00:00:00.000Hey everybody, today in the Charlie Kirk show, my opening speech at America Fest.
00:00:04.000Make sure you get involved with Turning PointUSA today at tpusa.com.
00:00:09.000I encourage you to start a high school chapter or a college chapter today.
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00:00:57.000His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
00:01:05.000We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
00:01:32.000I just want to compliment our Turning Point staff for the promotion, the marketing, the branding of this world-class event.
00:01:40.000I mean, this is just extraordinary, isn't it?
00:01:43.000And one of my favorite takeaways from today is to show that in Maricopa County, you can get people through lines effectively and print badges and right Maricopa County.
00:02:01.000If you want to learn how to get 10,000 people through a line and print something with almost no problems, come to a Turning Point USA event.
00:02:20.000And thank you guys for taking your valuable time to be here and to get recharged, re-energized, and to think deeply in the next couple of days of why we fight and why we sacrifice so much of our money and our energy and our time.
00:02:40.000You see, we're in a very important time in our nation's history.
00:02:44.000And we as a movement, as a conservative movement, need a vision.
00:02:48.000Without a vision, the people perish, is what it says in the scriptures.
00:02:52.000And I had the opportunity to travel the country and talk to lots of different people.
00:02:57.000And we have been lacking a coherent vision of what we as conservatives believe in and what we are fighting for.
00:03:04.000Now, we know what the bad guys are fighting for.
00:03:08.000And a movement with no vision, we're nothing more than just a gang, just a random group of people with kind of shared ideas and shared values.
00:03:16.000But a vision, something that we are aiming for, something as a movement that we strive for, that we work for, all of a sudden will make everything make sense again.
00:03:26.000You see, there's so many people here that are taking the bold and courageous step to homeschool your kids.
00:03:32.000We're our homeschool mothers and fathers here that have said in the last couple of years or in the last year, I'm going to go run for school board.
00:03:40.000There's plenty of people here that have run for school board, people that have run for office.
00:03:44.000Who here knocked on doors this midterm cycle for candidates?
00:03:47.000You see, this room is the room that always goes the extra mile.
00:03:55.000But one of the things we have to take a step back and say, well, what exactly are we fighting for?
00:03:59.000What does success look like as a vision and as a movement?
00:04:02.000So, the vision of our opponents and the Marxist totalitarian left is filled with venom, hatred, darkness, resentment, arrogance, and despair.
00:04:15.000We can go at length, and you're going to hear about it from our amazing speakers about how the totalitarian left has taken over our institutions, how they're teaching our children this vile garbage of critical race theory and this woke nonsense.
00:04:31.000They want power, they want control, they want uniformity, and they want submission.
00:04:38.000Now, this is not some sort of abstract concept.
00:04:41.000One of the reasons why I believe that Turning Point USA is the most important organization in America is because we go to places where there are not a lot of conservatives.
00:04:51.000At Turning Point USA, we play offense with a sense of urgency to go to places that we are in the ideological and philosophical minority.
00:04:59.000We're not always welcomed when we go to these college campuses, but we are going to win when we go to places that we are not always welcomed and we go there anyway.
00:05:08.000And our Turning Point USA students and chapters are doing that every single day.
00:05:13.000And so, recently, you probably saw my visit at the University of New Mexico, my mostly peaceful visit to the University of New Mexico, where they did bring out the welcoming committee of the riot squad.
00:05:25.000And these terrorists were there at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, so bothered that our amazing Turning Point students wanted to have an event about free speech, the Constitution, and conservative ideas.
00:05:38.000Enjoy this short clip of what we just experienced.
00:06:14.000Yeah, really pleasant and joyful people.
00:06:16.000They're a movement of happiness and uplifting positivity.
00:06:19.000But we did not allow these terrorists that try to prevent our students to be able to go to the event, that did everything to cancel it, to win.
00:06:28.000We made a point at Turning Point USA to continue the event, saying we don't care the cost, we don't care what it's going to take.
00:06:34.000And we also said, hey, if you're going to act like a domestic terrorist on a college campus, then we are going to mock you relentlessly.
00:07:09.000I mean, there is no way these people long-term are going to win.
00:07:12.000And it's going to require courage and boldness to go to places where, even though they deploy their paid activists, we're going to keep on showing up.
00:07:20.000In fact, I think we have our turning point leaders from the University of New Mexico here somewhere.
00:07:25.000And those are the real heroes that have to go to class every single day, that are spit on, that are called names, and they continue to fight.
00:07:37.000So, what is our vision as conservatives?
00:07:40.000We know their vision is one of despair and confusion, the destroying of distinctions.
00:07:47.000One of the things the totalitarian left wants to do for our society is to destroy the distinction between God and man, between man and woman, between good and evil.
00:07:59.000They want to blur the lines that allow us to live in a free and stable and civil society.
00:08:11.000We want a country where our kids love America again.
00:08:17.000We want a country where kids are taught about Jefferson and Madison and Jay.
00:08:22.000A country where they're taught about Abraham Lincoln and the beauty of the Declaration and the Constitution and the Federalist Papers.
00:08:28.000We want a country where kids are taught that if you judge somebody on the basis of skin, you are a racist and we should instead care about character, not the complexion of somebody's skin.
00:08:44.000Our vision for America, it's hard to believe I even have to say this, is we want a country where kids can be kids again.
00:08:52.000We want a country where kids are safe from groomer teachers and predators who are trying to put prescriptive pharmaceuticals into their bodies that will do irreversible damage.
00:09:06.000We want kids to be kids again in America.
00:09:13.000We want to live in a country where puberty is not treated like some sort of illness that needs irreversible medical surgery.
00:09:22.000We want to live in a country where the innocence of children is preserved and protected.
00:09:28.000We want to live in a country where we don't have to have the debate, have to have some sort of, we don't have a debate, there is no debate about pedophilia, period, end of story.
00:09:35.000We want to live in a country where that's a non-negotiable.
00:09:41.000Our vision is that we want to value wisdom, eternal principles, prudence, common sense, more than someone who has a PhD in North African lesbian poetry.
00:09:59.000I believe there is more wisdom in the American plumbing community than at Harvard or Yale.
00:10:13.000We want to live in a country and build a country and rebuild the country where it's easy to be a parent, where it's easy to get married and have children.
00:10:23.000If we as conservatives stand for anything, it should be to tell our young people that one of the most beautiful things you can do is to get married and have kids.
00:10:37.000And right now, that is increasingly difficult in this confusing, chaotic time.
00:10:45.000Young people say, well, it's just too expensive to get married and have children.
00:11:02.000To think that children, young people, are growing up and being told that there's something oppressive or tyrannical about the covenant between a man and a woman and having children.
00:11:13.000Hey, we as conservatives, if there's anything that we stand for, it is to be fruitful and to multiply.
00:11:20.000And if you look at what the left is trying to do, less children because human are a stain on the environment.
00:11:28.000You look at every one of the things they're trying to teach, like, oh, you don't need kids.
00:11:30.000You could be happy with, you know, video games and some sort of promotion at your corporate job.
00:11:37.000But one of the reasons why our generation, it's very sad, is the most depressed, suicidal, alcohol-addicted, and drug-addicted generation in history.
00:11:47.000Is the stuff that gives you meaning they have been told is evil.
00:11:52.000And if there is anything our movement does, it is to tell the young people in this room and across the country, it's okay to get married and have children.
00:12:00.000In fact, you should get married and have children.
00:12:06.000Now, I want to take a step back and brag on the phenomenal, unprecedented, and spectacular work that Turning Point USA is doing.
00:12:18.000Many of you know some of the work we do on college campuses, as we saw there.
00:12:23.000In fact, I have one more video to show, which goes to show, again, one of the things, you just have to mock the left, okay?
00:13:33.000The work we do on college and high school campuses is moving the dial, but I don't think everyone understands the depth or the sophistication of what we've been able to accomplish at Turning Point USA.
00:13:43.000First, from a big picture perspective, from a worldview perspective.
00:13:47.000In the last five years, according to Morning Consult, in 2017, when Turning Point was just getting started, when our annual event was like the size of that seating section over there, 47% of our nation's young people self-identified with a liberal worldview.
00:14:32.000At Turning Point USA, we are on pace to hit 1,000 high school chapters across the country, high school chapters all across the country.
00:14:40.000And if you are a high school student out there and you are not yet involved, you have got to go to our booth in the exhibit hall and start a high school chapter.
00:14:48.000We just launched a year and a half ago TPUSA Faith, which is an incredible, I see some of our pastors here all across the country.
00:14:58.000We hosted an amazing pastor summit, over 400 pastors and wives at our pastor summit.
00:15:05.000And if you ask me, one of the most important things that needs to happen in American Christianity is we need to excommunicate the demonic, anti-biblical idea of wokeism out of the American church immediately.
00:15:26.000The chapters that we're starting on college and high school campuses, it's not just a matter of having a group on campus, but we are creating students that are having to persevere and endure criticism, backlash, slander, smear, opposition.
00:15:42.000One of the reasons why I believe we are going to win is because our young people are tougher than the liberals.
00:16:16.000You are seeing a conservative movement that is growing stronger the more they fight.
00:16:21.000What gives me hope is that what we see on these campuses is a generation that understands the only way you beat the left is you never give up and you never give them an inch, period.
00:16:40.000The media department at Turning Point USA reaching hundreds of millions of people at daily shows with Jack Posobiec, Drew Hernandez, Alex Clark, millions of people on Instagram and Facebook every single day, impacting culture, making persuasive content.
00:16:56.000Not to mention the newly launched Turning Point Academy, which we're actually having the Educator Summit right now.
00:17:03.000And if any of you want to homeschool your kids, or if you want to get your kids at a government school, you should do that yesterday and talk to us at Turning Point Academy how we can supply curriculum, training, and have you execute a rescue mission for your kid or grandkid out of the government schools and at a Turning Point Academy and say, well, Charlie, you know, what do you stand for at Turning Point Academy?
00:17:31.000No CRT, no wokeism, no queer theory, no LGBTQ nonsense, no postmodernism, no post-structuralism, pro-American, pro-freedom, pro-liberty ideas and curriculum for the next generation.
00:17:45.000Unapologetically educating the next generation around truth.
00:17:56.000Now, I got to really brag on our team here because what you are seeing from the beauty of the stage here to the entire experience is being pulled off mainly by people in their late 20s.
00:18:35.000You will see some of the wisest, most courageous, most well-educated, the most committed citizens that you could come of any age whatsoever.
00:18:47.000You say, Charlie, I'm looking for hope.
00:18:53.000Look at what's been pulled off from the thousands of high school chapters, thousands, you know, thousand high school chapters, the hundreds of college chapters that we have, from the media enterprise that we have, the Turning Point Academy, all these different things.
00:19:04.000It is mostly and mainly led by a younger generation that knows that we do not have the luxury to give up.
00:19:13.000That this is being led against the totalitarian Marxist left.
00:19:18.000And so this is really the question in front of us the next couple of days.
00:19:21.000It is the challenge of our generation.
00:19:23.000The challenge of our generation in front of us is which direction do we want to go?
00:19:28.000The direction of a free society, a direction where we are never going to mandate a vaccine again and someone will lose their job.
00:19:40.000Are we going to go in the direction that reasserts the principles of the independent judiciary and consent to the governed and separation of powers?
00:19:49.000and the greatest political document ever written in the U.S. Constitution.
00:19:53.000Or are we going to go in this other direction?
00:19:55.000Here's what I do know, is that there's a fair amount of people that are disappointed and upset because of things that have happened in the last couple months.
00:20:06.000But the test of this generation, the test of all of us, the test of our country that is unfolding in front of us, I truly believe is, are we going to give up against an opposition that is so entrenched, doing so much damage?
00:20:25.000And I'm going to read an email I received.
00:20:27.000And we get lots of emails on the Charlie Kirk Show.
00:20:29.000Thank you, by the way, all of you that watch our program.
00:21:15.000A year ago, we were up on stage here talking about how the fight on social media was largely helpless.
00:21:22.000A year ago, we talked about how we were never going to get our speech back and maybe we'll have to start an alternative or whatever it is.
00:21:29.000And one year later, yes, because of the courage of the world's richest man, but also because we created the environment where it was popular and necessary, Twitter has been purchased and liberated from the Marxist Silicon Valley left.
00:21:47.000And let me just re-emphasize, God bless Elon Musk for what he has done by purchasing Twitter.
00:21:59.000I was debating whether or not to come out with a do not amplify shirt.
00:22:09.000We are going to win in the end because the only way they've been able to have even a slight advantage against us is by suppressing us without our consent, censoring us, outright cheating.
00:22:22.000You see, part of the moment that we are in is all of a sudden recognizing and realizing that the other side is playing for keeps.
00:22:32.000I don't even think we've started the fight, to be perfectly honest.
00:22:34.000I don't think we've even begun to get into the arena to start to fight.
00:22:38.000Homeschooling has nearly doubled in the last two years in America.
00:23:21.000This room can change America by deciding to change America.
00:23:26.000The untapped potential in this room will lead to somebody who's inspired by this speech.
00:23:30.000Similar, by the way, to kind of turning point alumni, we could call her.
00:23:34.000She started with us, Ana Paulina, who was with us for three years and will now be a member of Congress coming into January.
00:23:41.000Similar to Austin Smith, turning point alumni who will now be the youngest member of the Arizona legislature coming into Arizona this January.
00:23:56.000I could go story after story after story, but my charge to you these next couple days is to be willing to be challenged.
00:24:07.000Do not have the attitude where you say, Charlie, I'm doing a lot.
00:24:16.00010,800 people that decide to up their game in the next calendar year terrifies the left.
00:24:24.00010,800 people that will then be dispersed across America.
00:24:28.000We have all 50 states represented, by the way.
00:24:31.000All 50 states that then go back and say, I'm going to focus on school boards.
00:24:36.000I'm going to focus on getting rid of the groomers and our public education system.
00:24:40.000Maybe I run a business and I'm going to double the size of my business so that I can compete against Goldman Sachs or I can compete against Coca-Cola.
00:24:47.000Whatever it is, whatever you're called to do, do more of it.
00:24:50.000And that is the challenge in front of us.
00:24:53.000You see, the temptation that I believe the enemy is putting towards us is to say, my actions do not matter and we will not see victory.
00:25:04.000If you find yourself getting into that thinking, you have to stop yourself and say, wait a second, we live in the most amazing nation ever to exist.
00:25:11.000And I'm so tired of people saying, well, Charlie, nations come and nations fall.
00:25:15.000But there's never been a country like America.
00:25:17.000It's the freest nation ever to exist in the history of the world.
00:25:20.000There's never been a constitution like our constitution.
00:25:31.000In fact, after the developments of the last couple of months, I'm actually more convicted than ever to fight.
00:25:39.000I am more charged up to make sure that we fight the evil entrenched in our land, to support the good guys, to put in more hours, to grow to more chapters, to get more pastors and more churches to speak out boldly.
00:25:51.000The bad guys would love nothing more than for us the next couple days to have a pity party of misery and say, feel sorry for us.
00:25:58.000And maybe, you know, it'll work out in the future.
00:26:01.000No, we are the masters of our own destiny.
00:26:04.000We are the recipients of a nation that we did not build, but we inherited it.
00:26:08.000We are going to celebrate that nation.
00:26:10.000And the next four days, we are going to commit to a plan of action to take back our country and to create something bold and beautiful for the next generation.