In the wake of Dolly Parton's death on Tuesday, her Imagination Library of West Virginia has had an outpouring of comments and calls about the late singer's impact.
This episode first aired in 2023, focusing on the strategies to motivate young voters, and we’re sharing it again in the wake of the Sept. 10, 2025, assassination of Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA. Kirk, a renowned conservative youth organizer, was shot and killed during a campus event at Utah Valley University.
Nothing divides Americans like politics — but young voters continue to matter. Us & Them host Trey Kay talks with journalist Kyle Spencer, whose book Raising Them Right traces how conservative organizers spent years building a youth movement on campuses. Spencer says the growth was strategic and well funded. Money can organize power, she notes, though it doesn’t force a single, uniform ideology on young people.
Kay also talks with Abby Kiesa of Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), who explains how youth participation has shifted in the Trump era and why a deeper problem persists: the political system still struggles to turn young people’s political interest into sustained turnout.
Revisiting this Us & Them episode in the wake of Kirk’s death offers context for how campus-based organizing — and reactions to it — have shaped youth politics today.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the CRC Foundation.
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Kyle Spencer is an award-winning journalist and frequent New York Times contributor. She has written about Christian rockers, Philadelphia murderers, Harlem parents in the age of school reform, million dollar PTA’s, marijuana etiquette and gay culture among young American Catholics. In recent years, she has focused much of her attention on the ways in which race, class, and culture are impacting life inside American classrooms.
As the founder and president of Turning Point USA, the late Charlie Kirk is credited by President Donald Trump with motivating young conservatives to vote in the 2024 election.
Candace Owens has emerged as a notable conservative pundit. Owens served as communications director for Turning Point USA, but since then has become an influential commentator and entrepreneur.
“Mom and Dad… I’m a Conservative” is a self produced humor video by Candace Owens.
Candace Owens responds to Congressman Ted Lieu playing a recording of her making a statement about Adolf Hitler.
Abby Kiesa runs the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University. She has worked on several major research projects and evaluations while at CIRCLE, as well as on several partnerships to support growing voters for a more equitable electorate. Kiesa is well-versed in the wide range of youth civic and political engagement efforts and practice, and brings a broad view of the institutions and interventions that can make up ecosystems for civic development among all youth.
The whistleblower alleges several irregularities in the handling of federal HIV treatment funds by a West Virginia contractor, including kickbacks, embezzlement and federal benefits continuing to dead clients.
On this West Virginia Morning, about 12% of West Virginia’s young people from 16 to 24 are disconnected youth - not going to school or working. Us & Them looks into why the state has such a high number.
West Virginia’s rate of “disconnected youth” has improved, but nearly 24,000 young people are still neither working nor in school. Us & Them explores what leaves some young people feeling stuck — and the programs trying to reconnect them to education, work and opportunity.
Meta, parent company of social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, has agreed to introduce restrictions for younger users including time limits and content controls.