical profiled on Canary Mission's website.

Reuters indicated that the watchdog has accused over 250 U.S.-based students and academics, including 30 Penn students, of supporting terrorism or promoting anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel since October. The accused range from the radicals running the Hamas-endorsed Palestinian groups to virulent anti-Semites arrested for offenses, including assaulting a Jewish student.

Canary Mission's stated goal is, after all, to document "individuals and organizations that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses and beyond."

Reuters spoke to 17 students and one research fellow among the hundreds of "canaries" currently profiled on the watchdog's website. Only one failed to complain about criticism in response for espousing pro-Hamas and/or anti-Israel rhetoric. Ten complained that their exposure as radicals might hurt their careers.

Canary Mission makes no secret of its intention to impact careers, noting that "today's radicals are not tomorrow's employees."

In light of such efforts to name and shame anti-Semites and Hamas apologists, Reuters indicated pro-Palestinian student groups have begun advising radicals to wear masks. After all, they stand little chance of taking down Canary Mission, the publications of which are constitutionally protected under the First Amendment.

On this point, Reuters consulted with a University of California, Los Angeles, professor, Eugene Volokh, who confirmed that the First Amendment applies to the publication of accurate information, acquired lawfully from the public domain, that is published without consent of the subject, even if that subject is a pro-Hamas student protester.

Dylan Saba, an attorney with Palestine Legal, told Reuters that the legal standard for defamation is high. Since complainants would have to demonstrate the site lied about them, it's an uphill battle — especially when the allegations are accurate. Saba suggested there have been only a few cases in which students successfully had their Canary Mission profiles taken down with threats of defamation lawsuits.

Some of the Georgetown University Medical School students who threatened to sue the Washington Free Beacon earlier this year for reporting on their defense of the Oct. 7 terror attacks appear on Canary Mission.

Yusra Rafeeqi's Instagram post showing an Israeli tank destroyed on Oct. 7 with the caption, "No more condemning Palestinian resistance. Radical change requires radical moves," appears in both the Free Beacon's report and on the watchdog's website.

Reuters suggested that Rafeeqi, daughter of Pakistani immigrants, now has "massive anxiety" over her future in medicine. She added, "I no longer feel safe in this country I once called home."

Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, former University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine associate dean, told the Free Beacon, "These students have disqualified themselves from a career in medicine. No Jewish patient can have confidence that they will treat them consistent with the Hippocratic Oath."

The watchdog apparently has an appeals process. Individuals who believe they have been traduced or those "who were formerly investigated and featured on Canary Mission but have since rejected the latent anti-Semitism" can request to become an "Ex-Canary."

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Maxine Waters pushes Democrats' new Trump-as-dictator narrative and concern-mongers about civil war



With just under six months left until the election, Democrats are desperately attempting to inspire fear about what horrific fates might befall the nation should Donald Trump retake the White House.

In past months, the Biden campaign and other Democratic outfits advanced the notion that democracy is under threat by a choice of candidate unfavorable to the Democratic Party. Having ostensibly exhausted this "democracy is on the ballot" narrative, Biden boosters now appear keen to paint former President Donald Trump as a dictator in waiting.

California Rep. Maxine Waters (D), long a champion for mob-rule street action, appears more than happy to take this new piece of hyperbole to new extremes.

Over the weekend, the 85-year-old Democrat resumed her apparent election-time role as a conjurer of alternate histories and paranoia, launching into a deranged rant on MSNBC's "The Sunday Show" wherein she not only articulated the new narrative but suggested that right-wing Americans aligned with Trump are plotting a civil war and that the Biden Department of Justice should surveil his allies.

The setup

MSNBC talking head Jonathan Capehart appeared to set Waters off Sunday with a reference to Trump's recent interview with Time, specifically the Republican's indication that he would not seek a third term, even if legally enabled.

In the Time interview, reporter Eric Cortellessa incorrectly suggested that the Heritage Foundation's Project 25 had proposed abolishing the 22nd Amendment that limits presidents to two terms. He then asked Trump, "Would you definitely retire after a second term, or would you consider challenging the 22nd Amendment?"

Trump answered, "Well, I would, and I don't really have a choice, but I would." The Republican presidential candidate added, "I'm going to serve one term, I'm gonna do a great job. We're gonna have a very successful country again ... and then I'm gonna leave."

Evidently dissatisfied with the innocuity of Trump's answer, Cortellessa pressed the issue, prompting Trump to clearly indicate that he would not be in favor of challenging the 22nd Amendment.

"Not for me. I wouldn't be in favor of it at all. I intend to serve four years and do a great job. And I want to bring our country back. I want to put it back on the right track. Our country is going down. We're a failing nation right now. We're a nation in turmoil," said Trump.

Imagining meat for a nothing-burger

Capehart looked to Waters to resuscitate the claim of dictatorial aspirations despite Trump having effectively killed it in the cradle.

"Trump says in that in that Time interview that he would not seek to overturn or ignore the Constitution’s prohibition on a third term," Capehart told Waters. "Should the American people believe that? Do you believe that?"

"No! Absolutely not," said Waters. "As I said, you can't believe anything that Donald Trump has to say. Donald Trump will do any and everything that he can possibly get away with. He does not at all support the Constitution of the United States of America. This is a man who we better be careful about."

Waters explained to Capehart that she plans on asking the Biden Department of Justice and the Biden White House "what they are going to do to protect this country against violence if he loses."

"I want to know about all of those right-wing organizations that he's connected with who are training up in the hills somewhere and targeting, you know, what communities they are going to attack," said the Democrat. "We need to know now, given that he's telling us there is going to be violence if he loses, we need to know what his plan is and how we are going to be protected."

Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters floats a completely unhinged conspiracy theory that "right-wing organizations" are "training up in the hills somewhere"
— (@)

Capehart cued Rep. Robert Garcia, another California Democrat, to confirm that "this isn't hyperbole, this is real."

Garcia obliged the talking head, saying, "This is dangerous, and I think what they are preparing to destroy our democracy, the way we have elections in this country, and the congresswoman is absolutely correct. ... If Donald Trump gets re-elected, there is no doubt that he will try to stay in office beyond his four-year term. He will destroy this country, our democracy."

"Not only are they planning on a civil war ... but he is spelling it out specifically how and what they are going to do and how he is going to get revenge, how he is going to attack his enemies, all of these things."

After having her fantasy affirmed by a fellow traveler, Waters added, "We know that there are people aligned — who are with him, who follow him — who are already practicing what their government is going to be under Trump. Not only are they planning on a civil war if they have to do that, but he is spelling it out specifically how and what they are going to do and how he is going to get revenge, how he is going to attack his enemies, all of these things."

Waters' apparent decision to fabricate rumors about civil war plots came just days after Rasmussen Reports indicated — on the basis of a national telephone and online survey — that 41% of likely U.S. voters believe that the country is bound to suffer a civil war sometime in the next five years.

According to Rasmussen, discussions of civil war "got a boost" after the Hollywood film "Civil War" made its debut as No. 1 at the box office last month.

Waters, having watered the seed of concern regarding another civil war, added that Trump is a "pure racist" who may attack non-whites.

Earlier in the interview, Waters said, "We have to be very concerned about a former president of the United States talking about attacking his own country, talking about perhaps a bloodbath, talking about perhaps there is going to be trouble. He said it in so many different ways. We should take him seriously."

Waters' calculated use of the term "bloodbath"was a rehash of the manufactured scandal over Trump's March 16 use of the term "bloodbath." Whereas the Biden campaign and its apparent allies at CBS News, Politico, NPR, Rolling Stone, the Los Angeles Times, and USA Today mischaracterized the Republican's remarks as threatening, Trump had actually used it in reference to the economic fallout of continued offshoring of jobs and automobile manufacturing plants under the Biden administration.

"This man does not believe in the Constitution. He wants to be a dictator. This is a dangerous human being. We have to know what our country is going to do to protect us from him," added the Democrat.

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