A North Carolina Democratic candidate for a State House seat has been fired from his position as a college professor after audio of him criticizing Charlie Kirk, the late CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA, and President Donald Trump went viral on social media.
Chris Schulte, a psychology instructor at Coastal Carolina Community College, has claimed he was secretly recorded by a student during a class discussion. A termination letter addressed to Schulte confirmed he made the comments to students on or around Feb. 11.
Turning Point USA later shared the audio on various social media platforms, including X and Instagram. Schulte referred to Trump as a “dictator” attempting to turn the United States from a democracy into a fascist state.
Schulte also mocked Kirk, who was assassinated last September, and the idea that Kirk was a “First Amendment warrior.”
LEAKED AUDIO: “Did he deserve to die? No. But he was a racist piece of sh*t. And Turning Point USA is a racist piece of sh*t organization,” says Coastal Carolina Community College psychology professor Christopher Schulte while warning students about the rise of “fascism” in… pic.twitter.com/VFXN4CrWGV
— Turning Point USA (@TPUSA) February 18, 2026
“Isn’t that why professors got fired for saying he was a racist piece of [expletive]?” Schulte asked. “Which he was.
“Did he deserve to die?” Schulte continued. “No, but he was a racist piece of [expletive], and Turning Point USA is a racist piece of [expletive] organization.”
Coastal Carolina Community College fired Schulte on Wednesday, citing his “vulgar and unprofessional language” as a staff member. Although Turning Point USA shared the audio on X, it had not issued a follow-up statement regarding Schulte’s termination.
In a statement on his Facebook page, Schulte claimed campus security escorted him to his car because he’d been the subject of threats.
“I spoke passionately on that topic because I care deeply about this country and I’m concerned about protecting constitutional freedoms, especially the First Amendment, that defines it,” Schulte wrote. “Today’s events only reinforced why those protections matter. In an attempt to bring awareness to the censorship of faculty happening at UNC – Chapel Hill with secret recordings, I was secretly recorded by a student. It is a sad statement about our country right now that my comments would elicit threats not just on my career, but also my life.”
Disgusting violence inciting lies… I hope all so-called educators, who push hate filled BS to indoctrinate are fired. https://t.co/cH7TCObuTw
— Cheryl Riley (@Cheryl4moco) February 22, 2026
Inquisitr News has reached out to Schulte for further comment.
Schulte joins a growing list of educators who have gone viral for their political commentary, whether in the classroom or on social media. However, Schulte is seemingly one of the few college educators whose remarks have put him into the spotlight. Many of the more notable stories in recent weeks have involved teachers or staff members at the K-12 level, ranging from a California elementary school teacher who posted — and later deleted — a TikTok video showing her turning the American flag upside down and displaying an “ABOLISH ICE” sign in her classroom to a Connecticut middle school teacher who allegedly had students identify similarities and differences between United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the Trump administration and how Jewish people were persecuted in Nazi Germany.
As of publication, there is no indication that Schulte will suspend his campaign for North Carolina House District 15.
