In lines that began forming an hour before the doors to Rudder Auditorium opened, a sold-out crowd of 2,500 fans, detractors and students awaited one of the most highly-anticipated events on Texas A&M’s campus of the semester: The American Comeback Tour, hosted by Turning Point USA and its founder, conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

A&M was the fifth stop of Kirk’s tour on Tuesday, with four more campuses announced, and its website is promising more to follow. Kirk announced the tour on Feb. 11 with the goal of pushing “back against leftwing indoctrination in academia.”

The first speaker was Jobob Taeleifi, a Turning Point USA contributor, who played clips of Texas congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-30) and alleged she was hired due to her race and not through merit. 

“I would like to point out my favorite DEI hire,” Taeleifi said. “And that woman is congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. … If my goal is to defend conservative values, any time she gets a microphone, my job gets so much easier.”

Kirk, who emerged onstage wearing a A&M-branded shirt, is the founder of Turning Point USA, a nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative policies on high school and college campuses. The American Comeback Tour is Kirk’s second college tour, with his first taking place in October and November of 2019. He was last in Aggieland on Oct. 22, 2019.

“I think this is the biggest campus event we’ve ever done in Turning Point’s history,” Kirk said to the crowd. “I want to talk about the most important thing someone can do in their life, which is the decision of whether or not you [accept] Jesus Christ.”

Kirk acknowledged the tumultuous beginning to President Donald Trump’s second term, which has seen the stock market fall to its worst April since the Great Depression, and a presidential approval rating that has fallen to 45%. The current presidential approval rating is currently higher than the start of Trump’s first term, which began at 41%.

“If you do not have a religious basis, specifically a Christian one, for your society, something else is going to replace that,” Kirk said. “When you become less religious — which this generation is, Gen Z is becoming less religious than their parents’ generation — then you have a gaping sized hole in your heart, and something must fill it. And out of the lack of Christianity is where we get woke-ism.”

Kirk recently appeared on California governor Gavin Newsom’s podcast, which the Democratic politician described as an attempt to understand “bro culture.” While Kirk celebrated Republican wins of the youth vote in Michigan and Texas during his speech, he also acknowledged that his own work is divisive within the conservative movement. 

“When you no longer have a bedrock upon agreed moral structure of your society, then people are going to be in moral confusion,” Kirk said. “That is when you start to see widespread transgenderism for our youth, for men in female sports.”

Turning Point USA has faced several controversies, beginning with allegations of racism within the organization in 2017, growing to include influencing student elections via funding, misleading donors and abandoning conservative values for Trump’s ideals. Other conservative campus groups have been warned against associating with Turning Point USA, with the main conservative opposition being the Young America’s Foundation.

“Eight hundred and ninety medals, by the way, have been stolen from women,” Kirk said. “In track or in volleyball that otherwise would have went to biological women, because biological men decided to play in that sport and we have to accommodate them. This is a massive problem that is an outgrowth of the death of Christianity.”

Previous estimates from medical researchers have placed the number of transgender athletes in women’s college athletics as under 100 in the United States. The International Olympic Committee’s guidelines for transgender athletes notes that there should be “no presumed advantage” based on sex assigned at birth or sex characteristics. 

Kirk continued to speak about his beliefs on the intersection of Christianity and politics, described as necessary for the continuation of Western civilization. Following his speech, Kirk spoke to attendees and answered their questions. Topics ranged from immigration to automated vehicles.

“We need to be in the world but not of the world,” Kirk said. “My contention is that the last 20 years, Christians have forsaked the public square, because it was not easy and it was not comfortable.”