How Trump’s MAGA movement helped a 29-year-old activist become a millionaire

WASHINGTON — Charlie Kirk’s $4.75 million Spanish-style estate is tucked away in a gated Arizona country club that charges nearly a half-million dollars for a golf membership. Kolvet said the money was part of Turning Point’s “50-100 year plan to continue reaching generation after generation of young Americans.” He added that the organization’s leaders were “good stewards of donor money.” While building for the future, however, Turning Point has shown a willingness to spend lavishly. In 2019, the group stated that its leaders would travel first-class or by charter plane, explaining later that it was needed in “certain circumstances” to “ensure the uninterrupted success of the organization’s mission.” In 2021, Turning Point Kolvet said the event was separate from the couple’s small wedding ceremony, describing it as an “elegant and gracious way for Erika and Charlie to mark a landmark in the life of TPUSA while also inviting a much larger group of friends and family to celebrate a landmark in their own lives.” Other expenditures defy easy explanation. Hoffman was paid $2.4 million during that period through his former company Rally Forge, according to tax documents that listed the purpose of the expenditures as “digital education,” “media” and “ad placement.” Now an Arizona state senator who also served as a fake elector for Trump, Hoffman has been paid at least $6.6 million by Turning Point since 2017, campaign finance disclosures and tax records show. Kolvet said that Turning Point’s leaders, as well as Kirk’s mother-in-law, have not “earned a dime” from the company, viewing their work as “a form of charity for the conservative movement.” Turning Point’s machinations have sounded alarms from their more established rivals, who view the organization as inexperienced when it comes to running a successful general election ground operation.