The Charlie Kirk Show - America is Already at War — But with Who?

00:00:00.000 Okay, everybody, today on the Charlie Kirk show, Tom Klingenstein for a very riveting interview.

00:00:06.000 I think you'll love it.

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00:00:43.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:44.000 Here we go.

00:00:45.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:00:47.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campuses.

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00:00:55.000 I want to thank Charlie.

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00:01:26.000 Joining us now is a very powerful guest who has a remarkable piece with Vivek Ramaswamy asking the question: Are we in a war?

00:01:36.000 Tom Klingenstein joins us.

00:01:37.000 Welcome back, Tom.

00:01:38.000 Thank you for taking time.

00:01:40.000 Tell us about this conversation you had with Vivek.

00:01:42.000 Lots to unpack here.

00:01:44.000 Actually, we titled it somewhat provocatively: Vivek says his opponents are cowards for not acknowledging or not being aware that we're in a war.

00:01:58.000 One of the reasons that I wanted to interview Vivek is because of all the presidential nominees, with perhaps a partial exception of Trump.

00:02:09.000 He's the one that understands that we're in a war.

00:02:13.000 He can explain what that means.

00:02:16.000 As he's fond of saying, you can't win a war if you don't know you're in one.

00:02:21.000 So, requirement number one is to know you're in one, and requirement number two is to have a commander-in-chief who can lead the war.

00:02:30.000 So, that's and what Vivek did, he challenged his opponents, particularly Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, to declare themselves.

00:02:42.000 Do they think we're in a war or don't they?

00:02:46.000 And he even went so far as to say that they're not real patriots if they don't address the issue of our time.

00:02:58.000 So, that was the gist of the interview, I think.

00:03:00.000 And he, in addition to the war, you know, he talked about his various policies, immigration, birthright citizenship.

00:03:09.000 He wants to pass an English-only amendment.

00:03:14.000 But I think the real nuts of it, the center of it, was this idea we're in a war, and my opponents either don't realize it or realize it, but don't say it.

00:03:26.000 So, from your perspective, how is it possible that a majority of the people running, not a majority, everyone but two running for the Republican nomination don't even acknowledge that we're in a war?

00:03:37.000 Is it that they know it and they don't want to say it because it sounds too radical?

00:03:40.000 Is that they're living in a delusion?

00:03:43.000 How do you explain that?

00:03:45.000 Well, my basic answer is: I don't know.

00:03:49.000 One answer, which is what the Veik proposed not unreasonably, is if you acknowledge a risk, in this case, war, then you've got to do something about it.

00:04:02.000 And this is true with most of us.

00:04:03.000 We tend to put our heads in the sand because, again, if we acknowledged whatever the danger is, then we might have to do something about it. 0.99

00:04:14.000 So some of it, again, this is, I'm really channeling the Vaik here. 0.88

00:04:20.000 He's calling, in fact, he explicitly called them cowards.

00:04:25.000 I also think that, you know, Republicans have been thinking about the world for generations now in a certain kind of way.

00:04:33.000 And they have an understanding of what constitutes the right, left, Democrat, Republican split.

00:04:42.000 And it's hard to get out of old ruts.

00:04:46.000 Sometimes they're intimidating, I guess.

00:04:50.000 You know, if you come out and you say we're in a war and you attack Black Lives Matter and you say things, as I did in a recent speech, America is not racist.

00:05:03.000 If you say things like that, you get called racist.

00:05:08.000 And most of our politicians, the Vake and Trump being notable exceptions, don't want to be called racist.

00:05:18.000 They want to get invited on mainstream media.

00:05:22.000 So that's part of the problem.

00:05:24.000 Now, some of it, I guess, is, as I say, they just don't understand.

00:05:30.000 Partly they don't understand because nobody's been telling them.

00:05:34.000 You know, we need a leader.

00:05:35.000 This is what leaders do.

00:05:37.000 They explain to people what's going on.

00:05:40.000 That's what Lincoln did in the Civil War.

00:05:43.000 Yes, he was a good commander in chief, but he won the war as much by explaining what the war was about, what the stakes were.

00:05:54.000 And we're missing something, somebody like that.

00:05:58.000 Trump can assert, and assertion is very important at the moment.

00:06:03.000 He's not, as your audience knows, always the great explainer.

00:06:08.000 Yeah, but he's certainly good at diagnosing and he has phenomenal instincts.

00:06:12.000 So the, you know, you take someone, for example, like Nikki Haley.

00:06:16.000 Charlie.

00:06:17.000 Yes.

00:06:18.000 Charlie, if I may respond to that, I want to say absolutely.

00:06:21.000 But I also want to say one of the criticisms of Trump, I hear it all the time, he's divisive.

00:06:29.000 Trump is not divisive.

00:06:32.000 He revealed the divide in this country.

00:06:35.000 And for that, he deserves a great, great deal of credit. 1.00

00:06:41.000 In the same way, by the way, he revealed the threat of China. 0.69

00:06:46.000 But we shouldn't let the other side get away with the complaint and don't let our own side.

00:06:52.000 I mean, Nikki Haley will say he's Trump is deciphered.

00:06:57.000 What is the word I'm struggling for there?

00:07:00.000 Divisive, yes.

00:07:02.000 He's not.

00:07:04.000 And we ought to assert that.

00:07:06.000 So anyway, Charlie, I interrupted you.

00:07:09.000 No, I appreciate that.

00:07:10.000 So I'm trying to dive a little bit deeper into this.

00:07:15.000 And, you know, I've taken several Claremont courses and I love the Claremont Institute.

00:07:19.000 It's amazing.

00:07:20.000 I was a fellow, Lincoln fellow, a couple of summers ago, and we talked a lot about this.

00:07:25.000 Is once you acknowledge that you're in a war, then you can go about solving it and fixing it.

00:07:30.000 And that really is the divide right now.

00:07:33.000 Now, Tom, you talk about this in your piece, where if I go to an average Republican breakfast, 500 grassroots folks, 99% of them will tell us we're in a war.

00:07:47.000 If I go to an average turning point USA meeting, they know we're in a war.

00:07:51.000 But if I go to the Republicans running for president or Republicans in Congress, they say, no, no, no, we're not in a war.

00:08:00.000 How do you explain that disconnect where the rank and file, the base, the patriotic core of the party know that we're in a war, yet the leaders refuse to acknowledge that?

00:08:12.000 Well, that's the healthy part of our society that understands the importance of family and church and community, and they can see those things being eroded.

00:08:25.000 Our leaders, again, they're in Washington and they're a little bit distant, but the rank and file, Trump's base, we're very, very lucky to have Trump's base.

00:08:36.000 Your audience that you talk about who understands we're in a war, we need those people very much.

00:08:44.000 And that's one of the reasons I tend to favor Trump is that he has this base that's passionate.

00:08:50.000 You know, the other side, it's always true in a revolution that there are relatively few revolutionaries, very committed, who can carry the day.

00:09:02.000 We usually don't have people on our side that can match the passion and enthusiasm of the woke radicals.

00:09:11.000 Trump's base can do that.

00:09:13.000 That's so smart.

00:09:14.000 Build that out. 0.85

00:09:15.000 Typically, the American right is more focused on building their family, building their business, raising their kids, and doing the minimum amount of work possible.

00:09:25.000 What the MAGA Trump movement has done is now we have matched, if not surpassed, the activist passion from the left.

00:09:34.000 I couldn't, Charlie, I don't know that I could improve on that.

00:09:36.000 Well, but just walk us through the history because when I think of old school Republicanism, it's more intellectual arguments, small groups of people, you know, winning the debate.

00:09:45.000 But the left has always had the advantage with the infantry, always.

00:09:49.000 And that game has changed.

00:09:51.000 And I think that's right for the very reasons you said.

00:09:55.000 Conservatives have been more focused on their community, their family, their church, right?

00:10:02.000 And politics has not been all that important.

00:10:06.000 Remember, the way we designed this country, it was to give states and local communities the power.

00:10:15.000 And now, of course, the power is in Washington.

00:10:17.000 So as you just ended, we are very, very lucky to have Trump's base.

00:10:24.000 And again, one of the reasons I tend to favor Trump is that he can utilize that base in a way other Republicans cannot.

00:10:35.000 Hey, everybody, Charlie Kirk here.

00:10:36.000 Do you know that the average American spends about 20 years in retirement?

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00:10:47.000 It's about living your best life.

00:10:48.000 Let's not retire.

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00:10:56.000 If you want your own free guide of pivoting into the next chapter of life with purpose, visit paxfg.com slash charlie.

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00:11:33.000 Everyone should check out the website, TomKlingenstein.com, chairman of the Claremont Institute.

00:11:40.000 So acknowledging that we're in a war for some people, Tom, is uncomfortable.

00:11:46.000 I recently was chatting with a Republican donor.

00:11:49.000 He's a good person, but he's very naive, wealthy.

00:11:52.000 And he says, Charlie, I don't like this language that we're in a war.

00:11:55.000 We've been through tough times before, and cooler heads ultimately prevail, and we have more in common than not.

00:12:02.000 And we need to stop our divides and find common ground.

00:12:07.000 You've heard that shtick before, Tom.

00:12:09.000 Respond to that sentiment.

00:12:11.000 It's different this time.

00:12:12.000 I mean, you have to allow for the possibility that while it's generally true, we've been able to get through tough times, times of division.

00:12:23.000 We haven't always.

00:12:24.000 The Civil War is a good example.

00:12:27.000 Now, what made the Civil War distinct is that one side thought slavery was a good thing and wanted to expand it.

00:12:35.000 And the other side thought it was bad and wanted to contract it.

00:12:38.000 Well, you can't go in two directions at the same time, which was why at the time we either had to fight or part ways.

00:12:48.000 Well, we have a similar situation here, two understandings of justice.

00:12:54.000 One that believes in fair play, merit, and the other believes in group quotas.

00:13:02.000 So those are the differences that we haven't had in the past.

00:13:07.000 They're fundamental differences.

00:13:10.000 Now, that's at the level of theory.

00:13:13.000 But then we can look at what's happening today in America.

00:13:18.000 And we're talking about people censoring and shaming and the government spying on us, people getting fired, required to make loyalty oaths to DEI to get a job.

00:13:31.000 Some people even denied banking services.

00:13:36.000 How about legal representation?

00:13:37.000 This is something we don't talk much about.

00:13:40.000 If you work for Trump, there's an organization out there called the 65 Project that wants to disbar you, keep you from ever representing people again.

00:13:52.000 And of course, this won't stop at Trump lawyers.

00:13:57.000 It will continue and it will apply over time to anybody who defends an anti-woke cause.

00:14:07.000 So these things are really unique, right?

00:14:10.000 This isn't the run of the mill divide that we've seen.

00:14:15.000 I tell you something else that impresses me, not always easy to convince people, but I think Trump was taken out in a coup.

00:14:25.000 And it wasn't election fraud.

00:14:27.000 I don't know.

00:14:28.000 You know, I don't know if we'll ever prove whether there was or there wasn't.

00:14:33.000 But I think that they ousted him through investigations, you know, this Russian hoke indictments, nonstop beating him up by the press.

00:14:43.000 That was the coup.

00:14:44.000 And now, in an unbelievable act of projection, the woke left has convinced Americas, no, it was Trump who tried to initiate a coup.

00:14:57.000 So Republicans should stop defending themselves against the charge that Trump started an insurrection.

00:15:05.000 He did no such thing.

00:15:06.000 It's the other side that has initiated an insurrection.

00:15:11.000 So these are things that are unique.

00:15:14.000 And so to that donor that you described, this is the case I would make.

00:15:22.000 Sometimes the divide is not bridgeable.

00:15:26.000 And in a war, you don't reach across the aisle. 0.99

00:15:30.000 That's a sucker's game. 0.87

00:15:31.000 And that's what I would say to that gentleman. 0.77

00:15:34.000 Okay, normally we compromise, but we only can compromise if we agree on ends.

00:15:42.000 So to give you a very simple-minded analogy, if you and I are in New York, we want to go to Maine, okay, we can figure it out.

00:15:51.000 We might want different routes, go at different speeds, et cetera.

00:15:55.000 But if you want to go to Maine and I want to go to Florida, there's no compromise.

00:16:01.000 There's a difference in ends and ends cannot be compromised.

00:16:06.000 So you have to make the case that this time is different, that what applies in most times doesn't apply now.

00:16:16.000 But of course, we need a leader to say that.

00:16:20.000 That again is what we're lacking.

00:16:23.000 A leader who will say it and explain it and be able to respond to that donor of yours.

00:16:30.000 That donor's attitude is not insignificant.

00:16:32.000 I'd say a majority of people in the ruling class have that attitude.

00:16:36.000 They live a comfortable life and they almost refuse to acknowledge that life might have to get a little bit uncomfortable to save something bigger than themselves.

00:16:46.000 That's what a war is all about.

00:16:48.000 It requires sacrifice.

00:16:52.000 Hey, everybody, Charlie Kirk here.

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00:17:54.000 So Tom, the obvious question is, once we are able to educate people and enlighten them that we are in the midst of a war, which the rank and file know that we are in a war, what next?

00:18:05.000 What is the battle plan and what does success look like?

00:18:09.000 Well, first of all, you've got to do things like you don't reach across the aisle, right?

00:18:16.000 That's very important.

00:18:18.000 We have to understand the enemy.

00:18:21.000 One of the main weapons of the enemy is they're trying to convince us that we are systemically racist.

00:18:30.000 And if they can succeed in that, then we'll hand them the keys to the castle.

00:18:34.000 Why would we want to support a racist country?

00:18:39.000 So somebody has to stand up and say, no, we're not racist in the same way they have to stand up and say there was a coup.

00:18:47.000 You just talked that advertisement about, I guess, Catholic schools.

00:18:54.000 This is the great battleground now.

00:18:56.000 If you're the woke left, you have to capture K through 12.

00:19:01.000 That's where the brainwashing starts.

00:19:04.000 And therefore, we on the right have to try to maintain K through 12.

00:19:11.000 Now, there's some good news here because of all the areas of American life, K through 12 is one where there is some pushback on the right.

00:19:23.000 So your listeners, those with children, ought to get on their local school boards and they ought to take this pornography out of their school libraries and they have to insist on an America-first civics education.

00:19:41.000 They have to insist that they teach America, despite its many sins, that this is a great country.

00:19:50.000 They live in the greatest country in the world.

00:19:53.000 And I would say one other thing.

00:19:56.000 If you don't teach children to love and cherish their country, why would they fight for their country?

00:20:04.000 Exactly.

00:20:07.000 At some point, we need young men in particular to fight.

00:20:11.000 Well, why would they fight for something that was worthy of disdain?

00:20:16.000 The military recruitment numbers show what happens when you get a generation to hate the country.

00:20:22.000 They're down 25 to 30 percent in certain branches of the armed forces.

00:20:26.000 So let's go through some of the advantages that we on the right have.

00:20:30.000 You've touched on this.

00:20:32.000 I would, we could go through the disadvantages too.

00:20:34.000 If you were just to kind of, as an outside observer, say we are in a war and you have one side versus the other, the right versus the left, what are the advantages that the right has for us to win this war?

00:20:47.000 You know, I'm more comfortable giving you the disadvantages.

00:20:50.000 Well, then do that first.

00:20:51.000 I mean, one of the advantages we talked about, and by the way, let me stop.

00:20:57.000 And just since you mentioned the military and recruitment, I don't know how much of the shortfall is woke, but a lot of it is. 0.71

00:21:07.000 And we have to start in our armed services, stop with all this gender racial outcome equality. 0.70

00:21:16.000 That's not the point. 0.70

00:21:17.000 The point of the military is to kill people, obviously in defense of America, right?

00:21:24.000 The rules that apply in the general public, right, don't necessarily apply in the military because the military has a different goal, which I said, to kill people.

00:21:36.000 And therefore, they have different standards.

00:21:39.000 Now, to your question, of the things we lack, even with Trump's base, we don't have the kind of committed force that the left has.

00:21:57.000 Obviously, we don't control any of the major institutions in this country.

00:22:04.000 The one place where we have a real presence is in politics at local and the federal level.

00:22:12.000 That is a strength, but we have to use it.

00:22:16.000 We have to use it.

00:22:17.000 And we don't have any leaders at the moment.

00:22:21.000 And that's, you know, if there's one, you know, if there's one thing I could say, convince people is the need for leadership.

00:22:29.000 We need a Lincoln, a de Gaulle, a Churchill, right?

00:22:32.000 Even Trump, as flawed as he is, has some of the characteristics of a leader.

00:22:40.000 That's an asset we've got, larger than life, someone with attributes that fit this moment.

00:22:48.000 I'm fond of saying Trump might have been the worst president we ever had at any other time.

00:22:54.000 But at this time, I think he has the mix of virtues that fit the moment.

00:23:00.000 So he's a big, you know, he's a big advantage.

00:23:03.000 Of course, I also think that conservatives have, Republicans have better ideas, but we need more than ideas at this point.

00:23:14.000 You know, I keep talking about leadership, but I think that's so critical.

00:23:20.000 And one of the points I wanted to make, if I'm not going on too much journey.

00:23:24.000 You can let it go on as long as you like.

00:23:26.000 It's excellent.

00:23:28.000 Okay.

00:23:29.000 Is we were talking before, how do you convince America that you're in a war?

00:23:36.000 Well, here's one way, perhaps.

00:23:39.000 Ron DeSantis ought to bow out of this race and get behind Trump and campaign for him and stop throwing or shooting arrows at Trump, shoot them at Biden, express a willingness to serve in Trump's administration.

00:23:59.000 Obviously, DeSantis is very qualified.

00:24:02.000 And doing that, I think, gives him an opportunity to explain. just what's happening.

00:24:10.000 I mean, even to the act of stepping out of the race, which, you know, you never see that, right?

00:24:18.000 That act by itself is noteworthy and calls attention to the fact we're in a war.

00:24:25.000 You know, if I'm DeSantis and I'm just thinking about my own self-interest, I stay in this race, right?

00:24:36.000 What do I have to lose?

00:24:38.000 Maybe some money, but it's not my money anyway, right?

00:24:42.000 But that's the selfish, unpatriotic thing to do.

00:24:47.000 That, I will repeat, is selfish.

00:24:50.000 If he's a patriot, if he really understands the stakes, then he'll get out of this race and get totally behind Trump.

00:25:00.000 Now, I don't know about Haley.

00:25:02.000 She'd have to declare whether, I mean, would she vote for Biden over Trump?

00:25:07.000 If so, she should say so.

00:25:08.000 She's not going to get very far if that's her platform.

00:25:14.000 But if she doesn't, if she said, I'll vote for Trump over any Democrat, then she should get out too.

00:25:22.000 You isolate leadership.

00:25:23.000 A concern that some people have, and I think it's interesting, is that if Trump were to win, we still have all the other existing cultural problems, but a leader can go about solving them.

00:25:36.000 I want you to take a step back, Tom, and give us your opinion on the raw material of America as far as the everyday man.

00:25:45.000 Do you think the country has lost from the everyday ethos, how people operate, the values, the morals, and the character that they have?

00:25:52.000 Forget the ruling class for a second.

00:25:54.000 Do we still have that strong mean, the middle class?

00:26:00.000 Or has that been largely destroyed by a regime over multiple generations?

00:26:05.000 Well, if it has, then we're doomed, right?

00:26:09.000 People have to remember, and I think the average person understands that our regime, the founders understood that our regime was dependent more than any other kind of regime on the virtue of the citizens, right?

00:26:27.000 Checks and balances and those things that we learn in civics, they're important, but they are very secondary bulwarks.

00:26:36.000 The first line of defense is the virtue of our citizens.

00:26:42.000 And I believe, I certainly hope, but I also believe that the healthy part of our society, the part that believes in family, and let me pause to say, nothing is more important than family because it's family that teaches the next generation of citizens what it means to be an American citizen, what constitutes virtue.

00:27:06.000 So we still have a large portion of the population that believes in family.

00:27:12.000 Yes, religion is falling, but we're still a more religious nation than is Europe and most of the rest of the world.

00:27:21.000 So you asked me earlier for positives.

00:27:24.000 That's one of them.

00:27:25.000 So I'm counting on what I imagine to be your audience.

00:27:34.000 On the other side, you know, they're going about trying to destroy family.

00:27:39.000 BLM even had that as part of their mission statement.

00:27:42.000 They want to get rid of family, and that's part of their effort to achieve outcome equality.

00:27:51.000 Everything that they're doing, one way or another, directly or indirectly, is aimed at bringing about this outcome equality regime.

00:28:03.000 But to answer your question or to repeat my answer, I think absolutely there are enough people.

00:28:11.000 And I even think that many Democrats, the Democrats have been taken over by the radical wing.

00:28:19.000 Somebody within the Democrat establishment has to stand up and distance themselves from the woke radicals.

00:28:28.000 Because if they don't, then they're just like the woke radicals.

00:28:31.000 They can say they're not, but they amount to the same thing.

00:28:35.000 I would add to the list of advantages, and it has not been finalized, but the trend is positive when you see people like Elon Musk engage in the cultural landscape and use some of their political power and some of their podium towards calling out the woke and trying to do something to protect Western values.

00:28:57.000 I'm not saying Elon is on the conservative side, but he certainly is making life more difficult for the radical Marxist.

00:29:07.000 Hey, everybody, Charlie Kirk.

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00:30:09.000 Tomklingenstein.com.

00:30:11.000 That's TomKlingenstein.com.

00:30:12.000 So, Tom, there's so much I want to talk to you about.

00:30:15.000 The last topic that I want to cover, though, I'm not sure how long this will take, is the use of political power.

00:30:21.000 If you were to create a game plan, a war plan, for people that are in office, attorneys general, governors, the House of Representatives, since we are in a war, how should we use political power?

00:30:33.000 Subpoenas, investigations, legislation?

00:30:36.000 What does that look like?

00:30:37.000 I mean, I'm not sure that's my area of expertise, Charlie.

00:30:41.000 I was going to say, but there are things that we can do.

00:30:46.000 One reason for optimism, you noticed in these Hamas protests, finally, some of the big donors started withdrawing their contributions or committing not to contribute to these Ivy League schools where they've encouraged protest.

00:31:09.000 One of the advantages you asked earlier, well, the conservatives still have money.

00:31:14.000 They don't have as much money as the left, but they have money and they ought to use that.

00:31:24.000 And, you know, that's power for 70 years at least.

00:31:31.000 The wealthy Republican donors have financed colleges that are teaching things that are very much against their interest.

00:31:41.000 Maybe these protests will alert them to the fact that their colleges have been teaching something very bad. 0.56

00:31:52.000 And the Hamas protests are just an extension.

00:31:56.000 I think attorneys generals can go after this ESG.

00:32:06.000 Attorney General or states can, as they have in some states, initiate their own border patrols.

00:32:15.000 I mentioned school boards.

00:32:18.000 The number one thing is education. 0.95

00:32:21.000 We can't allow our young people to be educated in the idea that America was founded on racism.

00:32:31.000 That's where it seems to me we have to put our efforts.

00:32:35.000 K through 12, we're doing a report in Maine about education.

00:32:40.000 Why is it going down?

00:32:41.000 What can we do about it? 0.97

00:32:43.000 And parents have a lot of power here. 1.00

00:32:47.000 Change superintendents, change school boards. 0.56

00:32:51.000 It starts with K through 12.

00:32:55.000 That's where I would put my emphasis.

00:32:58.000 And that's with the people, not with the elected officials, but with the people.

00:33:03.000 This is a time for the people to rise up.

00:33:07.000 And the final question here, Tom.

00:33:09.000 Do you think we're going to win?

00:33:10.000 I don't know any more than you do, Charlie, or your audience, but I'm hopeful.

00:33:15.000 The answer is, I think we're going to win.

00:33:18.000 And in part, that's because I want to win.

00:33:21.000 And I think it's so important that we do win.

00:33:25.000 And what everybody has to understand, Trump understands it, that we've got to win.

00:33:31.000 We don't have that many more choices, despite what that wealthy donor of yours that you referred to earlier believes.

00:33:42.000 You know, we don't have that much time and we need that sense of urgency, which is one reason I want DeSantis out of the race and support Trump and explain to people, because DeSantis can explain, explain why it's different this time and why Trump is the leader for this moment.

00:34:05.000 I agree completely.

00:34:06.000 Trump is facing 700 years in federal prison.

00:34:09.000 They're throwing everything at him.

00:34:10.000 DeSantis is a chance to show the world that there are higher purposes than just your own personal political ambitions.

00:34:20.000 The country, you might not like Trump. 0.99

00:34:22.000 You might think he's a jerk, but the country matters a lot more than your coral. 0.99

00:34:27.000 I think that would send a big message. 1.00

00:34:30.000 I really do.

00:34:30.000 I think it would.

00:34:32.000 And people like you have to send this message to DeSantis.

00:34:38.000 To put it bluntly, as I did before, you're being selfish to stay in this race.

00:34:44.000 Might have been okay in another period, but right now you're being selfish.

00:34:49.000 You are not being patriotic.

00:34:52.000 Because I don't care about DeSantis as an individual.

00:34:56.000 I don't care whether he wins.

00:34:59.000 I care about America.

00:35:02.000 That is the most important question.

00:35:05.000 Tom, excellent interview.

00:35:06.000 Thank you for your time.

00:35:07.000 TomKlingenstein.com.

00:35:09.000 Really, really sharp commentary.

00:35:10.000 It was ribboning.

00:35:11.000 Thank you so much.

00:35:12.000 Thank you, Charlie.

00:35:13.000 Appreciate it.

00:35:13.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

00:35:14.000 Email us as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:35:17.000 Thanks so much for listening and God bless.

00:35:22.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk.com.

The Charlie Kirk Show - December 01, 2023

America is Already at War — But with Who?

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