By COLIN McEVERS
Maryland Maverick News

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In mid-December, 2025, the Calvert County Club America – affiliated with Turning Point USA – hosted an event for conservative students, adults and leaders in the southern Maryland county to gather together and learn more about politics. Little did the members of this chapter know that, several months following the event, a leftist Montgomery County resident would report this event to Child Protective Services. 

On February 12, a woman named Nancy Krause testified before the Calvert County School Board, noting her concern that adults were barred from the December event, which was only open to volunteers, adults whom the students had permitted to attend, and two Calvert County School Board members. 

Luke Grover, the 17-year-old president of the TPUSA chapter, stated during the hearing that the event was closed to the public due to concerning threats they had received. Allowing unknown individuals into the event would have been a safety concern. 

“All students that were there were in attendance with parental permission, and all publicly advertised.” Grover said. “However, we received much hate, and we posted online that we would not be allowing any adults that are not volunteers nor parents.”

Grover’s explanation fell on deaf ears. More specifically, upon Krause’s deaf ears. 

“Students are widely recognized as a vulnerable population,” Krause said. “They are in critical developmental stages, and susceptible to influence, and transparency is essential.”

“All board members in this room are [mandatory reporters] under state law, as I am. Based upon the circumstances surrounding this event, a report was made to Child Protective Services.”

Krause suggested that, to some degree, the students who attended this event were being indoctrinated, which is why some adults were unable to attend, which is a form of child abuse, which was being perpetuated by local Republican officials, and that this necessitated a CPS report. 

The logic is hard to follow. In fact, the logic is non-existent. 

Krause correctly notes that children tend to be a vulnerable population susceptible to influence. As a liberal, would Krause then use this logic to condemn the state of Maryland for allowing child mutilation surgeries to be performed on mentally ill “trans” youth? Unlikely. 

The hypocrisy of the American left, embodied by Krause, was put on full display, and received national media attention. 

Fox News, the New York Post, and other national, state and local news sources across the country have covered the story. The ridiculousness of reporting a conservative youth group to CPS on the basis of personal ideological disagreement also garnered intense backlash. 

Mark Fisher (R-Calvert), a Maryland Delegate whose office employs Grover as an Intern, praised the courage and activism of the high school TPUSA leaders. He also condemned the partisan attack launched by Krause. 

“[Krause’s] level of fanaticism used to be fringe – but has become all too common with the ‘Left.’” Fisher said. “Let’s be clear: this isn’t about protecting kids – it’s about silencing conservative voices… let’s protect the next generation of conservatives from ideological bullying.”

Corey A. DeAngelis, president of the Educational Freedom Institute, said that “these lunatics want to take your kids away if you’re conservative.”

The Trump administration has even become involved in the matter. Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice, stated that they are “looking into this” as of Feb. 17. 

Despite the harassment, rumors of “grooming students,” and leftist misinformation that has directly affected one young conservative, he has been the only Republican to offer a message of forgiveness and prayer to Krause: this is Luke Grover, the president of the Calvert County Club America chapter. 

In a statement on his personal Facebook page, Grover thanked the public for an outpouring of support and genuine concern for his well-being, but also expressed his discontent with the heights that the conflict had reached. 

“While I believe that what Ms. Krause did was wrong, the national hatred she has faced is disproportionate and despicable,” Grover said. “The propagation of hatred online nowadays seems to know no bounds.”

“I would like to ask everyone to stop posting online insults or directing hatred towards any individual or group, and instead, pray for whomever they’re upset with.”

In the statement, Grover mentioned that he was praying for Ms. Krause, and, despite her actions, asked that people stop tagging her employer and places where she has volunteered.