A right-wing influencer and self-proclaimed TP USA “rep” is getting called out for antisemitism on X, as users respond to her criticisms of conservative Jewish pundit Ben Shapiro.
Turning Point USA is a campus conservative organization funded by right-wing foundations and big Republican donors.
As young Republicans have increasingly radicalized, the group has seen its own controversies over racist comments and behavior from staff.
In 2017, The New Yorker reported that TP USA’s national field director texted “I HATE BLACK PEOPLE. Like fuck them all … I hate blacks. End of story,” to another employee.
Morgan Ariel describes herself as a TP USA “rep” on both her X and Instagram bio.
On Thursday, she tweeted that she’d noticed that Shapiro is “Israel 1st Jesus hating big pharma shill … It’s insane that you are a founder of one of the largest pseudo conservative media companies in America yet it’s more apparent now than ever before that your first interests do not lie here. I hope you find Jesus the time is short.”
In a statement to the Daily Dot, TP USA denied Ariel had any ties to the organization.
“Morgan Ariel is not on staff. She is not employed. She is not paid by TP USA. She is not a rep. She is not a spokesperson for the org,” Andrew Kolvet, a spokesman for TP USA told the Daily Dot.
TP USA did not immediately respond to follow-up questions if Ariel had ever been employed with the organization.
The tweet came in response to a post Shapiro made about Shani Louk, an Israeli who was reportedly kidnapped by Hamas from a music festival it attacked on Saturday. A video of an unresponsive Louk in the back of a truck went viral after the attack. Louk’s mother has since claimed to be in touch with people in Gaza who say she’s in the hospital in critical condition.
Ariel made a video on Wednesday commenting on the case.
“I watched conservatives turn into blood thirsty demons from these videos being propagated,” she said, commenting on the pro-Israel stance of many conservative pundits, questioning who they were being controlled by, implying it was Jews.
“One thing I noticed you didn’t include in this video is the actual video of Shani Louk’s stripped and broken body,” Shapiro replied, accusing her of downplaying the violence. “Fascinating.”
Some X users called out Ariel’s comment about Shapiro being “Israel 1st [and] Jesus hating.”
Although Ariel may not be officially tied to the organization, it wasn’t the only antisemitic controversy the organization was involved in this week.
On Wednesday, TP USA President Charlie Kirk had the writer Steven Sailer on his show to defend racial stereotypes and talk about Black crime. Sailer writes for VDare, an anti-immigrant and white nationalist blog, and defends eugenics.
Kirk introduced Sailer as “one of the most talented noticers in the country.”
Use of the word “noticing” is often “used by antisemitic trolls online in the past to attack and push conspiracy theories about Jewish people,” reported Media Matters.
Update 3:44pm CT, Oct. 16: This post has been updated to reflect TP USA’s denial Ariel works with the organization, despite her social media bios.
Ariel did not respond to an inquiry about the claims in her biography.
