At TPUSA’s AmericaFest, Erika Kirk tried to hand out a “courage” award and accidentally handed the internet a confession-shaped tongue slip instead. She meant “grit,” but said “grift,” and then joked, hoping the crowd would clap loud enough to drown out the truth.
Turning Point USA went to Phoenix this weekend, on Dec. 20, to again wrap ideology in stage lights and sell it as an American “mission.” Things weren’t already going well, and then Erika Kirk got up on the stage. She was invited to honor a student leader, and for one brief second, the script broke. What came out accidentally instead was the truth.
Before presenting the first “Charlie Kirk Courage Award” on stage to a student named Caleb Chilcutt, Erika went on a detour to remember her late husband. “Charlie loved the students more than anything,” she began. Moments later she had the greatest Freudian slip of her life:
“Despite the devastating loss of Charlie Kirk, my incredible husband at UVU, Caleb has persisted with the same grift.”
Instead of saying “grit” or “gift,” Erika mixed the two, saying “grift,” and exposed TPUSA’s swindling agenda. Though she quickly realised that truth had left her mouth and corrected herself. She came up with an awkward save, claiming, “It has been a long day.”
Erika Kirk: “Despite the devastating loss of Charlie Kirk, my incredible husband, at UVU, Caleb has persisted with the same grift, excuse me, grit…”
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) December 21, 2025
This is the greatest Freudian slip of all time. pic.twitter.com/WMLhCqhnrg
Erika also turned to Caleb and told him, “Trust me, you’re not a grifter, honey. It’s all good.” Well, we don’t know about Caleb, but we know a grifter for sure. One user on X joked about her comment to Caleb, noting it “takes one to know one.”
A grifter, as People notes, is someone who gets something through dishonest means. “Grit,” on the other hand, is the polished, inspirational virtue word. Call it perseverance, passion, determination, basically the stuff you print on merch and slap on a stage banner.
In other words, grit is a compliment, and grift is almost an indictment. And Erika accidentally picked the indictment first, as another user on X noted, “The tongue speaks what the heart knows subconsciously.” And the grin made it worse.
If Erika had simply corrected herself and moved on, it would’ve been a footnote. Instead, she tried to charm her way out of it by reassuring the student. As if the scandal was not that she momentarily described her whole operation with the wrong (sorry, right) noun. Because when your entire ecosystem runs on selling an ideology, “grift” isn’t a random slip. It’s the accidental label on the box.
