The Charlie Kirk Show - California or Canada: What's Worse?

00:00:00.000 Okay, everybody, the Charlie Kirk Show.

00:00:01.000 Oh, Canada, what is going on?

00:00:03.000 Ezra Levant from Canada joins us as we talk California and Canada, two messed up liberal places, and we talk about solutions for both.

00:00:12.000 Email us, as always, freedom at charliekirk.com and get involved with the most important organization in the country, Turning Point USA at tpusa.com.

00:00:19.000 That is tpusa.com.

00:00:21.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:22.000 Here we go.

00:00:23.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:00:25.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.

00:00:27.000 I want you to know we are lucky.

00:00:33.000 I want to thank Charlie.

00:00:35.000 He's an incredible guy.

00:00:36.000 His 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. We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.

00:00:53.000 That's why we are here.

00:00:56.000 Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of The Charlie Kirk Show, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals.

00:01:06.000 Learn how you can protect your wealth with Noble Gold Investments at noblegoldinvestments.com.

00:01:13.000 That is noblegoldinvestments.com.

00:01:15.000 It's where I buy all of my gold.

00:01:17.000 Go to noblegoldinvestments.com.

00:01:21.000 We were the first guest on Governor Gavin Newsom's podcast, which has now opened an entire national political conversation about California.

00:01:30.000 Should people go on Gavin Newsom's podcast?

00:01:32.000 My conversation went very viral, and I think it was a good use of time.

00:01:36.000 Joining us now is the expert on California, Steve Hilton, reversing the ruin of America's worst-run state.

00:01:45.000 Steve joins us now.

00:01:46.000 Steve, welcome to the program.

00:01:47.000 Man, it is so great to be with you.

00:01:50.000 I enjoyed that so much.

00:01:52.000 I think it was an absolute triumph, I've got to tell you.

00:01:56.000 Can I just tell you my...

00:01:57.000 I want to set this up the right way.

00:01:59.000 Please.

00:02:00.000 When I watched the whole thing, what came to my mind was this performance by Margaret Thatcher of Prime Minister's Questions, go with me on this, where she absolutely eviscerated... 1.00

00:02:16.000 The then leader of the opposition in the House of Commons, you know that, when they're jousting with each other.

00:02:21.000 And there's this phrase that she used that is what came to my mind when I was watching you with Gavin Newsom.

00:02:27.000 And she was calling this Labour politician, he was weak, but she did it in this incredible Margaret Thatcher way.

00:02:34.000 And she went, weak, weak, feeble. 0.96

00:02:37.000 Like that.

00:02:38.000 Incredibly powerful.

00:02:39.000 And that's what I thought of Gavin Newsom.

00:02:41.000 You totally dominated him. 0.96

00:02:43.000 And he just came across to me as just utterly weak, weak, feeble, pathetic.

00:02:50.000 It was a total revelation.

00:02:51.000 Well, thank you.

00:02:52.000 And the response has been overwhelming.

00:02:55.000 It has been seen tens of millions of times.

00:02:58.000 People are constantly remarking on it and thought that I handled it in a gentlemanly way, but also very much...

00:03:05.000 Confronted him on his core contradictions and major issues.

00:03:10.000 So, Steve, let me ask you just a broad question.

00:03:13.000 What is he doing?

00:03:15.000 Why is he doing this?

00:03:16.000 Because if it was all about...

00:03:18.000 I thought at first it was he wanted to stand up to MAGA. I'm strong enough.

00:03:22.000 But he's not really doing that.

00:03:24.000 No.

00:03:24.000 He was kind of just very sheepish and kind of of his own shadow.

00:03:30.000 What is your prognosis of what's going on here?

00:03:35.000 Well, that's exactly right.

00:03:36.000 I mean, you completely dominated him, both with your arguments and also physically.

00:03:41.000 I mean, just watching it.

00:03:42.000 People have to watch it, not just listen to it.

00:03:44.000 You dominated him.

00:03:45.000 And I think that the story here is that he is trying...

00:03:50.000 I mean, look, he's a machine politician.

00:03:53.000 He'll say whatever is politically expedient.

00:03:56.000 I know him personally.

00:03:57.000 We have friends in common.

00:03:59.000 I've always been clear about that.

00:04:01.000 And fundamentally...

00:04:04.000 I don't think that he is a left-wing ideologue.

00:04:08.000 I think that he is a machine politician who will say whatever it takes to get on.

00:04:13.000 And in the last few years, that has meant pandering to the people who really have the power in the Democratic Party these days, which is the far-left activists and the unions and the government unions.

00:04:25.000 And they're basically the same people now because the unions are run by the far-left activists.

00:04:29.000 So he's gone along with it.

00:04:31.000 But now he realizes...

00:04:33.000 That he's got a different audience.

00:04:34.000 He's not running in California anymore.

00:04:36.000 This is all about his next move, which has been well telegraphed for years, is running for president.

00:04:42.000 He wants to run for president.

00:04:43.000 And he knows that the same old shtick that he's been getting away with in California won't work on the national level.

00:04:52.000 So I think he's trying to signal that he can get...

00:04:56.000 He's the kind of candidate...

00:04:59.000 That can win nationally.

00:05:01.000 I think that's what he's trying to show.

00:05:03.000 The audience he has in mind, I think, are Democrat primary voters in the states that will determine who is the nominee for the party in 2028. And I think the message he's trying to send is, pick me because I'm a winner, because I can actually operate not just in blue states.

00:05:23.000 But in red states and I can get along with all sorts of people and I'm the winner that we need in 2028. And so I think that's right.

00:05:33.000 And I have a new op-ed out right now kind of reflecting on my time sitting down with him.

00:05:39.000 And I don't think it will necessarily work with the Democrat base if he continues in this direction.

00:05:46.000 But let's take this more broadly.

00:05:48.000 And Steve, I was not uniquely positioned to do this.

00:05:51.000 Let me tell you why.

00:05:52.000 I've never lived in California.

00:05:54.000 I'm a tourist.

00:05:55.000 I visit often.

00:05:56.000 I love California.

00:05:57.000 Now, if that Nepo baby fat slob, J.B. Pritzker, ever starts a podcast and invites me on, that's a completely different ballgame because he ruined my home and it would be game on. 0.99

00:06:10.000 I know Illinois and Chicago like the back of my hand.

00:06:15.000 However...

00:06:16.000 California, even though the biggest audience of this program is in California, and I feel as if I have absorbed the issues, I still have difficulty prosecuting the case against Gavin Newsom for two reasons.

00:06:29.000 Number one, he's so slippery and so slick at weaseling his way out.

00:06:35.000 You saw that one time when I was talking about the transgender kidnapping bill. 1.00

00:06:40.000 He just lied about it.

00:06:42.000 And he used an argument from authority saying, you don't understand this.

00:06:45.000 And I said, well, no, it isn't.

00:06:47.000 I felt even a little bit gun-shy because I don't live there and I don't work in the General Assembly.

00:06:51.000 That's number one.

00:06:52.000 Number two, Gavin kind of has this timeshare salesman vibe to him where he's just able to communicate whatever he needs to hear to the audience.

00:07:04.000 But the second part of this, and Steve, I want your reaction.

00:07:08.000 He's so...

00:07:10.000 I'm insistent on repeating these like 10 or 12 talking points.

00:07:13.000 We're the leaders in AI and we have no rivals and we have no equals.

00:07:17.000 Steve, you are uniquely positioned to prosecute the case against Gavin Newsom.

00:07:22.000 Yes.

00:07:22.000 How should it be done?

00:07:24.000 Well, first of all, I'm glad you brought that up because, funnily enough, just like you with Illinois, I'm kind of itching to go on this podcast.

00:07:30.000 And when my book comes out, Caliphailia, I really, you know, I think we're trying.

00:07:35.000 We'll see if he takes up the offer.

00:07:37.000 of failure, reversing the ruin of America's worst run state.

00:07:40.000 And who's been running it the last six years?

00:07:42.000 Gavin Newsom.

00:07:43.000 So somehow I don't think he wants to, he doesn't want to engage in that But you're exactly right.

00:07:49.000 He just he has these these these talking points.

00:07:53.000 And, you know, we can call it gaslighting and we can call it spin and so on.

00:07:57.000 But it's not.

00:07:58.000 It's actually it really is.

00:07:59.000 Well, it's more than that.

00:08:00.000 It's certainly that.

00:08:01.000 Let's just take that on the transgender issue and the one that really made all the headlines, which was the you know, when he was agreeing with you on the unfairness of biological men and girls sports. 0.54

00:08:13.000 Okay, fine.

00:08:14.000 But what are you going to do about it?

00:08:16.000 I mean, you've been the governor for six years while that's the law in California.

00:08:20.000 What have you ever done to challenge it?

00:08:22.000 Nothing.

00:08:23.000 What are you doing now to challenge it?

00:08:25.000 Nothing.

00:08:25.000 So you could say that is gaslighting and he's trying to convey a position without actually doing anything about it.

00:08:30.000 But on other issues, it's actually just lying, just straight up lying.

00:08:34.000 I mean, not with you, but I just saw with another one of these that he did.

00:08:37.000 He's trying to make out that taxes are somehow lower in California than in Florida by some ridiculous statistical sleight of hand.

00:08:46.000 It's total BS. And on any measure, we have the highest taxes in the country.

00:08:51.000 We have the highest income taxes, the highest tax burden on income, you know, on and on.

00:08:55.000 So the truth is that on almost every meaningful measure, California is literally 50th out of 50 states.

00:09:04.000 And if we're not 50th, we're 49th.

00:09:06.000 So I'll give you an example.

00:09:07.000 So for much of last year...

00:09:09.000 He goes on about the great economy.

00:09:11.000 For much of last year, 2024, we had the highest unemployment rate in America.

00:09:16.000 Now we're the second highest.

00:09:18.000 There's one state that's worse.

00:09:19.000 And so he can brag all he likes about being the fifth biggest economy.

00:09:23.000 The numbers just aren't there.

00:09:25.000 We have the highest rate of poverty in the country.

00:09:28.000 On and on.

00:09:28.000 You know, the highest housing cost, the lowest home ownership.

00:09:31.000 And actually, he does have these ways of wriggling it out of it.

00:09:34.000 I noticed, for example...

00:09:36.000 In his debate with Ron DeSantis, where Ron DeSantis brought up all the exodus of people leaving and so on, Gavin Newsom threw something at him about people going from Florida to California.

00:09:49.000 And when I dug into that, it turned out that that was military transfers.

00:09:53.000 Nothing to do with people choosing to move to California.

00:09:57.000 So it's total BS. The record is completely appalling on every single issue.

00:10:03.000 And it's true to say that California remains the fifth biggest economy in the world.

00:10:08.000 But in a way, isn't it even more shaming, then, that we have...

00:10:12.000 The worst homelessness crisis, the highest poverty rate.

00:10:16.000 It's totally shameful.

00:10:17.000 And the reason, by the way, that we have...

00:10:19.000 Second highest housing prices, most unequal state, highest cost of living.

00:10:26.000 We see it all the time when I visit college campuses.

00:10:28.000 Young adults demonize the concept of free markets and think government is the solution to every problem.

00:10:34.000 How do we change this?

00:10:35.000 By teaching our kids the foundational principles to counter what they are taught in public school.

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00:10:57.000 In this story, the twins learn about their rights, that true laws protect people, and that we should help others, and that stealing is always wrong.

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00:11:28.000 Okay, everybody, I want to play this and get Steve Hilton's reaction.

00:11:30.000 Play cut 152, please.

00:11:32.000 Gavin, I pay 16% in state taxes.

00:11:35.000 You need a better accountant because it's 13.3%.

00:11:38.000 But there's a millionaire's tax on top of it.

00:11:40.000 And I'm 83 years old and I still work.

00:11:42.000 Okay, I have another home in Florida.

00:11:44.000 I don't live there.

00:11:46.000 I prefer where I live.

00:11:47.000 I've gotten used to the fog.

00:11:48.000 To the seagulls, to the cormorants.

00:11:51.000 I know all the birds of the bay.

00:11:53.000 I'm an avid boater.

00:11:54.000 But there's a point at which I will leave this state, and that will be taxation without representation.

00:11:59.000 I shouldn't be punished for succeeding.

00:12:03.000 So Steve, what's the truth here?

00:12:05.000 It's just a total lie.

00:12:07.000 I mean, I'm just looking it up now because there's, you know, WalletHub published all the data.

00:12:14.000 So it's completely lying.

00:12:15.000 We have the highest tax burden.

00:12:17.000 I'm just reading now from WalletHub.com.

00:12:20.000 California has the highest individual income tax burden, while seven states, including Texas, Florida, and Washington, have the lowest, including Florida, have the lowest.

00:12:28.000 I mean, it's just, there's so many different measures.

00:12:31.000 If you look at individual income tax burden.

00:12:35.000 The highest in the country is California.

00:12:37.000 If you look at overall tax burden, that's taking everything together, sales, tax, everything else.

00:12:42.000 California is number five, and Florida on overall tax burden.

00:12:47.000 Where am I getting to the bottom?

00:12:49.000 We've got to go all the way down to number 47, right?

00:12:52.000 So it's just a total lie.

00:12:53.000 There's no truth to it whatsoever.

00:12:55.000 And he's got this incredibly narrow, detailed kind of...

00:13:00.000 Total BS statistic where Gavin used, and he said it in this in the longer clip, where he says, well, the people in California, working people in California, in Florida, pay the same taxes as the very rich in California.

00:13:16.000 The way he's calculating that is comparing income taxes in California on the very rich with combining all the sales taxes, property taxes, and everything else.

00:13:26.000 On working class people in Florida.

00:13:29.000 And the fact is that people on lower income spend more of their income on things that attract sales tax than on, as a proportion of their income, than they're very wealthy.

00:13:38.000 So it's just total, the Wall Street Journal ripped that apart when he first said it with Ron DeSantis in the debate.

00:13:45.000 But he keeps saying these things because he's got this, he just kind of bulldozes through and he says it with his total confidence and kind of asserts it as if it's the truth.

00:13:55.000 It's more than gaslighting.

00:13:58.000 It's lying.

00:13:59.000 We have the highest income tax burden in the country, the highest income tax rates on corporate tax.

00:14:05.000 I mean, you name it.

00:14:06.000 It's just a disaster, which is, by the way, why do you think people are leaving?

00:14:10.000 Why is anyone leaving such a beautiful state as California?

00:14:14.000 Why businesses leave?

00:14:14.000 So let's just say you were to become governor, Steve Hilton.

00:14:20.000 You're governor of California.

00:14:21.000 What are two or three things that could change without the legislature?

00:14:24.000 Let's say they keep their supermajorities.

00:14:26.000 What could a Republican actually do to change California?

00:14:29.000 Well, the number one thing is that...

00:14:32.000 The executive branch means the absolute nightmare of bureaucratic agencies, let's call it the administrative state, the swamp in Sacramento, which is actually worse than what we have in Washington because you've had one party rule for so long, you haven't had any kind of input from an opposing ideological point of view.

00:14:51.000 And so you control all that.

00:14:53.000 I'll give you a specific example.

00:14:54.000 The governor appoints all the members of the State Board of Education.

00:14:58.000 It's the State Board of Education that sets the curriculum.

00:15:02.000 The governor appoints members on the California Air Resources Board.

00:15:06.000 Not all of them, but enough to make a difference.

00:15:08.000 The Air Resources Board is what's pushing through the climate extremism, banning gas cars, banning gas stoves, banning gas heaters and boilers and all the rest of the insanity that is raising costs for everyone.

00:15:20.000 So on and on, if you look at the fantastic agriculture industry being completely destroyed by deliberate policy, you appoint the people as governor to the world.

00:15:30.000 Water Resources Control Board and all those agencies.

00:15:33.000 You can make pretty much an overnight change because it's these agencies that are implementing and far exceeding what's even...

00:15:41.000 It's just the same pathology as you have in Washington where the legislature, in the case of D.C., it's the Congress, passes legislation that's kind of vague and then the agencies, the bureaucrats...

00:15:55.000 Overzealously interpret that, push their own agenda, and make it ten times worse.

00:15:59.000 It's the same pathology in California at the state level, and you can reverse it just in the same way.

00:16:04.000 I mean, a simple way of thinking about it is Doge, California.

00:16:07.000 That would make such a difference.

00:16:09.000 And you could start to affect housing costs because the reason housing costs are the highest in the country is because of the overregulation.

00:16:16.000 Every year they change the building codes.

00:16:18.000 Endless new climate things they add on to make it incredibly expensive.

00:16:22.000 I mean, the median house price is now a million dollars in California.

00:16:25.000 It's ridiculous.

00:16:26.000 So that's where you start, right?

00:16:29.000 With the bureaucracy that you directly control.

00:16:32.000 Now, the second point is...

00:16:34.000 Vetoing legislation.

00:16:35.000 So this year already, it's unbelievable.

00:16:38.000 The number of bills that have been submitted by members of the legislature, 2,000 plus bills.

00:16:45.000 You can veto them.

00:16:46.000 They can override it because they've got to sue two-thirds majority.

00:16:49.000 And then you have negotiating power and you could bring people to the table and you can actually get a better product.

00:16:55.000 Steve Helton, excellent.

00:16:57.000 And everyone should listen to him.

00:17:00.000 He's a great, great guy.

00:17:01.000 Thank you, Charlie.

00:17:02.000 Caliphailia is the book.

00:17:03.000 With President Trump making massive strides in his first month in office, alone to deliver on campaign promises to make America great again, it's clear his administration is committed to driving down costs and unleashing prosperity across our country.

00:17:18.000 But Big Pharma is standing in the way.

00:17:21.000 They've raised prices on over 575 brand-name drugs in January alone, blocked competition, and spent millions pushing overpriced meds on hardworking Americans.

00:17:31.000 Now they're pressuring Congress to implement mandates that will undermine the one real check against drug companies and ban the very market-based incentives that help employers and families save on prescriptions and health care conditions.

00:17:43.000 Even worse, Big Pharma wants to strip American employers of the freedom to choose health benefits that work best for them.

00:17:51.000 Their proposals could hand Big Pharma a $32 billion money grab at the expense of American employers and families.

00:17:57.000 Conservatives for lower health care costs warns that Big Pharma isn't on our side.

00:18:01.000 They fought against solutions to lower drug prices during Trump's first term, opposed Bobby Kennedy's nomination to HHS to make America healthy again, and now they want even more government control over the private health care market, interfering with President Trump's promise to cut prescription drug costs.

00:18:16.000 Big Pharma is no friend of the American people.

00:18:18.000 Go to pharmawindfall.com to demand fair health care practices, protect the private market, and fight Big Pharma's greed.

00:18:26.000 You can make a difference.

00:18:28.000 Let's fight back.

00:18:29.000 Visit pharmawindfall.com.

00:18:30.000 Joining us now is a great man from a country that we're having a little tussle with right now.

00:18:39.000 But we just love this guy.

00:18:41.000 He's a patriot, and he could be an honorary American anytime you want.

00:18:44.000 He's a freedom fighter.

00:18:45.000 Ezra Levant, Canadian journalist, rebelnews.com.

00:18:49.000 Ezra, before we get into the plan of which you have authored, and you made the case in the Wall Street Journal, I want to just kind of just take a step back here and how are Canadians processing all of this between our two countries?

00:19:05.000 Well, the Liberal Party of Canada, they've decided that it's easier to run against Donald Trump in the next election than to run against the Canadian Conservative leader in the next election.

00:19:16.000 So you've never seen a Canadian election like this before.

00:19:19.000 All the Liberals are talking about is Trump.

00:19:22.000 And by the way, Trudeau is gone now.

00:19:25.000 But we've got Trudeau 2.0, a guy named Mark Carney, who is even worse.

00:19:31.000 He was on the board of the World Economic Forum.

00:19:34.000 He's got three passports.

00:19:36.000 He's the ultimate globalist.

00:19:37.000 He was the head of the State Bank and the Federal Reserve.

00:19:41.000 It's called the Bank of Canada.

00:19:43.000 And then he went over to the UK and he headed the Bank of England.

00:19:46.000 And while he was there, he was friends with Elaine Maxwell.

00:19:51.000 Jeffrey Epstein's right-hand woman.

00:19:53.000 So this guy is the worst.

00:19:55.000 I don't even think he lives in Canada.

00:19:57.000 His wife still lives in New York where she works.

00:20:00.000 He was selected in a Kamala Harris-style fake primary where foreign nationals were allowed to vote and children as young as 14. So this guy was installed, and he's going straight to the top of the Canadian political food chain, and he has decided that running against America, running on an anti-America platform, and obviously anti-Trump is his way to win.

00:20:25.000 Trouble is, that's terrible for ordinary Canadians.

00:20:29.000 So explain this to me.

00:20:30.000 Was this a party vote?

00:20:32.000 I mean, what exactly was the process here?

00:20:35.000 Yeah, Trudeau, for nine years, he's been in so many scandals, people are sick of him.

00:20:40.000 So he resigned.

00:20:43.000 And he said, I'm out of here as soon as the party chooses a successor to me.

00:20:47.000 So they had an internal vote.

00:20:49.000 But that internal vote is so fishy.

00:20:52.000 400,000 people registered to vote, but only 150,000 of those were qualified and certified and verified.

00:21:00.000 So more than half of the votes were not qualified.

00:21:04.000 What the heck was going on?

00:21:05.000 And like I said, you didn't have to be a Canadian citizen to vote.

00:21:09.000 And you didn't have to be a grown-up.

00:21:12.000 So 14-year-olds and foreign citizens chose our new prime minister, and he goes straight to the top.

00:21:20.000 It would be as if Kamala Harris became president, but at least she was on a ballot in 2020. This is so undemocratic, and he doesn't have a mandate.

00:21:33.000 He's down in the polls, and he knows that fighting with Trump will prick Canadians to come.

00:21:39.000 He's playing Captain Canada.

00:21:41.000 The trouble is, when you fight with Trump over economics, you're going to get hurt.

00:21:47.000 It's just a fact.

00:21:48.000 America is ten times bigger than us.

00:21:50.000 And I'm really worried that there's what's called a moral hazard here, if you know what I mean.

00:21:56.000 Donald Trump is used to negotiating with people who want a deal, and Trump is the one who's not afraid to walk away.

00:22:03.000 That's how Trump did it in New York City when he was a real estate developer.

00:22:06.000 But in this case, Trump is the one who wants a deal, but it's in the Liberal Party's interest not to get one.

00:22:13.000 They want the fight, and believe it or not, they want the economic damage that the fight will cause so they can blame Trump for our looming recession rather than their own economics.

00:22:25.000 It's really the worst of times in Canadian politics.

00:22:28.000 But more to the point, I hate the fact that we're fighting.

00:22:31.000 It's like Batman and Robin are fighting.

00:22:33.000 We're the junior partner.

00:22:35.000 There's no doubt about it.

00:22:36.000 But I think we've got a friendship and a respect.

00:22:39.000 I can't think of two countries that are better friends.

00:22:42.000 And I'm worried that our liberal leaders are wrecking that just to win an election.

00:22:47.000 I think you're right.

00:22:49.000 And look, I think all this is going to simmer down.

00:22:51.000 I have great respect for Canadian patriots, not Trudeau, but the rank and file of Canadians have always been so decent and so good to us.

00:22:59.000 And I think the 51st state thing is just a negotiation.

00:23:03.000 But Ezra, you make a good point here.

00:23:07.000 Could an unintended consequence of President Trump trying to rebalance some of these trade deals that have been...

00:23:15.000 Not great for our own country here.

00:23:17.000 Could he unintentionally help the Liberal Party here?

00:23:22.000 Could an unintended benefit, not benefit, but consequence of President Trump saber-rattling, which I support, could be installing a really bad government of Canada and therefore thwarting what looks to be an ascendant conservative correction?

00:23:41.000 I think so.

00:23:42.000 And you're exactly right to say unintended consequence.

00:23:45.000 I think Trump likes yanking people's chains like Justin Trudeau.

00:23:50.000 And so many of us love to see it.

00:23:52.000 But there was some collateral damage there.

00:23:54.000 And so I thought, you know what, we need a plan.

00:23:58.000 How do we put this in America first terms?

00:24:01.000 Because Canadians know what we want.

00:24:03.000 But that's not going to move the needle with President Trump.

00:24:06.000 How can we rephrase this in a way that maybe the president will listen to?

00:24:11.000 And here's my take at it.

00:24:12.000 I'm obviously a Canadian citizen, but I've been a Trump supporter three elections in a row.

00:24:17.000 We're the only Canadian media outlet that endorsed Trump three elections in a row.

00:24:22.000 And we paid a price for that, by the way, under Trudeau.

00:24:25.000 So here's my best effort.

00:24:27.000 And Charlie, you tell me if I've got any holes in my argument, because I'm trying to work this out.

00:24:32.000 Here's my theory.

00:24:33.000 The biggest source of that trade Deficit that President Trump talks about is because we sell a huge amount of crude oil to the United States, much more than we sell auto parts or agriculture.

00:24:47.000 And that's because although America produces a lot of oil, it still consumes more than it produces and exports.

00:24:54.000 So Canada fills the void.

00:24:56.000 And so you're not going to get tariffs fixing that.

00:24:59.000 A tariff is good to move a Honda factory from Mexico to the States because you didn't.

00:25:04.000 Move the factory.

00:25:05.000 But Canada's oil comes from the oil sands in Alberta.

00:25:09.000 And you just can't move that.

00:25:12.000 So a tariff is not going to move the oil to America.

00:25:14.000 It's just going to make it more expensive for those U.S. refineries to buy it. 0.95

00:25:19.000 But here's the thing.

00:25:21.000 That oil, the Canadian oil sands, it's the third largest proven reserves in the world, just behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

00:25:29.000 And it's just sitting just north of Montana.

00:25:32.000 And the premier of the province of Alberta, that's sort of like the Texas of Canada, seems so pro-America.

00:25:39.000 She went down to President Trump's inauguration.

00:25:41.000 I don't know if you know that.

00:25:42.000 She's so positive and upbeat.

00:25:44.000 She has not given in to the vendetta-style politics of Trudeau.

00:25:49.000 She knows Americans are our best friends.

00:25:52.000 And she told me, I met her when she was down there on the inauguration.

00:25:56.000 She says she would love it if Alberta could double. 0.50

00:26:02.000 And so here was my thinking.

00:26:05.000 Instead of pushing away the oil sands, pull it close.

00:26:10.000 Don't tariff it.

00:26:12.000 Buy it all.

00:26:15.000 170 billion barrels of oil.

00:26:18.000 Even if Alberta doubled the production, that's enough oil to take care of all of America's import needs for the next year.

00:26:25.000 50 years.

00:26:26.000 It's a $13 trillion deal.

00:26:30.000 I would think of it sort of like a real estate deal, but much more valuable than Greenland or Panama.

00:26:36.000 And the thing is, Donald Trump negotiated the USMCA, which has a special side letter on oil, and it allows America to get preferential access to our oil.

00:26:48.000 So what I would say, if I was trying to talk to my America First friends, I would say, Don't push this oil away.

00:26:55.000 China is already sniffing around. 0.92

00:26:57.000 China is already trying to buy the oil sense.

00:26:59.000 Don't let them in. 0.98

00:27:01.000 Take the oil.

00:27:02.000 Don't tariff it.

00:27:03.000 It's practically yours anyways.

00:27:05.000 What I mean by that is the companies that pump that oil, that steam it and produce it, they're either American-owned or they're Canadian with a lot of American investors.

00:27:15.000 So it's sort of American on every side you look at it.

00:27:18.000 The producers are American.

00:27:20.000 The consumers are American refineries.

00:27:23.000 Oh, Charlie, I forgot my favorite part.

00:27:26.000 If you buy all your foreign oil from ethical oil in Canada instead of conflict oil from OPEC... You don't need to have the Fifth Fleet stationed in the Persian Gulf anymore.

00:27:38.000 That's a $50 billion a year expense, let alone the risk of human life.

00:27:44.000 So I guess the question is, Ezra, would Canada be willing to sell?

00:27:49.000 I mean, is Canada, are they open to a deal?

00:27:55.000 They already signed it under Donald Trump in the USMCA, and the Premier of Alberta said, I want to do it.

00:28:02.000 She wants to double it.

00:28:03.000 So keep the price low, because it's American consumers.

00:28:08.000 Don't buy any more oil from Venezuela.

00:28:10.000 Stop funding those guys.

00:28:12.000 Don't buy any more oil from OPEC. Stop funding them.

00:28:15.000 If you want to have your military in the Middle East on your own reasons, fine.

00:28:19.000 But at least you won't have to do it to patrol your oil tankers.

00:28:22.000 Alberta wants to sell it. 0.95

00:28:24.000 The oil producers are ready to rock.

00:28:26.000 Remember that Keystone XL pipeline?

00:28:29.000 Joe Biden killed it on day one of his presidency.

00:28:33.000 President Trump says he wants to revive it.

00:28:35.000 That pipeline alone would bring 800,000 barrels of oil a day, which would replace a huge swath of OPEC oil.

00:28:44.000 So, you know the old saying, don't get mad, don't get me even, get ahead?

00:28:50.000 That's what I would say to America First people, is get ahead.

00:28:53.000 Don't be distracted by these liberals in Ottawa.

00:28:57.000 By the way, they don't speak for all Canadians.

00:28:59.000 What do you really want when you say you want a 51st state?

00:29:02.000 Do you really want 40 million people who in the Electoral College probably tilt a little bit Democrat?

00:29:07.000 Do you really want the French-English bilingualism?

00:29:09.000 A little bit.

00:29:10.000 What you really want is you want to hug Canada close, get the oil, don't let China get it. 0.99

00:29:18.000 Let's do trade.

00:29:19.000 Don't let Trudeau and now Mark Carney knock you off your goal.

00:29:25.000 Your goal is prosperity and security.

00:29:28.000 If you bring those oil sands close, you're doing both.

00:29:32.000 And your question's a good one, Charlie.

00:29:34.000 The answer is, it's already, the deal is already there.

00:29:38.000 The pipe, the Keystone XL is half built.

00:29:41.000 The premier wants to do it.

00:29:43.000 Stay yes to the oil sands.

00:29:45.000 Don't be that Trudeau and Carney hate the oil sands.

00:29:50.000 If you are a patriot in this audience and you have private student loan debt, or your brother does, or your niece does, or your nephew does, maybe you're just thinking back to Christmas or Thanksgiving.

00:30:01.000 And someone's like, oh my gosh, I have these student loans and I took them out and I shouldn't have and it was a private loan.

00:30:07.000 And boom, you're just thinking like, wait a second, I remember that.

00:30:10.000 Well, that's Y-Refi. 1.00

00:30:11.000 That's where they come in.

00:30:12.000 They are not a debt settlement company, but they help you work with each borrower, you individually.

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00:30:19.000 It may not be available in all states and bad credit is accepted.

00:30:22.000 Do you have a co-borrower?

00:30:24.000 Y-Refi can get them released from the loan. 0.84

00:30:26.000 You can give mom or dad a break.

00:30:28.000 You can even skip a payment every six months.

00:30:30.000 Up to 12 months without penalty.

00:30:31.000 You don't have to ignore.

00:30:32.000 Go to 888-YREFI-34.

00:30:34.000 Log on to YREFI.com.

00:30:36.000 That is Y-R-E-F-Y.com.

00:30:39.000 YREFI.com may not be available in all 50 states.

00:30:42.000 YREFI refinances distrust and defaulted private student loans, which are different from federal loans.

00:30:47.000 Go to YREFI.com.

00:30:49.000 Y-R-E-F-Y.com.

00:30:51.000 That is YREFI.com.

00:30:55.000 Okay, Ezra.

00:30:56.000 I agree with all of that.

00:30:59.000 Look.

00:30:59.000 I got a lot of problems with the Canadian government, whatever.

00:31:02.000 I think that if we could negotiate some of the electricity stuff, get rid of some of the tariffs on American goods, love the oil deal.

00:31:10.000 I think we should have all of our energy going after the Mexican drug cartels and the Chinese Communist Party. 0.97

00:31:17.000 Would you say this is now resurrecting an otherwise unpopular liberal party?

00:31:25.000 Unfortunately, and here's why.

00:31:27.000 Let's say someone's happily married.

00:31:29.000 Let's say there's a happily married woman, and a man comes up to her and says, hey, divorce him and marry me. 1.00

00:31:34.000 Well, that's shocking.

00:31:35.000 That's sort of an indecent proposal, as the old movie with Woody Harrelson put it.

00:31:40.000 And so a lot of Canadians are saying, whoa, when you're saying join America, that's sort of asking me to break up my family.

00:31:47.000 By the way, some other people who maybe were thinking of getting a divorce would say, yeah, I'd love to join the US as a 51st state.

00:31:54.000 My point is it started that whole serious debate in Canada over what I think was basically internet.

00:32:02.000 Prickles.

00:32:03.000 Trump is a master at that bombastic style.

00:32:06.000 That's the Manhattan style.

00:32:08.000 Canadians are a little bit more passive, maybe a little more thin-skinned.

00:32:12.000 So I think that distracted like a million Canadians.

00:32:16.000 And a million Canadians sort of took it personally.

00:32:20.000 And I loved it because it was yanking Trudeau's chain.

00:32:23.000 But Charlie, I'm going to agree with you.

00:32:25.000 That probably cost the conservative leader of Canada 5% in the polls.

00:32:30.000 And believe me, All of us want that conservative leader.

00:32:34.000 His name is Pierre Polyev.

00:32:35.000 He's great.

00:32:36.000 He would be a great international partner, a bilateral partner for America.

00:32:42.000 I think that Trump knew how to needle Trudeau, but it sort of had that unintended consequence, you know?

00:32:51.000 Is this, let's just say you go to a bar in Alberta.

00:32:55.000 Is this the number one thing folks are talking about right now?

00:32:59.000 Well, the thing is, Alberta is the most pro-America place in Canada.

00:33:03.000 And Alberta's a little nervous because... 0.87

00:33:06.000 Vancouver, Montreal, just a bar in Canada.

00:33:10.000 Yeah, I think so.

00:33:12.000 I think some ordinary people are excited about the idea of becoming American.

00:33:15.000 I just don't know if that's likely to happen.

00:33:18.000 I think the risk is if the liberals win again because people are confused.

00:33:23.000 Some people are actually saying the Americans are going to invade.

00:33:27.000 I mean, I don't think serious people think that that's what's happening.

00:33:30.000 I think Trump is just having some rhetorical fun.

00:33:33.000 But yeah, Charlie, it is true.

00:33:34.000 I think some people are freaking out.

00:33:37.000 But I think that doing a deal like this There's one more thing it gives Donald Trump.

00:33:43.000 Let me come back to the America First point of view.

00:33:46.000 How did this whole trade war start?

00:33:48.000 You might remember in November, President Trump tweeted to Mexico and to Canada, get your borders under control before I become president.

00:33:57.000 And instead of doing those two simple things, Trump said, Fix the fentanyl issue and stop the illegal migrants. 1.00

00:34:05.000 Canada should do that on our own.

00:34:07.000 But instead of doing that, Trudeau wanted to fight.

00:34:10.000 So if you actually did this deal of a century with Canada, it's a $13 trillion 50-year deal.

00:34:18.000 But you know what President Trump could demand?

00:34:21.000 He could say, if we're going to buy all this oil from you instead of from the Persian Gulf or Brazil or Mexico or whatever.

00:34:28.000 Then we want you to take some of that money and reinvest in your military.

00:34:32.000 We want you to remove some of your tariffs on dairy and poultry and eggs.

00:34:37.000 We want you to allow American banks to set up shop on Main Street Canada.

00:34:42.000 We want these basic, you know, bilateral fairnesses.

00:34:46.000 And by the way...

00:34:47.000 Canadians would love that.

00:34:49.000 We have terrible banks.

00:34:50.000 We have the highest cell phone prices in the world.

00:34:53.000 I would love it if American cell phone companies could compete up here.

00:34:57.000 So if President Trump were to say to Canada, all right, we're going to do a deal for your oil.

00:35:02.000 We're going to make you rich and we're going to make ourselves rich and we're going to get out of this Middle East oil business. 0.87

00:35:08.000 But in return, you've got to pump up your military.

00:35:11.000 You've got to get those F-35s.

00:35:13.000 You've got to patrol the north.

00:35:15.000 You've got to...

00:35:16.000 Fix the border.

00:35:17.000 You've got to crack down on fentanyl.

00:35:18.000 You've got to get tougher with China. 0.99

00:35:20.000 I think that's a deal that Trump could make, and that's a lasting deal.

00:35:25.000 I think that's a bigger deal than Greenland.

00:35:27.000 I think it's a bigger deal than Panama.

00:35:29.000 I just sort of hope that if President Trump looked at it like some sort of a business deal or a real estate deal and thought, okay, how do I get all the benefit of the Canadian relationship without the downsides?

00:35:41.000 I think that's the winner.

00:35:44.000 I think Canadians are a little thin-skinned on that 51st state thing. 1.00

00:35:47.000 It would be like asking someone, Mary, do you want to be my girlfriend?

00:35:50.000 I think that's what happened there.

00:35:52.000 But that's a distraction.

00:35:54.000 Let's put that aside.

00:35:56.000 And thanks for having me on, Charlie, and help me promote the plan.

00:36:00.000 Ezra, you're great.

00:36:01.000 I love the plan.

00:36:02.000 I will do that.

00:36:03.000 God bless you, my friend.

00:36:04.000 Thank you.

00:36:04.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

00:36:06.000 Email us, as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:36:08.000 Thanks so much for listening, and God bless.

The Charlie Kirk Show - March 13, 2025

California or Canada: What's Worse?

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