People can’t tell this right-wing youth group apart from its parody accounts

An embarassed boy with his hands over his face


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A right-wing youth group from the US has set up a UK faction. Despite Turning Point USA being labelled “white supremacist”, it’s received the backing of several Tory MPs. Things aren’t going well for Turning Point UK on social media, however. Largely because no one can tell the difference between the group and its many, many parody accounts:

Turning Point USA

The original group is controversial, and with good reason. It runs a site called ‘Professor Watchlist’ for a start, which tracks professors it accuses of spreading ‘leftist propaganda’. It’s also not really a grassroots movement, having received millions in funding from wealthy right-wingers and the National Rifle Association (NRA) – figures it tried to keep secret.

Other controversies include:

Despite the founding group’s clearly documented history, that hasn’t stopped Turning Point UK being invited on to the public broadcaster:

It’s worth pointing out that the BBC described Turning Point as “grassroots”. This is obviously at odds with the millions in funding the group has received.

The British invasion

With the mainstream media as weak as this, it’s easy to see why Turning Point thought it could do well in Britain. There’s one problem, though. Any youth movement must now have a strong social media game. Turning Point UK doesn’t even know what game it’s playing. Take this recent tweet, for example:

Is this badly written or an attempt to talk in youth speak? Nobody knows. And this is why people are struggling to tell the main account apart from its parodies:

Can you see why some people are getting mixed up? Some people are so confused that they’re not taking any chances:

And again, let’s go back to this from the genuine account:

I mean, if you’re going to imply that “young centre-right conservatives” face accusations of being “racists”, maybe don’t make David Lammy the only person you picture? They’ve literally put the two right next to each other, and there are so many white people they could have used instead:

What are they good for?

It’s interesting to note that Turning Point – the right-wing youth movement – has a history of appealing largely to men over 50:

There could also be a problem with Turning Point using this name in the UK:

One member of Turning Point UK suggested universities push the idea that right-wing ideas are “inherently evil and nasty”. In the UK, however, the main thing pushing this is that right-wing policies have actually been implemented.

Turning Point UK has an uphill battle to convince young people that right-wing ideas are good for them. And they’ve started that battle facing the wrong way with their shoelaces tied together.

Featured image via pxhere

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