Thank You, Charlie

It was 2014.

I arrived to a local GOP office in the suburbs of Chicago after being invited by a college classmate to be in a video for Turning Point USA. “Never heard of it,” was my response when she first asked if I knew what it was during our English class.

I quickly looked at the website and was all for their mission right away.

It was there I first met Charlie and Bill Montgomery, who was an early supporter and mentor to Charlie. After filming, Charlie walked up and thanked me for participating. He then offered to pay for my gas.

It was at that point Charlie and his organization changed my life’s trajectory. I knew I wanted to be in the Marine Reserves, but I did not know what I wanted to do for my civilian career. It was then going to CPAC in Washington, D.C. in 2015 with TPUSA where I knew I wanted to be in politics and later writing for TPUSA’s news blog is where I developed my passion for journalism.

I left TPUSA to pursue journalism in D.C. in 2017. It is without exaggeration that if not for Charlie, I would not have my career today.

I was able to be on Charlie’s show during the Student Action Summit in Tampa this past July. During the commercial break, I told him how proud I was of him and how cool it was to watch TPUSA grow since that first meeting in that little GOP office. It was there I thanked him for the opportunity to be part of TPUSA all those years ago since it led to where I am today. It was a nice moment to have considering how busy he was during conferences.

Charlie could have stopped being out in the field a long time ago, simply doing his podcast/radio show and conference appearances, but he knew the importance of going out into the field to get the mission accomplished. This is why we must not let his death be in vain and continue to go out into the field.

It has been gut-wrenching these past 18 hours. I continue to pray for his family and for justice and would ask for you to do the same.

This post isn’t meant to be a “Hey, I knew this famous guy.” It is to add to the written record about how great of man Charlie was. There was no reason for him to remember me after I left or be generous with the few requests I made to him once he and TPUSA went worldwide. And yet, he did so without reservation.

While the shooter is still on the loose, I’ll repeat what I have said: Since the Left has been unable to get to President Trump, they will go for the next target of opportunity.

With that, all I can say is thank you, Charlie.