In this episode of the CharlieKirkShow, we discuss the latest in the NYC Mayor Debates, and whether or not Andrew Cuomo should drop out of the race to become the next President of the United States.
00:00:56.000The Charlie Kirk Show is proudly sponsored by Preserve Gold, the leading gold and silver experts, and the only precious metals company I recommend to my family, friends, and viewers.
00:01:31.000I need to So here's my question, guys.
00:01:33.000Uh so last night in New York City, they had the mayor debates and everything.
00:01:38.000Um do people really understand if Mandami wins, which it probably will be.
00:01:45.000Do they understand what this could trigger for other cities, other states?
00:01:52.000You know, because New York City is the iconic city of our country.
00:01:56.000Like, do people understand this is not good if he wins, or are they just like being sucked in by fancy words, the the nice smile, the photo ops stuff, you know, where he can't bench 135 pounds.
00:02:19.000First of all, I will give a little hat tip to the moderators.
00:02:22.000I thought they did a uh really fine job, actually.
00:02:24.000They were pretty fair and they managed it pretty well.
00:02:28.000Mom Donnie is head and shoulders uh above these guys, just from a pure optics standpoint, just from a pure smooth answering the questions and messaging standpoint.
00:02:48.000When Charlie was talking about Gen Z, what was he talking about?
00:02:51.000Moon economic moonshot, making homes more affordable, getting young people the opportunity to buy into the American dream, deporting illegals that were driving up housing costs, that were taking entry-level jobs, so that Americans could get those and get that first job on the the rung of the ladder to economic independence and success.
00:03:11.000These are things in the Lords of Easy Money, you hear Steve Bannon talking about that.
00:03:15.000When we debase our currency, that hurts the working class the most.
00:03:19.000The assets owned by the rich inflate in value, and that distance between the haves and the haves nots gets wider and wider and wider.
00:03:27.000And so that's why it's so important that we focus on economics.
00:03:30.000We have a a limited amount of time to prove that the MAGA national populism conservatism is the ticket for an American revitalization of our uh economy and the economic prospects of the next generation.
00:03:50.000Now, his prescription is going to destroy the city.
00:03:54.000There's no his solutions are gonna destroy the city, but at least he's talking about it.
00:03:58.000Uh, but yeah, that's my my my point is is that he is just simply better at this than them.
00:04:03.000And he is a he is a candidate that is built for the modern ecosystem, media ecosystem with social media and nifty slogans and all of this stuff.
00:04:10.000That being said, Sliwa needs to drop out of the race.
00:04:18.000The only way to do this is for Sleewa to stop taking shots at Cuomo, put his support behind Cuomo, but he's probably not gonna do that because he's kind of like a uh dogged principled man, which is admirable, but politics is about the art of the possible.
00:05:05.000And what's gonna happen is it's gonna legitimize him, and he's gonna get endorsed by more and more mainstream democrats, which is just gonna further suck that party down a very, very dark and radical left hole.
00:05:41.000So starting next year, all elections will be at the same time now, so Democrats can start winning local elections because they're not getting turnout in the odd years.
00:05:53.000I would just add it would be one thing if Slee was actually a good candidate.
00:05:56.000But yesterday he refused to raise his hand when they asked if the NYPD would even cooperate with the National Guard there and all the crime going on, ice and all that.
00:06:05.000So their main problem is that their one supposedly Republican candidate is not even like any good.
00:06:23.000Uh, my question to you guys was um I it's a simple question, but what do you guys think is the best way to learn?
00:06:30.000And if it is books, like a lot of people say, what do you think is like the best way to help retain that info?
00:06:35.000Because like I cannot retain the info that I'm reading in these books.
00:06:38.000Yeah, I actually had a great conversation with Sergio Gore this last week at the White House, and we were talking about Charlie's ability to retain things, and everybody always thought that he had this photographic memory, but he didn't.
00:07:40.000And uh Blake will actually write in the books that he's reading.
00:07:44.000So if you, you know, ha if you don't mind doing that with to your book, some people feel very precious with books, but I totally agree.
00:07:51.000But the other thing I would say that I almost do book reports, and oftentimes those book reports will come out as like tweets, and that helps me retain information.
00:08:00.000So, like if I'm really into a news story, for example, and there's all those details about names and what's this and that, I will write it down and sometimes I'll tweet about it, and that process will it just helps clarify what you're thinking about something because you have to structure an argument.
00:08:15.000And when you have to structure an argument based on something you've just read, then it really does help make it sink in.
00:08:24.000Hey everybody, Andrew Colvet, executive producer of the Charlie Kirk Show.
00:08:28.000Charlie understood that to lead, he needed to learn.
00:08:31.000Hillsdale College was ready to teach him.
00:08:33.000While busy running his company, teaching America's youth and raising a beautiful family.
00:08:37.000Charlie still found time to complete 31 Hillsdale College free online courses.
00:08:42.000He talked about it the last time he spoke on his podcast with Hillsdale's president, Dr. Larry Arn.
00:08:47.000Hillsdale is the cutting edge, and I mean it.
00:08:50.000You are a force of nature, Charlie Kirk.
00:08:53.000One of these days, I'm gonna give you an honorary degree.
00:08:55.000That that would be the honor of my life, but I I got a lot more learning yet to do.
00:08:59.000And I say this the Hillsdale courses have changed my life.
00:09:01.000Through Hillsdale College's free online courses, Charlie studied the Bible, the classics, the American founding, and through his relentless pursuit of truth, became not only a great American, but a good man.
00:09:12.000Charlie's gone, but his spirit of hard work and lifelong learning carry on.
00:09:15.000Each of us can follow his example and pick up where he left off.
00:09:18.000So learn like Charlie did at Charlie for Hillsdale.com.
00:09:56.000I will say, so let me let me tell you a couple things.
00:09:58.000One of the one of the things I'm gonna say are probably controversial, like if I said it in front of a bunch of libs.
00:10:05.000But we were noticing in the polling, this is before what happened to Charlie, that with our youngest women uh that are of voting age, so 18 to 21, Yale Youth Survey poll did did this poll on 18 to 21-year-old women, and we fought saw for the first time an R plus four with young women.
00:10:25.000Now, that was pre-Iran, pre-some of the stuff with Israel, some of the stuff with Epstein.
00:10:31.000It's possible that's slid back the the other direction because those things were very unpopular with young young people.
00:10:36.000And that was something Charlie and I would talk a lot about, Danny.
00:10:38.000I'm sure you were talking about it a lot with him too.
00:10:41.000And so it's possible that slipped back, but it was the first time I've ever seen an R plus anything with young women.
00:10:46.000The uh the young men I think were like R19, R plus 19.
00:10:50.000So we were already seeing the youngest women, and then Gen Alpha behind Gen Z are more conservative still.
00:10:57.000So there's good things coming, so keep the faith on that.
00:11:00.000There was a actual an MBC article that came out and it was asking the question can Erica Kirk be to women what Charlie Kirk was to young men?
00:11:09.000And I think the answer is, in my opinion, and Mikey, I'd love your perspective on this.
00:11:12.000If you listen to her speeches, they were uh especially I think back to the the memorial speech where she spoke directly to husbands and wives and young women, and she said to young women, you are not your your husband's rival.
00:11:25.000You're not gonna be you do your your your uh virtue is a strength.
00:11:29.000Yeah, and and so I do think she is she is calling out the I guess you would say the idols of our age, because young women think they have to be promiscuous, they have to flaunt their physical bodies all over the place where their hemline meets their neckline, and it's you know, that I think is out of I think it's out of fashion more and more with young people.
00:11:49.000So Charlie was had this ability to reach young men and give them direction, but young women uh are the ones that are are further to the left than young men, just in the data that we see.
00:11:59.000And that's because they're the ones that pay attention to what the professor says in class where the young men maybe are on Snapchat or social media, but you know, Mikey, you're just reminding me of something really quick here with this uh the MBC poll.
00:12:11.000We talked about a lot with Charlie, and I'm gonna I'm gonna pull a graphic.
00:12:14.000It's probably gonna be a terrible graphic if you guys want to make it better.
00:12:18.000Yeah, and and just to kind of continue that point that I was making.
00:12:22.000Um, with young women, we we host a young women's leadership summit at Turning Point USA every single year.
00:12:28.000We already put out an interest form this year for it, and the numbers are like almost double where triple really where they ever would have been in the past.
00:12:36.000And so that's kind of a testament to Erica reaching them already.
00:12:39.000But young women are harder to reach because they they pay attention more, they need more detail, they need more understanding, whereas young men, you give them direction, you give them something to fight for, and they will chase after it.
00:12:52.000Um, and so people would always ask Charlie, why don't you have a young men's leadership summit?
00:13:15.000She kept felt called because you know, she knew that we had 120 million streams that we could track, and I'm assuming there was a lot more because people were ripping the stream, and we were cool with that.
00:13:24.000We were just saying the memorials for everybody, and uh, and that was a good thing.
00:13:32.000And we talked about this with Charlie as well.
00:13:34.000Which of the following is important to your personal definition of success?
00:13:37.000And you see young men say having a job or career you find fulfilling would be the top.
00:13:41.000Having enough money to do the things you want, achieving financial independence, using your talents and resources to help others, making your family and community proud, owning a home, being married, having children.
00:13:52.000But if you go to women, it's having a job or career you find fulfilling, having enough money to do the things you want, achieving financial independence, having emotional stability, using your talents and resources to help others, and owning your own home, having no debt, and then and then down at 10 and 11 is having children and being married.
00:14:12.000And so that's how highly young women are placing the things that will really, I think, stabilize your life and bring you actual happiness and joy.
00:14:22.000Joy would be the operative word there, but what's sad is that they put that it's the it's kind of right towards the bottom.
00:14:30.000So that's a huge problem that young women have been sold a lie that getting married and having children will somehow be a drag on them, that they won't be able to do what their first priority is, which is having a job and finding uh a fulfilling career, which is a weird I mean, you would not have seen that in other generations.
00:14:47.000Uh Danny, you're you're on the dating scene.
00:15:03.000It's really it's really like third wave feminism, which is really toxic, which is trying to be equal with men and this sort of toxic masculinity.
00:15:12.000You know, you could make a case for voting, you could make a case for uh having equal uh opportunity in the workplace.
00:15:18.000I think that's you know, probably all fine, well, and good, and we've all come to come to see it that way.
00:15:23.000But having the option and the freedom to do something is different than prioritizing it as your top priority, okay.
00:15:29.000The the having you know, a job for a young woman, um, i is it it's funny because young women's leadership summit, Charlie would always go viral.
00:15:36.000Yeah, because he would always say, Listen, the only reason to go to college if you're a woman is to get that MRS degree.
00:15:42.000Meet a man, like get married and start having babies.
00:15:44.000People, I mean, people would just erupt because he's not allowed to have those opinions as uh as a guy.
00:16:55.000President Trump walked into a catch-22 when taking office.
00:16:58.000Do nothing in America would be staring at a ticking debt bomb, the kind of crisis that could cripple our future.
00:17:04.000Instead, he's taken action with strong policies to slow the train and buy us some time.
00:17:08.000But the effects of past administration spending are still working through the system, and experts predict dramatic price increases in market uncertainty.
00:17:16.000Trump is doing all he can, but no matter who's in office, protecting your retirement savings is ultimately up to you.
00:17:22.000And that's why many Americans are turning to real assets like gold and silver.
00:17:26.000Preserve gold is our go-to choice here at the Charlie Kirk Show.
00:17:30.000We use them because they make it easy to own physical gold and silver, even inside your retirement accounts like an IRA or 401k.
00:17:37.000Now, hear from Charlie in his own words.
00:17:39.000Preserve gold is my go-to choice for all my precious metal needs.
00:18:51.000Hey, well, we were we haven't heard an America Fest update in a while, and our concern is how are we gonna fit all the people that are registered into the Phoenix Convention Center?
00:19:02.000We actually turned some of the ticketing off because uh VIP filled up.
00:19:08.000The actual convention center can expand um in our exhibitor hall, the way it's formatted, there's actually ways to add more seating and to expand it.
00:19:16.000So there is ways that we can do it in staging too, the amount of seats that we put there uh if we do side seating versus more stadium seating or higher stadium seating.
00:19:28.000Um so that's not a worry of ours, but our worry is how can we get even more people there?
00:19:35.000Um and it's really exciting because these people usually they're Arizonans that are coming.
00:19:41.000These are a lot of out-of-state people coming right before Christmas.
00:19:44.000There's yeah, I would say Arizona gets like an outsized presence, but there's always like a lot of people from out of state and I mean we have all 50 states represented at Amfest every year.
00:19:53.000We have all 50 states, but it's just it's gonna be more and it's gonna be bigger.
00:19:56.000And I will tell you everybody basically that we've asked to come speak at Amfest has been like, yes, please, absolutely, whatever we can do.
00:20:03.000So we're gonna have an amazing lineup of speakers at Amfest.
00:20:06.000And so rest assured that is gonna happen.
00:20:09.000I thought you were gonna ask about the halftime show, because right now my inbox is our inboxes halftime is is the the the-cause they love it.
00:20:19.000I'm saying that everyone's just about half.
00:20:21.000Caleb, do you are you excited about the halftime show?
00:20:24.000Yeah, I think it's gonna be a phenomenal thing.
00:20:26.000I think we'll I I'm hoping the viewership exceeds the people that are watching, you know, the other the other event that's gonna be going on at that same time.
00:20:34.000Whatever that other one, that other thing is we don't we don't know we don't know anything about it.
00:20:38.000So I so I have to I I thought that's where this was going, so I had the team prep all these clips.
00:20:43.000Uh, but I will tell you we have triggered the left.
00:20:47.000We have triggered the the the Twitterati or the TikTok uh on the left.
00:20:52.000So let's I have to play a couple of these.
00:21:22.000This is you know, this is why you know the rates of Christianity in this day in the country had been dropping because we had to deal with these kind of beta males.
00:21:41.000We have a lot of Hispanic fans of this show and of Charlie.
00:21:44.000Like it this is not about this is not anti-Hispanic.
00:21:48.000It's Bad Bunny said you had four months to learn Spanish because he refuses to speak English, even though he's Puerto Rican, which is part of America, and he refuses to speak English.
00:21:58.000Oh, yeah, but I uh from my lens too, I could view this as we're we're an English speaking country, and this is an English speaking event.
00:22:05.000It's also the biggest event on our soil.
00:23:04.000We'll host counter programming to the Super Bowl halftime show after a mega meltdown over the NFL choosing bad bunny as this year's headliner.
00:23:13.000Adding, we're so happy to announce our headliners.
00:24:12.000Like where that was You know what it reminded me of is like the, you know, the the weather forecasters in Southern California or something, and they'd be like, you know, they wouldn't.
00:24:23.000And it and the clouds are going to be moving in from the West over Santa Barbara.
00:24:27.000And then they were just like, you know.
00:25:04.000The other thing is it's not just the Spanish thing.
00:25:07.000I think for years we have been feeling like a certain cultural element is being prust upon us at these shows, in like the Emmys and every halftime show.
00:25:19.000And it's like the debauchery, the you know, and it's like we want something that feels American.
00:25:26.000We don't feel like the we're a part of these halftime shows, and then we don't feel like they're celebrating things that we want to celebrate.
00:25:52.000The Oscars at least kind of still tries to, you know, the elegant dresses and stuff, and they don't do the like C through, you know, but at the Grammys, you'll wasn't it like Kanye's wife or whatever?
00:26:02.000Didn't she just like show up in a completely new deck or something?
00:26:06.000Anyway, but this is also the this is stuff that mom Donnie's pushing for, not just debauchery to be platformed for prostitution to be legalized.
00:26:15.000You want hookers on the street in America's biggest.
00:26:21.000I didn't I never have that's a lie from from Andrew Cuomo about prostitution being legalized, and then they get to the late later part of the question like would you prosecute it?
00:26:56.000Could it throw a wrench in the Republicans' efforts, Or is this just political theater?
00:27:02.000I just don't understand why they're doing it or why the Democrats are holding out for this.
00:27:08.000Yeah, I feel like this is just this is typical of the left.
00:27:12.000And this isn't their first protest of this sort.
00:27:15.000They this it's a lot of noise with no substance, and you oftentimes forget about it a few days later.
00:27:22.000But something I pointed out to Andrew a little while ago is I think it's really ironic and rich that the smaller party is the one shutting down the government, and then once they shut down the government, that same smaller party is the one saying Trump is king.
00:28:54.000So there's a bunch of misinformation around ice, specifically ice.
00:28:58.000So you've got these showdowns in Portland, you got the showdown in Chicago, and I was looking for a thread here.
00:29:04.000Uh somebody uh put together a really great thread of all of these ice stories that have gone massively viral on Blue Sky and on left-wing Twitter, and they're all lies.
00:29:15.000So whether that be a picture of uh somebody arresting a four-year-old toddler, you know, it's not actually a a true story at all.
00:29:24.000It was a it was a father that was play the kid had asked to be, you know, put handcuffs on him like he was getting arrested.
00:29:30.000But there's many, many such stories where they're saying, Oh, if you're black and brown, you're gonna be arrested.
00:29:35.000Uh yeah, and th th so they all believe this lie that you're just gonna get arrested if you're black and brown, really quick, 343.
00:29:41.000Black people, brown people of all stripes, whether you're an Indian American or a Mexican American or whoever you are, go out in your plate where you live and get a gun legally, get a license to carry legally.
00:29:58.000Because when you have people knocking on your door and taking you away without due process as a citizen, isn't that what the second amendment was written for?
00:30:09.000Go back and read what the second amendment says.
00:30:12.000So so they just want to foment a lot of rage, and the Democrats just want to look like they're doing something about Mino Trump.
00:30:18.000So they're using disinformation to do that.
00:30:22.000We truly are living in a historic time.
00:30:25.000After 738 days, the 20 living Israeli hostages have been released from captivity.
00:30:31.000And those who were killed will finally rest in peace near their loved ones.
00:30:36.000In this time of celebration, our good friends at the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews send their deepest gratitude for your prayers and unwavering support.
00:30:44.000Thanks to you, the fellowship has provided 300 million dollars in emergency aid since October 7th, including millions in direct support for the hostages and their families.
00:30:54.000Of course, the road ahead is still a long one.
00:30:57.000Much needs to be done to restore and revive these victims of terrorism.
00:31:01.000But that's exactly what the fellowship does.
00:31:03.000For example, they're assisting returned hostages along with their families and friends with immediate medical, psychological, and financial support.
00:31:11.000They're also providing mental health care for Israelis of all ages.
00:31:15.000To find out how you can help, visit IFCJ.org.
00:31:23.000There's a thread, and I'm gonna find it.
00:31:25.000Uh actually Blake was the one who flagged it for me, but it's it's basically it's it's about six or seven stories, and the person that put this thread together highlighted just how many millions of views these stories have, and they're all lies.
00:31:39.000And the person debunks them uh each one by one.
00:31:42.000And it's it's basically just if you're black or brown, if you're a citizen, they're gonna come into your door, they're gonna knock on it, they're gonna drag you out in front of your family, and they're gonna send you to some foreign country, even though you're an American citizen.
00:32:10.000And we're we're living under a tyrant and they're weaponizing the j judicial system.
00:32:14.000I am very, very worried for our ICE officers all around the country because a lot of this anger is being thrown at them, and it's really not fair because they're just doing the job that the American people voted for and that their elected officials finance with the one big beautiful bill to add more ice agents and to do mass deportations.
00:32:33.000This was not something that we hid in the campaign.
00:32:37.000Danny, I know you wanted mass deportations.
00:32:39.000Yeah, I love how Don Lamont is suddenly now pro-gun when it comes to protecting illegal aliens, but when it comes to protecting your own family, he doesn't want anybody to have a gun as well anti-second and how he framed it.
00:32:52.000He's like, You've got to protect your family with your gun because ice is gonna come in and rage your home because you're black and brown.
00:32:58.000And that's but only black and brown people are allowed guns.
00:33:01.000But this is it is it is some somewhat disturbing because right wing gun culture is like very established, it's hunting, it's passed down generationally.
00:33:09.000These people are like this this is deranged stuff.
00:33:12.000So this is like a whole different vibe, right?
00:33:14.000And you see this with the armed LGB, you know, the armed queer SLC group that I that we are you know looking into right now.
00:33:22.000And did they know about Charlie's the the assassination that was gonna happen against Charlie?
00:33:27.000And you know, but this is uh John Brown gun club.
00:33:29.000There is a very insidious left-wing gun culture, armed militia culture that's happening, and uh we have to be on the lookout for it because you know these people do not believe in l the liberal values of open debate and open dialogue, they've rejected them outright.
00:33:44.000And we saw that with Mark Bray, the Rutgers professor that wrote the Antifa book.
00:33:49.000The whole book is advocating for preemptive violence to smash fascism, and what is fascism and it's conservatives?
00:33:55.000That's what they think of conservatives.
00:34:27.000No, um, so it it it so what happened was I started to have to you know be on the show every day, and normally my hair's kind of like crazy and like dry.
00:34:38.000And so all of a sudden I was like, Well, I can't, you know, it's just too risky to go that way.
00:34:42.000So I just like at least this way, I just like come back and it kind of like sits down.
00:34:46.000All right, Brandon, what's your question?
00:34:47.000Let's get on to something more wholesome.
00:34:49.000Hey guys, uh, just a little context for this question.
00:34:52.000So uh I gave a a speech about my Charlie Kirk journey last night at the our local uh Ronald Reagan dinner in Iowa.
00:35:01.000And you know, I was preparing for and after I gave in afterwards, I was just I was kind of thinking like how does Charlie prepare for his speeches and then afterwards, you know, how does he you know who gives him feedback?
00:35:19.000Yeah, he yeah, well, sometimes actually Charlie used to do a lot of speech prep, but then he got to a point in in the later years where he was just so good at giving speeches that some days he would just like write before take ten minutes and do five bullet points and then get on stage and just riff.
00:35:37.000I I have so many memories of Charlie, like what I would I would be with if you know before his speech, and he'd be like, we'd be backstage and goes, um, so what do you think I should talk about?
00:35:45.000Like I'm like, dude, Charlie, you're going on in two minutes.
00:35:47.000Like they're literally announcing you, you just like put me on the spot.
00:35:50.000Like, what what do I need to talk about?
00:35:52.000And this is the other thing that's really cool about Charlie, is people actively avoid QA because you never know what you're gonna get.
00:35:57.000And so it's the wild unknown, is what Charlie used to call it.
00:36:02.000It's you're out in the streets, you're basically fighting with words, and people try to avoid QA, but Charlie would actively seek it.
00:36:09.000So he would say, Can I just do like a 10-15 minutes speech and then 45 minutes of QA?
00:36:14.000And and events that he went to, they loved that about him.
00:36:18.000So I I'm I just encourage everybody who gives speeches to just keep on getting to the point where you give so many of them and you do such a good job that you can inevitably get to the point that Charlie was at where it goes on stage.
00:36:29.000Yeah just repetition is key just do more and if you're not doing a lot if you have like these one offs I would say prep a lot practice go into like a private place and read it out.
00:36:42.000Yeah re read out the speech uh put you have to say it out loud do it out loud don't just read it it takes like 10 times reading a speech before you kind of have it in the back of your head so then you don't have to look down at the paper as much or your iPad or whatever you're reading.
00:36:55.000Yeah I don't I do not actually give a lot of speeches but that's what I did for the memorial speech and now I mean you and I have both been asked to speak a lot of places.
00:37:03.000I don't know if I'm going to be an active speech giver but I will say that well in that moment I had to I just did a lot of it I just read it back and read it back and read you know who's actually good at speeches and this is Danny.
00:37:17.000Danny's good at speeches and he gave them all the time at Ohio State Danny was the chapter prez.
00:37:22.000Yeah not that good but oh you you you do good I was better at just prepping for Charlie.
00:37:26.000Yeah we do have an uh question here from Elizabeth do you have an anyone organizing Charlie's reading list that we can access online you cannot access it yet but we are actively working on it and Blake is running point on that and we have to find that tweet this guy put out a tweet where he said I heard you guys talking about on the show and so I went back and watched every single episode and send it this guy's great we got to find him somewhere we gotta find that tweet I know let me just find it that should have been flag bookmark and and everything.
00:37:53.000And by the way, I think we have something going on.
00:38:52.000baby face it's gonna say serve you well for years to come it well happy so your one wish uh is to shame the offspring union yeah or make a contribution what about a MSA yeah there you go that that's amazing first make a contribution turning point USA make a donation or get involved and that's what you can do thank you start a chapter start a chapter start a chapter or since we are on the Charlie Kirk show uh join members.charliekirk.com we we would love to have more and more members members dot Charlie Kirk
00:39:53.000think that's safe to say and we miss our friend dearly every day we uh I I don't know about you Mikey it's the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing I think about when I go to bed but having this show and our our our show family at the Charlie Kirk show means the world to us and you've kept us strong and the show is performing that's the may amazing thing.