Progressive commentator Jennifer Welch went on an unhinged tirade against Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk during a recent episode of her I’ve Had It podcast, accusing Kirk of being an “absolute grifter” and claiming that her organization “makes women less safe.” The attack came after Welch and co-host Angie Sullivan played a clip of Kirk encouraging young professional women in New York not to rely on the government to delay starting families but instead to build stable marriages and households.
Kirk’s message — which promoted independence from government dependency and emphasized traditional family structure — set off Welch, who suggested Kirk herself benefitted from the Civil Rights era’s expansion of workplace opportunities for women, while now advocating values Welch sees as regressive.
“You are an opportunistic grifter who weaponizes your gender to demean women,” Welch railed. “You are a walking, talking, breathing example as to why nobody, number one, wants to be a Christian, and number two, wants to be a female hypocrite such as yourself. Your language and organization makes women less safe all across the board.”
From there, Welch launched into an even harsher attack on Kirk’s late husband, Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA who was assassinated in September during a campus visit. Rather than showing restraint, Welch criticized both his character and his political activism.
“Your deceased husband was an unrepentant racist and a homophobe,” Welch said, claiming that women are “more empathetic” than Erika, whom she accused of being out of touch with the struggles of professional women. “For you to prance into Manhattan and lecture women who are abundantly aware of the coattails of which we have ridden… You are so divorced from reality and you need to go back to the Turning Point bubble.”
Welch concluded her attack by asserting, “This woman should be kicked to the curb… She is an absolute grifter — just like Donald Trump and just like her unrepentant, racist, homophobic husband was.” Sullivan chimed in, saying that “maybe there’s more to life than identifying yourself as someone’s wife or someone’s mother.”
The timing of the attack is notable. Erika Kirk is currently undertaking a national media tour to launch STOP, in the Name of God, the book her husband wrote just two months before he was killed. Her message during these appearances has consistently emphasized faith, strengthening families, and encouraging young Americans to build meaningful relationships rather than relying on government programs to define their futures.
Welch’s criticism — which targeted not just Kirk’s views but her marriage, her faith, and her family — is the latest example of progressive media figures lashing out at conservative women who promote traditional values. Rather than engaging the argument on substance, Welch opted for personal insults, character assassination, and attacks on the dead.
As Kirk continues her book tour and expands her leadership role within TPUSA, the controversy underscores the intensifying hostility directed at conservative women who speak out against cultural trends that elevate government dependence over family stability.
