On April 2, Turning Point USA resumed its “This is The Turning Point Tour,” stopping at George Washington University in the nation’s capitol, featuring White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
TPUSA CEO Erika Kirk and Leavitt discussed the importance of maintaining some form of harmony in family and work life along with hard work and faith in carrying out life’s tasks.
“Be that person that shows up first to work or to your internship,” Leavitt recommended to the audience. “You know, be that person that so noticeably works their butt off at every single thing that they do that you can’t go unnoticed in whatever opportunity you’re in, whether that’s school, academia, graduate school, whether any of you go on to serve in our military.
“People who ‘people-notice,’ notice those who work hard and hustle,” she continued. “And so you never want to be that person,” she continued. “You want to be that person who shows up relentlessly every day with a positive attitude, willing to work hard, and that’s going to help get you to wherever you want to go. There’s just no substitute for it.”
“Charlie used to say ‘work harder, be better,’ and he would even give advice saying ‘if they can’t hire you because they don’t have the funds to do so, tell them that you’ll work for free,’” Kirk added to this discussion.
Kirk also discussed the uniqueness of Charlie’s patient approach to engaging with people holding contrary views to him, who sometimes grew hostile during debate.
”I just want to encourage you guys to continue to watch my husband’s videos and see how he engaged [with students]. What I loved the most is seeing the evolution of him being on campus,” Kirk stated. “At first he would hold the microphone while the other person across the table was speaking, and as time went on, he put the microphone down to actually listen and then be able to engage appropriately from there and really… doing what even Jesus did – which was ask questions.”
“Don’t be afraid to ask questions,” Kirk told the audience toward the end of the event, during Q&A. “I just hope that my husband continues to be an inspiration to all of you on how to properly engage with those that you do not agree with. And I would say, Charlie was the best at that: being able to stand a foot away from someone who is ardently disagreeing with you, in sometimes vile ways, with disgusting rhetoric, but still being able to maintain his composure and respect for the other side of the debate, no matter the issue, [this] was something that I think we can all continue to learn from.”
