Trump Reportedly Fumes at ‘Ungrateful’ Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA For Cozying Up to DeSantis
Former President Donald Trump has reportedly voiced frustration at Charlie Kirk for cozying up with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) – who Trump has been relentlessly attacking in recent weeks, including sharing an allegation he is a “groomer.”
NBC News reported on Friday that Trump “and some around him are frustrated by Kirk’s overtures to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.” The report by Allan Smith and Vaughn Hillyard details several close allies of Trump relaying those concerns.
“Trump feels like he has made Charlie and Charlie’s ungrateful and [Trump’s] not been happy for a while,” a Trump adviser told NBC News on the condition of anonymity. “He’s like, ‘You call him and you tell him he’d be nothing without my son.’”
“I see that [Kirk’s] trying to cover all his bases. Trying to triangulate between Trump and DeSantis. And Ron may not care, but Trump notices,” the advisor added.
Kirk runs the influential pro-Trump, MAGA grassroots organization Turning Point USA, which in recent years has become a kind of stand-in for the RNC – organizing large conferences across the country where top GOP leaders address large crowds of activists.
A second source close to Trump told NBC, “Trump world is very aware of what’s coming out of Turning Point.”
“Charlie and Turning Point were very close to Trump since the beginning, but the distance has grown since the beginning of 2022. And then you get to the end of 2022, there’s a coordinated effort for TPUSA to build that relationship with Ron. Why? Charlie wants to be next to the new shiny thing on the block,” the source continued, concluding:
Like so many others, there would be no Charlie Kirk without Donald Trump.
Donald Trump Jr., a close Kirk ally and touring buddy, poured cold water on the idea there is any kind of split brewing in a statement to NBC News:
Few people in politics have been a stronger or more loyal ally to both my father and our entire family than Charlie. I know my father appreciates Charlie’s early endorsement and all of us value his friendship. No amount of BS quotes from anonymous sources, who have no clue what they’re talking about, will ever change any of that.
Kirk himself commented on the story, declaring, “I love President Trump and support him for 2024, all media drama is noise.”
Despite the denials, the level of vitriol in Trump’s recent attacks against DeSantis would seem to indicate the former president will not allow for any of his allies to get close or remain close to DeSantis — today’s NBC News story may very well be meant to serve as a warning to Kirk from Trumpworld.
