Twenty-four years ago today, the first plane crashed into the Pentagon, killing more than 3,000 people. President Trump and First Lady Michelle Obama pay tribute to the heroes of the 9/11 attacks and remember those who lost their lives on that day.
00:03:39.880He wheeled the lieutenant out of the wreckage on the back of a maintenance cart before getting in the ambulance and taking him to Walter Reed Hospital.
00:03:49.880That man, Steve, saved Lieutenant Kevin Schaefer, went on to join the elite team of CIA operatives who located Osama bin Laden.
00:05:43.880Twenty four years have passed since that Tuesday morning in September.
00:05:48.880And an entire generation of Americans have come of age in a totally different world.
00:05:54.880While they cannot remember the agony of that day, they are carrying on the legacy of those who lost.
00:06:01.880Around eight thirty a.m. on the morning of the attacks, Army Lieutenant Colonel Kip Taylor sent an email to his friends and family describing the joys of fatherhood and his excitement for the upcoming birth of his unborn son.
00:06:15.880He wrote after you have kids, there are days that you just get going and you say, hi, honey, I'm home.
00:06:24.880What we do until that moment pales in comparison.
00:06:34.880But that's really the point of it all, isn't it?
00:06:38.880An hour after he sent that email, Flight 77 flew into Colonel Taylor's Pentagon office and claimed the life of a very proud father and true patriot.
00:06:49.880Six weeks later, on October 25th, 2001, Colonel Taylor's son, Luke, was born.
00:06:56.880Luke then tragically lost his mom to cancer when he was just two years old, leaving him to be raised by his father's brother.
00:07:05.880As a young boy, Luke asked his uncle about the folded flag on the bookshelf.
00:07:12.880And when he learned about his dad's decades of devotion to the army and the horrors of September 11th, that's when he learned.
00:07:21.880Luke carried that memory with him and joined the ROTC as a college freshman.
00:07:26.880He graduated just last year, and I'm pleased to say he is with us today as a second lieutenant and doing very well.
00:07:33.880He's rising quickly in the infantry, preparing for Army Ranger School.
00:07:40.880The spinning image of his dad, they say.
00:07:42.880Luke says that every time he puts on a uniform, he feels connected to his father and to our country.
00:29:54.560We're going to get to the bottom of that, right?
00:29:59.740And, you know, that'll be dealt with when it's got to be dealt with.
00:30:03.780But the work of Charlie Kirk, particularly the three – building the institution, which was so powerful, really telling everybody, I can change with this institution the arc of – where young people's perception of politics and engagement in politics and volunteering in politics, and therefore the arc of the nation, which he did.
00:30:29.740You on the content side, more or less, and Tyler on the political side.
00:30:33.740And what always impressed me about you guys and Charlie, he created a learning institution.
00:30:38.780I remember coming on the show all night in the wee hours of the morning, Cary Lake, this county's coming in, this district's coming in.
00:30:48.960And I remember Tyler and Charlie, you guys, afterwards, okay, we've learned a lesson here, and it's never going to happen again.
00:30:56.560And we will build an organization to the fact that Tyler – and look, if it has not been for turning point, your guys' focus on getting the kids out for particularly ballot chasing, low propensity, low information voters, President Trump would not be in the White House right now.
00:31:21.460Yeah, Charlie would have wanted us to do it, and that's partly why I'm here this morning.
00:31:26.000You know, I couldn't help but think – and I hope this isn't, you know, too bold of me to say, but watching the second tower commemoration, I feel like, you know, America just lost a third tower of a man.
00:31:38.560And yesterday, and we're going to miss him, but we built an institution.
00:31:47.640He built an institution designed to stand the test of time and to be able to ride out these waves and the different iterations of our political environment and the different generations to come behind.
00:32:01.740And so – and I do – I can just tell you there is the outpouring of love and support blowing me away, some of these texts I'm getting.
00:32:12.180I mean, he did build a learning institution.
00:32:15.440We were taking education into the universities that the universities weren't doing.
00:32:19.560And there was such a hunger and a thirst on these campuses from these kids to see that combat of ideas and the back and forth and to hear people say something unapologetic about what they believed and they stood by it and they could defend it.
00:32:39.120And that piece, Steve – I mean, there's a pollster, Mitchell Brown, who's one of the Trump pollsters, Signal.
00:32:51.180And basically, if you extrapolate it out, it was 16 or 17 million young people were more likely to vote for Trump across the country because of the content that Charlie Kirk made on these college campuses.
00:33:04.740President Trump awarded posthumously Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest civilian honor that one could get.
00:33:12.280He's also announced he was going to give one to Rudy Giuliani, the mayor, as we see in the New York shots, is in the front row there as America's mayor.
00:33:19.220Tyler, I remember – when I say learning institutions, Charlie led an institution.
00:33:33.900I would come on, and literally in the Cary Lake thing, we were going – remember, is this precinct – and you guys, after that, really changed everything by coming up with this ballot-chasing initiative.
00:33:45.960And this ballot-chasing initiative is hard work, and it's not the type of work you think young people are going to be that excited about.
00:33:52.600But you guys – Tyler, tell us about that because the reason we're here today with a House and a Senate and the presidency is because the work of Charlie – vision of Charlie Kirk and the work of the team around him, sir.
00:34:06.400Yeah, and you're exactly right, Steve, and you know this.
00:34:12.300We buckled in and got, again, an introspection into the world of politics, the RNC, what the Republican establishment wasn't doing on behalf of the American people.
00:34:26.600And Charlie made a decision to do that work, and it's not easy work.
00:34:35.620It's big work, and we knew we had the people to do the work.
00:34:38.660And so we felt – and Charlie had always felt this way.
00:34:42.120It felt like there was a mantle that needed to be carried by him with his influence, especially with young men in this last election, to get that work done.
00:34:54.960And that's all of the conversations we had moving forward.
00:34:59.100And so you look at the most recent conversation I had with Charlie was this last week of being dramatically concerned about the direction of where the Republican Party is going, about conservatives, lifting up conservatives,
00:35:15.120making sure that we have enough young people that feel like they have the backing to run, to run for it.
00:35:21.240He's constantly focused on who in the bench were we building, just like we were focused on every single day, getting things done by 9 a.m.,
00:35:33.260having a full agenda of things that we're going to move the needle.
00:35:36.260The big question was who's going to be the next man up to fill the need and fill the void, and then how are we going to help those people make sure that they get elected?
00:35:47.340And those are the two very simple things when we talk about ballot chasing that Charlie and his legacy will carry on.
00:35:53.120We will carry it on as so many people within our sphere, within our ecosystem, are hopefully yesterday waking up and realizing they have to get more involved.
00:36:09.920They have to step up because life is fragile, is short, and this country is hanging by a thread at times.
00:36:17.720And we are very lucky this last election we were able to bring all of that together and work with the team from the content side to the Turning Point USA side,
00:36:31.360building the funnel for the bench and then working on the political side to actually put bodies on the ground that we need.
00:36:39.680And, again, we're looking ahead to 2026 and 2028.
00:36:42.240And I said this to some of our team yesterday is there's nothing that we can do more to honor Charlie than to see this thing through.
00:37:26.620We saw it in just – he couldn't walk down a street.
00:37:29.800And I kept telling this because, you know, after the fall of 2025 and into the spring, we had to kind of recalibrate because he was so, so, so famous.
00:37:46.400And it was like, you know, he was always pretty well known.
00:37:49.700Um, you know, even when I first started working with him, like, you know, eight years ago, you know, he'd get fist bumps in the airport and stuff like that from random people.
00:37:58.300But then, like, I mean, it went so nuclear.
00:38:01.660And it would always be these young guys.
00:38:07.980It didn't matter if he was walking on the street of Manhattan or in Seoul, South Korea or London, England or, you know, Montana or anywhere in between.
00:40:26.580Why did Charlie Kirk particularly focus on young men and made the point continually that they're adrift,
00:40:33.580that something's happened different now in our country that's never happened before,
00:40:37.240that young men are kind of adrift and we, turning point in the senior leadership, need to focus on that?
00:40:45.260Well, Steve, remember I met Charlie when he was basically a teenager, Andrew not too long after that.
00:40:51.360And, you know, Andrew and I are the exact same age and we have a very similar family situation, married and kids and everything else.
00:41:00.600And I think one of the pleasures of getting that front row seat with Charlie is being able to see Charlie grow into a husband and a father.
00:41:10.560And for us being a little bit older than him, it was always extremely gratifying to watch him become the man he wanted to be,
00:41:27.900that he saw for himself, that he advocated for from day one, even as a young guy,
00:41:38.440that he wanted to be that honorable vision of a father and a husband for Erica that he is.
00:41:49.140And, you know, many people know this story, but, you know, Erica, I met Erica hosting the very first Trump rally ever.
00:41:59.340We, we, we'd organized it 2015 in July of 2015 and it was a Phoenix and it was what started the whole Trump, Trump rally phenomenon.
00:42:11.060It was the first big one in Phoenix, but many people don't realize behind Trump speaking was my family.
00:42:18.360And Erica was, and Erica was right behind the president and she, I wanted to hire her.
00:42:26.600Uh, Charlie had different plans for that.
00:42:28.840He, uh, he met Erica and was like, Oh my gosh, I have to marry this girl.
01:32:17.840Jack Posobiec will be anchoring the noon show as we toss the Charlie Kirk show.
01:32:23.620Also, Tyler and Andrew, our guests for the first hour, will be there also.
01:32:27.320Headline of the Wall Street Journal, ammunition and Kirk shooting engraved with transgender, anti-fascist ideology.
01:32:36.340Investigators found ammunition engraved with expressions of transgender and anti-fascist ideology inside the rifle that authorities believe was used in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk,
01:32:45.560according to an internal law enforcement bulletin in a person familiar with the investigation.
01:32:49.740Jack Posobiec, your thoughts about where we are in this investigation to find the assassin of Charlie Kirk.
01:32:58.900Well, Steve, I think like you and so many others in America today, last night we didn't get a lot of sleep.
01:33:07.760And so I've been up all night on the phone with people who are close to Charlie, people who are out there in Salt Lake.
01:33:15.140I'm trying to hold it down here at least in front of the media side for the time being until I can get there.
01:33:21.200I plan to be there soon, at least out west.
01:33:23.200Look, one of the very first things that I said in in the aftermath of this, after the multiple false starts with capturing this suspect,
01:33:35.480I said, you know, it wouldn't surprise me if this was somebody who could blend in with a college population and possibly with someone who was younger, college age.
01:33:46.860This would be in line with Luigi Maggioni, which we've been talking about.
01:33:50.700This would be in line with Thomas Matthew Crooks.
01:33:52.720This would be in line with a string of trans shooters, the shooter Westman up at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis.
01:33:59.780So it fits a trend and a profile that we have seen and tracked for quite some time now over just the past year, year plus of these Gen Z types with a pro trans, anti-Christian, anti-conservative, anti-conservative mindset and ideology.
01:34:18.560And also it fits with the age profile.
01:34:20.400In fact, that area, Provo, Utah and Salt Lake City area is known to have a socialist rifle club that I've done reporting on in the past.
01:34:29.880And so obviously there's a lot of connections there that we'd want to look into and a lot of questions about how exactly someone and what we're told is that this was an old style.
01:34:41.280Some of the reports that are coming out in old style carbine and old style hunting rifle that is not collapsible.
01:34:48.680So the question is, how is somebody able to get out of the crowd while carrying something like that?
01:34:54.480At first, I thought perhaps they had a collapsible rifle, would be able to put a fit into a backpack or something like that.
01:34:59.560So a lot of questions as to how this person was able to exfiltrate from the situation and, of course, clearly, clearly well planned in advance.
01:35:11.980I mean, these universities, they have to have key cards to get in buildings.
01:35:15.360You have to have key cards, then additional key cards to get on top of roof.
01:35:18.680People just don't have access to so many questions.
01:35:21.680I know that the investigators are working on it.
01:35:24.460But, you know, we have to face reality here.
01:35:27.840Charlie Kirk was executed yesterday in front of the world doing what he does best.
01:35:33.060And this was a good and decent man besides being one of the greatest leaders this country has ever produced.
01:35:38.200Like I said, you have to go back to the revolutionary generation to see a young man that changed the arc of the country.
01:35:45.740And I'm not talking about people in the Civil War and World War II that fought and died in combat and are among the greatest heroes we've ever had.
01:35:53.980But somebody actually on a political basis at his age did something so profound.
01:35:59.060And so who assassinated him, why they did it, and how they did it are of incredible import in this moment in the nation's political history, Jack Posobiec.
01:36:13.760And I just want people to know we're going to wrap the show up here in a while.
01:36:16.600And this is why I asked Tyler and Andrew, who, by the way, were magnificent.
01:36:22.820It was exactly the way I wanted this show to go, to have real insights from people that were near him.
01:36:27.400And I'm so honored to be tossed into Jack Posobiec when our show was over this morning.
01:36:31.580The threats that you have, the threats that Charlie has, you know, I have threats too, but it's not at the level you guys are very different.
01:36:41.620You have threats because Antifa, you guys are out there at the tip of the tip of the spear in the moment, in these crowds, particularly college-age crowds and younger crowds.
01:36:50.920And people do not understand the courage it takes for a Charlie Kirk to do that every day, the courage it takes for Jack Posobiec to do it, the courage it takes for these other people that engage what are evil people.
01:37:08.260And they put threats on our people and they try to disrupt.
01:37:11.400And yet you guys go out time and time and time again really in harm's way, sir.
01:37:16.660Well, well, Steve, I mean, that's, that's true, but at the same time, it's, you know, when people to the world, Charlie Kirk, he's, he's a hero.
01:37:28.140He's the conservative firebrand, but, you know, to many of us, he's, he's our brother, he's our friend.
01:37:37.000And he's somebody whose leadership we have all looked to so many times in the foxhole, fight after fight.
01:37:47.160And, you know, they talk about groups of men getting things done.
01:37:50.360And I just wanted to, you know, Steve, you and I mentioned this yesterday on the show.
01:37:53.860And I pulled up the numbers here for this.
01:37:56.220In 1776, the age of the founding fathers, because people are saying Charlie Kirk, he's 31.
01:38:07.000And he was taken from us way too soon.
01:38:09.320But listen to this, the age of the founding fathers in 1776, Thomas Jefferson, 33, James Madison, 25, Alexander Hamilton, 21, James Monroe, 18.
01:38:23.080And then Edward Rutledge, 26, Thomas Lynch, 26.
01:38:27.140And then you've got Adams was 40, Washington, 44.
01:38:30.640And of course, Benjamin Franklin, the old, the old man was, was 70.
01:38:34.780Steve, I don't know if you know anyone who would fit the bill for that.
01:38:41.500No, the revolutionary generation was extraordinarily young.
01:38:45.300And Charlie Kirk has done something that has not been done really since the revolutionary generation of a young person coming in and building an institution but having an impact and a plan.
01:38:57.040And people, you know, a lot of people are going to be coming on, oh, Charlie Kirk this, Charlie Kirk this, particularly some other networks.
01:39:03.180In those years in the wilderness, in 21 and 22, when President Trump, we were regrouping.
01:39:10.520If you hadn't had Turning Point, you hadn't had Charlie Kirk, you hadn't had the team that he had, we wouldn't be where we were today.
01:39:19.260And as importantly, and what so impressed me was the lessons learned of the stealing of Carrie Lake's election for governor.
01:39:29.120They took those lessons, Jack, as you know, and they rethought their model.
01:39:35.380And they said, we got to do this in a different way, and my God, that they do it in a different way.
01:39:41.980And that is one of the central reasons Trump won in 2024, sir.
01:39:47.120But people have to remember, these are people that are constantly under threats, constantly under abuse, and they did not well.
01:39:56.140The easiest thing in the world to do is for Charlie Kirk to go to Silicon Valley and become a billionaire.
01:40:01.340Charlie Kirk had the personality, the brains, the ability to network, that kind of energy that draws people in.
01:40:08.700You can build teams on, which is so important out there.
01:40:14.460He could have had a safe life, been a billionaire, had all the material things because he had a yearning and a need to save his country.
01:40:22.820And, Jack, you working with him every day, he knew the way to do that was through young men.
01:40:28.440And that's the thing I keep telling people, he knew it was going to be, the path to turn this country around was through the young men.
01:40:35.180And it's just what you guys have accomplished is nothing short of miraculous.
01:40:38.760Look, when you look at what Charlie's done and the fights that I've had the honor of being with him and it's been the honor of my life to stand next to him and fight these fights and to see Charlie in all of them.
01:40:57.900And every morning, you know, Steve, we don't usually talk about this, but me, you and Charlie have a text thread, a group text thread that's been going on for years, you know, at this point.
01:41:12.400And one of the very first things that Charlie will do every single morning when he wakes up, because we're East Coast time, he's West Coast time, he'll send us a Bible verse.
01:41:23.840And it's, you know, it might be a Proverbs, might be one of the Psalms, whatever he's reading, might be something from Corinthians.
01:41:34.140He just, he finds it and then he sends it.
01:41:36.280And the thing with Charlie, too, is that, you know, that when he would go to the Bible, which he would start every morning with, is he's not just going to some list and sending a verse off.
01:41:48.360He's understanding the verse, what it means, what the context is, what the context of the time was, the history, how it connects to Old Testament, how it connects to the greater history.
01:41:59.220And that's something that, you know, Charlie wasn't doing that for, it wasn't a gimmick.
01:42:04.660It wasn't a, it wasn't just showmanship.
01:42:06.900This was something that Charlie actually lived every single day.
01:42:11.640And that's why Charlie's not just an American martyr.
01:42:17.160Charlie's a Christian martyr who stood up for his faith and never backed down from an opportunity to tell, to give his testimony, to give his testimony for the gospel, to give his testimony to Christ.
01:42:30.520And that is how we know that Charlie Kirk is, in fact, a Christian martyr as well, because he wove that into every single thing that he did in public and in private.
01:42:41.840Jack, I'm going to let you go get ready for the show.
01:44:20.000Here on Real America's Voice, I want to thank Robin Parker-Sig for making, we got out here in the middle of the night, the wee hours of the morning, we were able to set up and do remote.
01:44:31.320And we're going to try to actually move around today and maybe do it from another location if we can.
01:44:39.120Don't know if that's possible logistically, but we'll try.
01:44:41.560I want to thank the Real America's Voice team.
01:44:43.560That was the channel and the network of War Room and the Charlie Kirk Show.
01:44:48.920We're going to take a short commercial break.