00:00:49.000His 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.
00:00:58.000We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
00:02:10.000This is a rallying cry and should be for James O'Keefe.
00:02:14.000James O'Keefe has been there on every tough fight.
00:02:20.000And look, I don't want to be too speculative.
00:02:24.000However, I do not think it is a coincidence that a lot of this activity bubbles up to the surface when James O'Keefe delivers a successful shot on target against Pfizer.
00:02:42.000I'm not saying that Pfizer is behind it.
00:02:58.000It's suggested that Pfizer is now involved in gain of function research and has been.
00:03:03.000It should result in massive congressional inquiries.
00:03:06.000And then just days after that, all this drama with James O'Keefe.
00:03:11.000Regardless of whether it some people are saying, well, Charlie, regardless of whether James O'Keefe is with Project Veritas or not, he has a bright future.
00:03:21.000But my position, and I've communicated this both publicly and privately, as someone that knows how difficult it is to build something from nothing, is absent federal crimes that were committed.
00:03:39.000And I certainly don't think so, because I've asked and I've asked, and that does not seem to be the case.
00:03:44.000Of course, there's lines for everything, so it's not just a blank check.
00:03:48.000But if it's true that James was cruel to people and mean to people, very subjective, but let's pretend he was, and that he was calling people names and that he was spending money to bring people to a theater production, then there should be some sort of path to restoration.
00:04:09.000That's not a reason to kick somebody out of their own organization.
00:04:13.000And, you know, people say, well, Charlie, there are two separate things, James O'Keeffe and Project Veritas.
00:04:21.000It is not unheard of for a founder to be kicked out of a company that they started.
00:04:29.000It's also not unheard of for the person to be kicked out of the company that they started and then they brought back in, like Steve Jobs.
00:04:35.000Steve Jobs was kicked out and then he was brought back in.
00:04:38.000And so the saga with O'Keeffe is this, is that I truly believe that unless there's some massive smoke and gun revelation that comes to the surface, that there needs to be a path for restoration and reinstitution for James O'Keefe to continue to run Project Veritas.
00:05:05.000And at breaking at the time of the board meeting, there was this cease and desist letter sent to Project Veritas' board by many major donors.
00:05:12.000I know some of those donors, and I'm not privy to say the details behind that, but I've been looped in on this.
00:05:19.000And James O'Keefe's future with the company is in peril.
00:05:24.000Now, I have been told by Project Veritas insiders that there's more to the story, and you're going to learn about it, and you're going to see that we're doing everything we possibly can to comply with state and federal law.
00:05:37.000I sure hope the reason is good enough to kick somebody out of the organization that they founded.
00:06:55.000Left to my own devices, I would be Julius Caesar and it would not end well.
00:07:00.000And so the sequence of events that's unfolding at Project Veritas, I hope ends in a place where James O'Keefe is more empowered than ever before to hold tyranny accountable, more empowered than ever before to be able to hold the worst aspects of society kennel.
00:07:19.000My fear is that now the fabulous work that has been achieved by Project Veritas, the amazing success that they have been able to achieve is now being put in jeopardy.
00:07:41.000So we're going to keep a close eye on this.
00:07:43.000The cease and desist letter was sent to the Project Veritas board by major donors as James O'Keefe's future with the company is now in peril.
00:07:54.000And look, people say that he was an awful person to work for, some of the employees, but he demanded excellence and he certainly got it.
00:08:02.000Look, the old expression is if you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.
00:09:09.000Mismanagement is an incredibly subjective term.
00:09:12.000Okay, then get him in to a better process with a chief of staff, with a CFO, have him restore or repay any questionable finances or expenses, make him chairman of the board, give him a team, make him a buffer from the staff.
00:11:53.000So, and I actually had this, I had a robust conversation about this with Dennis Prager and Alan Estrin from Prager University.
00:12:00.000Dennis and I were speaking at Arizona State University together, and I'll kind of give you an update on that because that was that was really interesting and illuminating in some regards.
00:12:09.000So, Alan and I got to talking, and Alan's a very learned man, and Dennis is beyond a learned man.
00:12:16.000And he prompted that all three of us were talking out of nowhere.
00:13:13.000I don't want to act as if, you know, take myself too seriously, but one take is like, okay, Charlie, just keep saying the same thing over and over again, not worth our time.
00:13:20.000The other take is that it's a hard argument to refute.
00:13:24.000And because I did source it so comprehensively, the data is there.
00:14:10.000He's trying to do that at New College in Sarasota, Florida.
00:14:13.000He's testing out this premise, and I am going to be his most enthusiastic cheerleader.
00:14:19.000But just color me a fair more cynical in this regard: that you're talking about the same thing as saying, Well, we need to make the FBI better, we need to make the IRS better.
00:14:28.000It's the same type of personnel, same sort of attitude, that same sort of deep state character or lack thereof that exists within a college that also exists in the inner agencies of our government.
00:14:43.000And so, people ask me all the time, they say, Charlie, do you think I should send my kid to college?
00:14:47.000The answer is it's kind of a lawyerly answer.
00:14:54.000If you go to college, you have to check the right boxes.
00:14:56.000I talk about it in my book, but I'll just kind of conclude on this.
00:15:00.000At Arizona State University, where 37 out of 47 of the professors signed a letter saying they don't want Dennis Prager and I to speak on campus, I was very moved at the pre-speech reception where a mother of four came up to me and she was really, really sweet.
00:15:15.000And she said, Charlie, none of my four sons speak to me anymore.
00:15:48.000That is a learned sociopathic evil behavior that somehow you should disconnect from your family because you view politics differently.
00:16:01.000I want to tell you guys about COVID tax relief.
00:16:04.000COVID Tax Relief is an amazing service that exists for you because of Washington, D.C.'s addiction to overspending.
00:16:13.000Again, I'm not a fan that this money exists or that's out there or that it's available, but as they say, it is what it is.
00:16:19.000Look, COVIDtaxRelief.org got a small retail business, almost $80,000.
00:16:24.000COVIDtaxRelief.org got a manufacturing business, nearly $250,000.
00:16:28.000COVIDTaxRelief.org got a large distribution business, almost $900,000.
00:16:33.000If you run a business, church or nonprofit, and paid your employees through all or part of the pandemic, you could qualify for up to $26,000 per employee through the Government Cares Act.
00:16:42.000COVIDTaxRelief.org receives a low commission, very reasonable, only after you receive the money.
00:16:49.000That is covidtaxrelief.org, covidtaxrelief.org.
00:16:53.000Check it out right now, covidtaxrelief.org.
00:16:59.000So I do mention here and there Stoicism, which needs to be taken very carefully, especially if you're a Christian.
00:17:05.000However, if it's properly employed, I think it actually can be fabulously enriching to your life because I actually think it's consistent with Christian values, part of Stoicism.
00:17:15.000Charlie, Mr. Kirk, today you made a comment about the Stoics.
00:17:18.000Can you tell us about the Stoics and your opinion of them?
00:17:23.000The kind of inventor of Stoicism, if you will, is a man by the name of Epietus.
00:17:29.000He was a slave and obviously living in slavery and then being freed, he was able to live through all different parts of life by being in slavery and by being treated terribly.
00:17:41.000He came really kind of, he came up with a philosophy for life, an operating system, regardless of your circumstance, regardless what's happening around you, need to identify what you can control, what you are able to do in that moment, and then release everything that is outside of your control.
00:17:57.000So there's elements there of Christianity of do not worry about today, do not worry about tomorrow, don't worry about the future, but focus on the present.
00:18:04.000There's elements of some Eastern philosophy there.
00:18:06.000There are three other Stoic thinkers and writers that are quite interesting.
00:18:12.000Zeno, which we'll talk very little about.
00:18:15.000Seneca, as well, who I believe was a counselor to a Roman emperor.
00:18:41.000Yeah, Seneca was forced to commit suicide because he was such a wise and learned man.
00:18:45.000But the most famous Stoic of all, and there were other kind of quasi-Stoic thinkers, Cicero being the one-year Roman council who wrote extensively about separation of powers and has some of the greatest writings that later inspired the American founding.
00:18:58.000But Marcus Aurelius, and I have a bust of Marcus Aurelius in my office because I really love studying about Marcus Aurelius.
00:19:04.000Marcus Aurelius was the last of the good emperors of Rome.
00:19:07.000He ruled, I think, between, Blake can look it up.
00:19:10.000It's like 200 something, far after Christ.
00:19:12.000It was right at the end of the Pax Romana and Marcus Aurelius.
00:19:16.000He really was about 161 AD, thank you.
00:19:19.000And so he ruled over more land, more geography than any other ruler or leader alive at the time.
00:19:26.000And so it's a very interesting window of if you have absolute control of the earthly realm, which is what basically a Roman emperor did.
00:19:46.000And what was so fascinating about Marcus Aurelius.
00:19:50.000We only know this because of his private journals that later got repurposed and published as a book that we call Meditations, is that Aurelius adopted Stoic philosophy to help him become a better ruler.
00:20:04.000And so Aurelius wrote these private journals as emperor of Rome, and they're now called meditations.
00:20:10.000I encourage you, if you're going to read meditations, get the modern translation done by Professor Gregory Hayes, who is a professor of ancient literature or great works at the University of Virginia.
00:21:22.000I don't encourage it to be a religion for you.
00:21:24.000I do think, though, that a Stoic view of life, if you are a secular person, is a lot better than just being secular postmodernist.
00:21:31.000But there are some Stoic elements that I find to be incredibly helpful, especially when I'm trying to become a better Christian, a better believer, and a better fighter for liberty and freedom.
00:21:43.000And one of those is this idea that the toxic emotions that permeate and pervade our life, fear and anger, are the worst strategies.
00:21:55.000And for me, that has been incredibly helpful.
00:21:57.000So Stoicism really is an it is a belief that you have a lot more power and free will than you recognize or realize.
00:22:07.000And that the moment that you are currently in is the most important moment because you'll never get it back.
00:22:55.000Well, thank you for the kind words and for subscribing.
00:22:58.000All right, let's go to, I'm going to play both of them.
00:23:00.000Let's play cut 10, Nicole Hannah-Jones.
00:23:02.000The history of black Americans is so inconvenient to the narrative of America that there are, you know, powerful interests that haven't ever wanted us to grapple truthfully.
00:23:11.000That is why DeSantis has to ban AP African American studies in Florida.
00:23:16.000The history of black Americans is so inconvenient to the narrative of America that there are powerful interests that haven't ever wanted us to grapple truthfully.
00:23:26.000That's why we have Governor DeSantis banning AP African American studies.
00:23:31.000If you acknowledge that, then you have to acknowledge that we were founded on these great ideals, but we have not lived up to them.
00:23:38.000That's actually a little bit of a sea change.
00:23:40.000I have to say that their pressure campaign on Miss Jones, I think, is working.
00:25:09.000So my first thought is this: the fact that pilgrims came to America with slaves is completely irrelevant because slavery was normalized in the ancient world and it still is normalized today.
00:25:25.000Now, let me make sure my language is clear.
00:25:28.000Just because it's irrelevant does not mean that it should be deemed morally acceptable, still evil, but it's not relevant as to why they were coming here.
00:25:37.000Now, I'm a little bit rusty on my Mayflower Compact history, but I'm 99.9% sure that there were no slaves on the Mayflower.
00:25:48.000In fact, the Mayflower Compact does not mention slavery.
00:25:50.000It's kind of the first social contract.
00:25:52.000There's a ton of beautiful history behind the Mayflower Compact because they were out at sea and they weren't sure if they were going to get and be able to survive at all.
00:25:58.000And they basically were like, are we going to be able to do this?
00:26:00.000And if so, how are we going to govern ourselves?
00:26:02.000Slavery and the advent of slaves coming to the mainland of America is largely a phenomenon not of the founding fathers.
00:26:14.000Yeah, there were no slaves on the Mayflower.
00:26:15.000I didn't want to speak out of turn there, but I was ready to take that to the bank.
00:26:22.000Was only a custom of the moral flaws that existed during the time.
00:26:28.000Every single person has this in common.
00:26:34.000Every person that hears my voice right now has the following in common: you were born into a world you did not create, you were born into circumstances that you did not choose.
00:26:47.000Every person also has this in common: that you're then able to make a series of choices to try to improve or weaken the world that you were born into.
00:27:00.000Both of those things are simultaneously true.
00:27:03.000So the founding fathers were born into a world they did not choose.
00:27:07.000They were born into a world where slavery was widespread and it was ubiquitous.
00:27:21.000They reluctantly and begrudgingly grew up around it.
00:27:26.000And yet it was Benjamin Franklin who chaired the anti-slavery convention in 1775.
00:27:32.000It was Thomas Jefferson who admonished the king of England, King George, in the original draft of the Declaration of Independence that slavery was wrong and you are to blame for bringing the sin of slavery to our shores.
00:27:44.000It was Vermont that abolished slavery in 1777.
00:27:49.000Nine out of 13 colonies had independently abolished slavery by the time the United States Constitution was ratified in 1787.
00:28:01.000So every single one of them was born into a world where slavery was acceptable, it was institutionalized, it was widespread, and it was codified into the rules and the regulations and the laws and the customs.
00:28:31.000Well, the answer is that it did not happen in an isolated circumstance or it did not happen in a bubble.
00:28:40.000It was many decades of work, Protestant ministers, Jonathan Mayhew, George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, the Black Robe Regimen, sowing the seeds of the foundation of a people that finally were ready to reject and expel a repugnant evil of slavery, of human beings owning human beings.
00:29:13.000He's the only person that will be running as a Republican primary nominee that has won a general election.
00:29:21.000And so this idea that he can't, I mean, not only is it flawed, it's just on the surface, just not, it's just not true.
00:29:29.000And I truly believe he would have won the second time if it wasn't for all the nonsense, the shenanigans, the ballot drop boxes, the tech interference, all of that.
00:32:13.000James Comey, when he was asked very direct questions when Republicans still controlled Congress, back when Republicans controlled Congress, now obviously we do now.
00:32:28.000You can't be held accountable for lying to Congress if you just don't remember.
00:32:35.000Now, if there's evidence to show that you actually do remember and you're lying about not remembering, but they've convinced themselves of that.
00:33:03.000It's not the first time in history that I've been told to shut up and go to the back of the room, especially by people who come from a privileged background.
00:33:12.000And I'm never going to shut up and go to the back of the room.
00:33:14.000And I think it's reprehensible that the senator would say such a thing to me in the demeaning way he said, but it wasn't very Mormon of him.
00:33:35.000Yeah, like, okay, how about you get your biography sorted out?
00:33:39.000And also, from a privileged background, don't like it at all, actually.
00:33:44.000How about you tell us, can you clear up one or two of the biographical details?
00:33:48.000By the way, I don't think you should resign, but maybe you should just keep your mouth shut for like a month or two months or three months, four months, or the rest of your term.
00:33:58.000Thanks so much for listening, everybody.
00:33:59.000Email me your thoughts as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:34:03.000Thank you so much for listening, and God bless.
00:34:08.000For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk.com.