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Diana Telles - Turning Point USA Club @ EmpowerU · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: It's seven twenty nine at fifty five k or CD
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  Speaker 1: talk station. Try to have happy Friday and maybe start
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  Speaker 1: yourself at Turning Point USA chapter. Everyone's doing it these days,
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  Speaker 1: of course, Charlie Kirk, the founding member of Turning Point USA,
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  Speaker 1: extraordinary accomplishments in his thirty short years of life. Obviously,
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  Speaker 1: you know the story behind Charlie Kirk's assassination is just
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  Speaker 1: a heinous act, unforgivable, but something that I think made
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  Speaker 1: a massive martyr out of Charlie Kirk and has allowed him,
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  Speaker 1: even in death, to extend even further his sound message
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  Speaker 1: of open debate and exchange of ideas thoughtfully, without anger
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  Speaker 1: and violence. And someone who knows all about that, Diana
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  Speaker 1: tell Us, who's here to talk about a new Turning
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  Speaker 1: Point USA chapter under in the Empower You umbrella. Diana,
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  Speaker 1: it's welcome to the program. Thanks for coming on today.
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  Speaker 2: Well, thanks for having me. It's good to be here.
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  Speaker 1: You work with Dan Regnold of Empower You on this one.
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  Speaker 2: I am yeah. So I recently had joined the board
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  Speaker 2: and he had questioned what kind of time I could give,
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  Speaker 2: And in that conversation I mentioned that my son, my
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  Speaker 2: youngest Michael, who is Homeschools had asked me to start
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  Speaker 2: a Turning Point chapter actually last year, and I had
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  Speaker 2: been trying to work that out, thinking about the possibilities
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  Speaker 2: within the homeschool community, and he said to me, well,
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  Speaker 2: why don't you do that through empower you? And that
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  Speaker 2: offer was just I couldn't have asked for a better offer.
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  Speaker 2: To serve the students at Writer Cincinnati and to have
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  Speaker 2: some s faith. And he knows a lot of people.
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  Speaker 2: He's great to work with and is very, very connected,
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  Speaker 2: far more connected than I am.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, he's more connected than any of us could ever
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  Speaker 1: hope to be. Assuming we want to be connected, Diana,
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  Speaker 1: Dan's a great guy.
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  Speaker 2: We want to be connected. He's the guy to start with.
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  Speaker 1: Sure, and for a Turning Point USA chapter, I gotta
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  Speaker 1: have it. I have an idea. Dan Reagunill firmly embraced
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  Speaker 1: this concept. Now do you need Yeah? Does does one?
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  Speaker 1: In order to start a TPUSA And for my listeners,
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  Speaker 1: go to the website TPA Turning Point USA tpusa dot com.
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  Speaker 1: Does it need to be beneath an educational institution? I
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  Speaker 1: know a lot of these Turning Point USA chapters are
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  Speaker 1: present or on or alive and well on college campuses,
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  Speaker 1: just like any other college campus organization. But like, let's
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  Speaker 1: just say, Diana, if you wanted to start a Turning
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  Speaker 1: Point USA chapter, can you just do it and just say, hey,
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  Speaker 1: we're meeting at my home kind of thing, or do
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  Speaker 1: you need to be need to be beneath a higher
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  Speaker 1: education or some other institution like in this case, empower you.
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  Speaker 2: Right, that's a great question. So in our case, I
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  Speaker 2: did meet with a rep back in the spring. They're
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  Speaker 2: a little hard to find right now. Yeah, the rep
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  Speaker 2: in this area, she actually had left and they were
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  Speaker 2: finding somebody new. So they were in flux already before
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  Speaker 2: Charlie kirksissascination. But what I learned in what little time
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  Speaker 2: I spent with them is that you probably could. They
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  Speaker 2: have what's called we're actually called a hub according to
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  Speaker 2: that organization, the TPUSA, or a hub, because we are
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  Speaker 2: not affiliated with a school and therefore for their purposes,
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  Speaker 2: we needed to give a region. If we didn't have
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  Speaker 2: a high school name then or a college name for example,
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  Speaker 2: we would need something. So we chose Dan and I
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  Speaker 2: talked about it. We chose Greater Cincinnati and that opened
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  Speaker 2: it up to all, you know, any high school student
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  Speaker 2: in the greater Cincinnati area, which at the time didn't
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  Speaker 2: seem quite as daunting. At this point, after Charlie Kirks's
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  Speaker 2: fascination and after everything that's happened, it's a it feels
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  Speaker 2: like a lot, but the crowd that we're getting has
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  Speaker 2: been very manageable, and we'll see moving forward what that
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  Speaker 2: looks like. But you probably don't. You could be a hub.
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  Speaker 2: I was told that there's a group that meets a
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  Speaker 2: small patriotic group of students. It might even be in Cincinnati,
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  Speaker 2: but somewhere in southern Ohio, and they sit around the
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  Speaker 2: campfire and talk about you know, I guess politics because
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  Speaker 2: looks if because look the way you want it to
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  Speaker 2: look right right, We're going to we're going to try
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  Speaker 2: and do a little more than a lot more than
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  Speaker 2: that in this chapter. If we're going to have family
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  Speaker 2: starting all over to meet and empower you, then we're
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  Speaker 2: going to put our best foot forward and make this
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  Speaker 2: something bigger and better than that.
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  Speaker 1: Great well, you know, conceptually, it's you know, like I
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  Speaker 1: was talking earlier about college education. You know, if you're
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  Speaker 1: going to college for like an art degree, you can
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  Speaker 1: study art online. It's a hobby. You can learn it
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  Speaker 1: on your own study van go study the classics, good
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  Speaker 1: at the moment whatever. And but conservatism as a philosophy
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  Speaker 1: in this Charlie Kirk mentality and how he approached it
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  Speaker 1: is a certain like a recipe, it's a formula. Do
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  Speaker 1: you get assistance from TPUSA in starting a chapter? Do
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  Speaker 1: they have resource materials? Do they have guides? They have
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  Speaker 1: instruction materials that kind of thing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, they do, they do. And I have my own
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  Speaker 2: vision too, which we are allowed to apply to that right.
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  Speaker 2: But they do offer, like if they're going to talk
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  Speaker 2: about free speech, for example, would be a free speech
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  Speaker 2: presentation that is on the web page that we could
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  Speaker 2: actually you know, show that in the group. And then
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  Speaker 2: my vision is to have you know, an expert from
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  Speaker 2: the community come in that can speak tree speech and
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  Speaker 2: apply it. Teach these kids exactly what it means. It
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  Speaker 2: means that you know what the government cannot do, but
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  Speaker 2: that if your boss decides they don't like the way
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  Speaker 2: you're shouting it out, you know on social media, they
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  Speaker 2: can fire you. So make it clear of these kids
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  Speaker 2: what that means, because they're going they're hearing all kinds
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  Speaker 2: of messaging and social media and and make clarification on that.
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  Speaker 2: But I'm not an expert. I'm just doing the best
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  Speaker 2: I can. I'm a patriotic American and I love freedom
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  Speaker 2: and absolutely limit limited government for sure and self covernance.
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  Speaker 2: So but but we get an expert in and what
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  Speaker 2: I what I really want to do is I want
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  Speaker 2: to show that material and use what they've given us.
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  Speaker 2: But I think a fresh voice as much as possible
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  Speaker 2: in the room with them, and that we sit, you know,
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  Speaker 2: they sit among us, so that we're engaging the students,
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  Speaker 2: not just talking at them like they're at school. I'm
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  Speaker 2: really going to try and do that. I'm still learning
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  Speaker 2: and it's still evolving, but that will be my vision
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  Speaker 2: moving forwards. And you guys are.
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  Speaker 1: Engaging them, and you said it out like you homeschooled,
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  Speaker 1: so you have a you have appreciation for the concept
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  Speaker 1: of teaching and instructing, I mean your own child. That's
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  Speaker 1: got to be very complicated and difficult, at least from
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  Speaker 1: my perspective. But the idea of engaging in sort of
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  Speaker 1: a Socratic method discussion, the exchange back and forth, which
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  Speaker 1: is one of the things I love so much about
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  Speaker 1: law school. I don't know they do that anymore, but
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  Speaker 1: you know, asking questions of the students, the students asking
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  Speaker 1: questions back in that exchange. It's really wonderful to develop
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  Speaker 1: your well logical and critical thinking skills. I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: bring Diana back. We'll talk a little bit more about
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  Speaker 1: the Turning Point USA chapter under the Empower You umbrella
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  Speaker 1: and where they might be meeting more with Diana Telli's
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  Speaker 1: station seven forty here fifty five KCD talk station Donna Schwabin.
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  Speaker 1: Octoberfest is going on this weekend. We'll hear from the
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  Speaker 1: Donna Schwabin folks who will be in studio. God bless
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  Speaker 1: each and every one of them. Eight h five. Right
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  Speaker 1: now we're talking with Diana Tellis. She's a board member
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  Speaker 1: of Empower You America and good for her. Obviously, a
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  Speaker 1: very true patriot, saw the work of Charlie Kirk and
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  Speaker 1: like so many other people after he was assassinated and
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  Speaker 1: even beforehand, open chapters for Turning Point USA to do
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  Speaker 1: the work that Charlie Kirk was doing. Political philosophy, a
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  Speaker 1: conservative one of course, and having a nice exchange, hopefully
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  Speaker 1: it remains friendly exchange with your political adversaries is what
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  Speaker 1: he's all about. Just trying to win the hearts and
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  Speaker 1: minds of those on the other side of the political
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  Speaker 1: ledger who really they don't get us, Diana, they really don't.
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  Speaker 1: I think about the criticism of Charlie Kirk and the
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  Speaker 1: cal him a fascist and misogynist or whatever, and he
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  Speaker 1: cloaked much of his political philosophy philosophy and it all
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  Speaker 1: sprung from his profound religious faith. And I just am
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  Speaker 1: so bothered by liberals who immediately upon learning or understanding
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  Speaker 1: that Charlie Kirk right quite often relied on his Christian
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  Speaker 1: faith as an inspiration that immediately makes him a bad guy.
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  Speaker 1: They don't get it that Charlie Kirk was interested in
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  Speaker 1: their salvation as well. He did it as a matter
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  Speaker 1: of compassion, concern, and love. He wants other people, or
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  Speaker 1: he wanted other people to experience the enlightenment that he
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  Speaker 1: felt so they'd enjoy life the way he did. That's
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  Speaker 1: an evil, Diana. I just I struggle with that conceptually.
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  Speaker 1: But that's who you're going to be working with when
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  Speaker 1: you're engaging these folks, So a lot of hurdles to overcome,
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  Speaker 1: and you're starting to turn our life. Yeah, so where
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  Speaker 1: are you in process with this starting of this chapter,
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  Speaker 1: because I'm wanting to know how people can get in
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  Speaker 1: touch with you on the progress or when and where
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  Speaker 1: the meetings are going to be. And we're going to
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  Speaker 1: figure out where they're taking place too. But where are
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  Speaker 1: you in process? Has the chapter officially been opened? Where
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  Speaker 1: are we?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, we've already had our last meeting last Thursday. And yes,
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  Speaker 2: I agree with you on Charlie Kirk. What a gift
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  Speaker 2: that was that we had in him, that he was
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  Speaker 2: concerned with everyone's salvation right, and we want that to
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  Speaker 2: be the self governance and obedience to God is the
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  Speaker 2: basis of what this country was founded on. And we
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  Speaker 2: want to propagate that. And we can't do it in
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  Speaker 2: our schools. They're not doing it in our schools for sure.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, the opposite message. So we're going to do
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  Speaker 2: our best to make this work and make this attractive
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  Speaker 2: to students. In fact, i'd like to see candidates from
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  Speaker 2: it could be even both sides put us on their
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  Speaker 2: list of places to visit every time they're running for office,
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  Speaker 2: to check in with the turning point kids of Greater Cincinnati.
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  Speaker 2: What a great thing that would be, and they can
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  Speaker 2: be inspired or not to help a candidate if they
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  Speaker 2: wanted to, we wouldn't push that, but they are certainly
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  Speaker 2: welcome to do that. So we have launched. We launched
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  Speaker 2: last week on Thursday at the Empower Youth Studios at
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  Speaker 2: Great Oaks and we had seventy people in the room,
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  Speaker 2: roughly probably between forty and fifty students. A lot of
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  Speaker 2: adults were there too, and I understand that the parents
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  Speaker 2: wanted to kind of get a feel for what this
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  Speaker 2: is going to look like and it may not look
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  Speaker 2: like that that day. That was a pizza pizza launch party,
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  Speaker 2: but we had Adam Bullet from Americans for Prosperity talk
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  Speaker 2: to the students and it went very very well. We
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  Speaker 2: were very excited. So we had a week off. So
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  Speaker 2: we're every every two weeks bi weekly, and we will
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  Speaker 2: have another meeting on October the ninth, and we're bringing
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  Speaker 2: in Gave Garadini from Turning Point USA, the Action group.
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  Speaker 2: He is not we're sort of the educational arm, but
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  Speaker 2: he works for the UH Yeah, so he will. He's
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  Speaker 2: a student, he's a university oft and student. He's also
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  Speaker 2: the president of the Ohio College Republicans and for Ohio,
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  Speaker 2: so he should be able to connect really well with
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  Speaker 2: the students, and I really wanted somebody that could do
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  Speaker 2: that this this for this next meeting because of him
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  Speaker 2: being young and not being an old person like me,
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  Speaker 2: and so I'm looking forward to it. We are meeting
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  Speaker 2: a great Oak again on the ninth, and you know
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  Speaker 2: we're still going to meet there. I'm just open to ideas,
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  Speaker 2: is what I'll say.
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  Speaker 1: For future venue, your your urban ideas about where this
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  Speaker 1: like regularly.
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  Speaker 2: Yep, we may stay there. We'll see. Yeah, and uh,
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  Speaker 2: I will tell you this too. We're big enough. And
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  Speaker 2: I think we've had a lot of people stop in
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  Speaker 2: and check us out at that one at that our
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  Speaker 2: for our first meeting, and some have reached out to me.
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  Speaker 2: It's very hard to launch a chapter right now. I
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  Speaker 2: don't think the online resources are is available. They're stressed
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  Speaker 2: pretty senate TV USA right now, obviously. But there are
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  Speaker 2: you know, folks out there who want to start chapters,
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  Speaker 2: and we can do that hub since an a classical
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  Speaker 2: is probably they're they're not launching a Turning Punch chapter.
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  Speaker 2: That's not happening. They're more than welcome to send their
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  Speaker 2: families can come and have their students join us. That
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  Speaker 2: would be great. If they were ready to do that,
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  Speaker 2: they would be doing it. They're not.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so I mean, because that's fine. I didn't realize
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  Speaker 1: that you actually were able to use it the and
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  Speaker 1: it seems like an ideal venue there, uh the campus there,
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  Speaker 1: But it sounded to me like when I started out
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  Speaker 1: that this, you didn't have a permanent site to meet.
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  Speaker 1: So Dave or rather Dan Regnold is cool with you
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  Speaker 1: guys meeting at the at three hundred Great Oaks Drive
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  Speaker 1: on a regular basis. Okay, good, good, good, good good.
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  Speaker 2: That's one now for at five o'clock. I'm not super
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  Speaker 2: fun at the time. That's really hard on our families.
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  Speaker 2: So moving forward, we are evolving, right, So I'm listen
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  Speaker 2: to ideas. That's it.
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  Speaker 1: So well, the more people you get in the Turning
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  Speaker 1: Point USA chapter, the more ideas you're going to be
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  Speaker 1: surrounded by. I'm sure you're going to have a well oiled,
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  Speaker 1: effective chapter there in virtually at no time. Now, how
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  Speaker 1: do people stay in touch with you? Do they do
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  Speaker 1: that through the empower Youamerica dot org site or do
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  Speaker 1: you have your own separate site for your chapter? Because
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  Speaker 1: I know a lot of listeners are going to want
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  Speaker 1: to get their their children or maybe their grandchildren involved.
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  Speaker 2: Well, they can reach out to me. I will be
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  Speaker 2: on the other end of this email address TPUSA at
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  Speaker 2: empower Youamerica dot org. That's TPUSA at empower you. That's you,
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  Speaker 2: just you, not not yo you you America or you
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  Speaker 2: said it more times than I have for sure, So
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  Speaker 2: I'll be on the other end of that taking any
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  Speaker 2: kind of questions or comments from people or suggestions, and yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I welcome that. So I do see groups maybe spawning
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  Speaker 2: off of this group too. So that's kind of the
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  Speaker 2: beauty of being Greater Cincinnati. As anybody that steps in.
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  Speaker 2: We would want a kid a student to come in
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  Speaker 2: and bring a friend and then say we need to
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  Speaker 2: do this at our high school. What a beautiful thing
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  Speaker 2: that would be?
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  Speaker 1: It? Sure would it? Sure would? Yeah, Diana Tellis, thank
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  Speaker 1: you for inspiring probably more chapters to open, or at
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  Speaker 1: least inspiring people to get involved with your Turning Point
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  Speaker 1: USA chapter again tp USA at sign or empower the
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  Speaker 1: letter you and America dot org. You can go there
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  Speaker 1: right now and check out the fall lineup schedule there
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  Speaker 1: as well. Education opportunities abound. Thanks to Dan Reaganold and
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  Speaker 1: thanks to you again Diane, I appreciate the work that
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  Speaker 1: you're doing and I'm glad you got inspired to start
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  Speaker 1: this chapter.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me, I appreciate that.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, anytime,