The Charlie Kirk Show - Can Democrats Pull Out of Their Death Spiral?

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

00:00:01.000 Caroline Levitt takes the podium.

00:00:03.000 We have instant analysis.

00:00:04.000 We have a professor from Hillsdale College that speaks about freedom of speech.

00:00:08.000 And Cain joins the program.

00:00:09.000 Email us, as always, freedom at charliekirk.com and subscribe to our podcast.

00:00:14.000 Open up your podcast application and type in charliekirkshow.

00:00:17.000 That is charliekirkshow.

00:00:19.000 And become a member today.

00:00:20.000 Members.charliekirk.com.

00:00:22.000 Members.charliekirk.com.

00:00:23.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:24.000 Here we go.

00:00:25.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:00:27.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campuses.

00:00:29.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

00:00:32.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

00:00:35.000 I want to thank Charlie.

00:00:37.000 He's an incredible guy.

00:00:38.000 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.

00:00:55.000 That's why we are here.

00:00:58.000 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.

00:01:08.000 Learn how you can protect your wealth with Noble Gold Investments at noblegoldinvestments.com.

00:01:14.000 That is noblegoldinvestments.com.

00:01:16.000 It's where I buy all of my gold.

00:01:18.000 Go to noblegoldinvestments.com.

00:01:21.000 Go to noblegoldinvestments.com.

00:01:31.000 One of the announcements that was made at the State of the Union was no men in female sports.

00:01:37.000 Something that Democrats should be able to agree on.

00:01:40.000 Something that Democrats should be able to do.

00:01:42.000 This is Representative Kozlowski who says the Preservation of Girls Sports Act is genocide.

00:01:51.000 Playcut 86. And they aren't going to stop being transgender. 1.00

00:01:55.000 Just because you stripped them from sports or from housing or from their health care or any other public place that you don't want us to be.

00:02:04.000 And so, members, make no mistake that this is just another version of state-sanctioned bullying and genocide.

00:02:12.000 And I don't say that loudly.

00:02:14.000 I'm glad no one's engaging in hyperbole.

00:02:18.000 Genocide is the word that they're using.

00:02:21.000 I mean, what a repulsively insulting framing.

00:02:24.000 Because we've seen real genocides over the last 100 years.

00:02:27.000 Obviously the Holocaust, terrible.

00:02:29.000 What Mao Zedong did to his own people, what Stalin did.

00:02:33.000 And she's comparing no men in female sports as a genocide.

00:02:39.000 That's the state of the Democrat Party, which is an 80-20 issue.

00:02:42.000 It's really a 95-5 issue.

00:02:43.000 I think the polling is wrong.

00:02:44.000 I think when people are actually presented, should men be in female sports, I think there's a 5% minoritarian lunatic vanguard and the rest of the country wants nothing to do with this.

00:02:56.000 Nothing to do with this.

00:02:57.000 And I guess it's fine because we're crushing the Democrats on this issue.

00:03:01.000 We are running circles around them on every core one of these issues.

00:03:06.000 I wish the Democrat Party would actually come to the middle on some of this stuff.

00:03:11.000 I mean, it would be harder for us politically, but better for the country.

00:03:15.000 I would rather have what's better for the nation than what's just good for the Republican Party.

00:03:20.000 I would rather have the high road of, okay, we can agree.

00:03:24.000 We are not going to have men in female sports. 0.98

00:03:28.000 And all of the trans stuff is destroying the base of the Democrat Party. 1.00

00:03:34.000 They have a partnership with the trans zealots. 0.82

00:03:39.000 They are captured by this sinister and pernicious ideology.

00:03:45.000 And this is a great tape here of Governor Healy talking about how DEI is being rolled back.

00:03:53.000 Play cut seven.

00:03:54.000 Talk to any CEO, major, you know, Fortune 500 company.

00:03:59.000 They'll tell you that their bottom line, dollar-wise, does better when there's more diversity in the room.

00:04:08.000 That's not a bad thing.

00:04:09.000 It's a good thing.

00:04:10.000 It's made us stronger.

00:04:11.000 Many of these companies, though, are ditching their DEI programs.

00:04:14.000 And I don't know why.

00:04:14.000 I don't know why.

00:04:16.000 Apparently, we have Cain that's been in the waiting room.

00:04:18.000 I didn't know that.

00:04:21.000 Mr. Kane, how are we doing?

00:04:22.000 I'm sorry to keep you waiting, man.

00:04:24.000 I didn't know that.

00:04:24.000 How are you?

00:04:25.000 Yeah, no.

00:04:26.000 I figured you didn't know.

00:04:27.000 It was interesting just to listen because I never have time to listen to your show because I'm always stacking.

00:04:33.000 So I enjoyed it.

00:04:34.000 What do you think?

00:04:35.000 Am I doing an okay job?

00:04:37.000 Yeah, you're doing pretty good, dude.

00:04:39.000 I think if you keep working hard for another five years, maybe someone will have heard of you.

00:04:44.000 Maybe I could make something of myself, right?

00:04:48.000 It's unbelievable, Charlie.

00:04:50.000 It's unbelievable what you've done, what you've actually made of yourself.

00:04:52.000 I don't know if I can talk about it, but I want to talk for a minute about how I cannot wait for the Gavin Newsom interview.

00:04:58.000 I cannot wait for that.

00:04:59.000 So talk about that.

00:05:02.000 It went well.

00:05:05.000 Everyone's laughing because there's now some drama over the release of some of what happened there, but we filmed it ourselves.

00:05:12.000 But yes, Cain, tell me about your thoughts on that.

00:05:15.000 Well, number one, You made the right choice.

00:05:18.000 You and I haven't talked for a week or so.

00:05:20.000 I hadn't really been paying attention to your Twitter, but it just popped up yesterday, the photo of you leaving Gavin's office.

00:05:28.000 So the first thing I noticed in the photo is Gavin Newsom is not accustomed to dealing with people taller than him.

00:05:35.000 So that's the first thing that came to my mind is like, Charlie at 6'5 and a quarter, he's towering over Gavin Newsom.

00:05:41.000 I like this to begin with.

00:05:43.000 Secondly, I'm glad you did it.

00:05:45.000 Look, we all made fun of Newsom with the launch of the new podcast, but dialogue is important.

00:05:51.000 And one of the things I liked about the most recent event that you guys had was, for example, when you had Cenk up there on stage and you did 20 minutes with Cenk and sort of bridging the kind of left-wing populism.

00:06:06.000 That approaches the America First agenda.

00:06:09.000 So I think it's a really good thing that you did it, and I can't wait to see it.

00:06:14.000 I know how you tend to find common ground with people, but at the same time, you don't back down on the important issues.

00:06:21.000 So I'm expecting there to be both of that.

00:06:24.000 I'm expecting there to be a couple of segments where there's common ground, and you sort of bring Newsom to the middle.

00:06:32.000 And then I'm expecting segments where he just...

00:06:34.000 You know, goes into full-blown denial.

00:06:36.000 But I can't wait to see it, to be honest.

00:06:39.000 Well, worst case scenario, we have our own iPhone video of it.

00:06:42.000 So we'll see what happens.

00:06:44.000 All that's still being discussed in the moment.

00:06:46.000 So let's talk about the state of the Democrat Party.

00:06:49.000 Cain, they're making our job quite easy right now.

00:06:52.000 Why is that?

00:06:53.000 I don't know, Charlie.

00:06:54.000 I think it's because the moderate voices get drowned out.

00:06:57.000 It was a literal freak show last night.

00:07:00.000 It wasn't just the fact that they've completely turned their back on America.

00:07:04.000 They couldn't stand once.

00:07:05.000 They couldn't celebrate any of the achievements, despite the fact that they know in polling, for example, in that CBS poll that's out this morning, The ideas that Trump stands for are 25 points more popular than Trump himself.

00:07:20.000 Like, almost all of his platforms are in the 70s in approval rating, and Trump himself is in the 50s.

00:07:26.000 So the idea that the Democrat Party can't even find any common ground, can't show that they support...

00:07:33.000 I mean, I remember, you know, more or less, this was the State of the Union.

00:07:36.000 So I remember State of the Union when Republicans would stand up and clap for things that Obama did.

00:07:45.000 I mean, there used to be a little bit of a sense, you know, a small sense of bipartisan honesty, let's say.

00:07:52.000 To me, it was a freak show.

00:07:53.000 They look like a freak show.

00:07:55.000 Their signs were freakish.

00:07:57.000 Al Green, that was embarrassing, what he did.

00:08:00.000 And it seems so sort of staged.

00:08:04.000 You know, and then as I throw it back, the last thing, you know, Mark Mitchell was on this morning with Bannon on War Room and just really laying out how...

00:08:14.000 You know, the numbers, for example, in the 18 to 39 voting group, that Trump has 60% approval with that group.

00:08:23.000 So when we look at the overall, Mitchell was pointing out that when we look at the overall approval rating of Trump, it's sort of 51 to 53 to 55, that it's actually much higher with young people.

00:08:34.000 And he said it's actually above 60% with Hispanics.

00:08:37.000 So I don't know why they're committing party suicide, Charlie, but the...

00:08:43.000 But the most extreme voices, the Jasmine Crockett's, the Sandy from Brooklyn, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, those are still the voices that are being heard, and it is not helping them, and I don't think 2026 is going to be good for them.

00:09:00.000 I'm with you, Cain, and I mean, I don't want to make any predictions about the midterms, but the direction of the Democrat Party, it's just troubling for how a major political party could believe this, and how they could embrace this ideology.

00:09:13.000 Beyond disturbing.

00:09:16.000 Hey everybody, Charlie Kirk here.

00:09:18.000 What does the future hold for business?

00:09:20.000 Ask nine experts, you'll get all sorts of different answers.

00:09:22.000 In fact, you might get ten answers if you ask nine experts.

00:09:24.000 They'll say a bull market, a bear market, rates will rise or fall, inflation up or down.

00:09:29.000 Can someone please invent a crystal ball?

00:09:31.000 Until then, over 38,000 businesses have future-proofed their business with NetSuite by Oracle.

00:09:38.000 The number one cloud, ERP, bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR into one fluid platform.

00:09:45.000 With one unified business management suite, there's one source of truth giving you the visibility and control you need to make quick decisions.

00:09:54.000 With real-time insights and forecasting, you're peering into the future with actionable data.

00:09:58.000 When you're closing the books in days, not weeks, you're spending less time looking backwards and more time on what's next.

00:10:04.000 At Turning Point USA, this is exactly what we plan on using.

00:10:07.000 Whether your company is earning millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars, NetSuite helps you respond to immediately challenges and seize your biggest opportunities.

00:10:14.000 Go to netsuite.com slash Kirk.

00:10:19.000 Mr. Kane, the speech last night was remarkable.

00:10:23.000 The southern border is closed.

00:10:25.000 Talk about the demographic realignment.

00:10:28.000 Younger voters in particular are moving to the right, even more so than their parents.

00:10:33.000 Speak about that, Mr. Kane.

00:10:35.000 Well, it's happening, Charlie.

00:10:37.000 It's been happening for six months, for a year.

00:10:41.000 And to be honest, it's probably, I don't know how to designate percentages here, but it's probably at least 50% because of TPUSA. I mean, look, how do you get young people to sort of open their eyes?

00:10:57.000 You go to where they are.

00:10:58.000 You go to college campuses.

00:10:59.000 Who's been going to college campuses more than anyone else?

00:11:02.000 TP Action and TPUSA. So the strategy that you came up with has worked, but that's not really even the interesting part.

00:11:09.000 It isn't interesting that it's worked.

00:11:11.000 What's really interesting are the actual numbers.

00:11:14.000 These are big, as you said, more than their parents are.

00:11:19.000 Can you even imagine saying five years ago that one of the strengths of the America First movement or the Republican movement would be young people, would be voters under 39?

00:11:29.000 It's astonishing that we can even say that.

00:11:32.000 But that's how much things have changed in five years.

00:11:35.000 And again, how it happened, it's a combination of things.

00:11:38.000 It's social media.

00:11:38.000 It's Trump.

00:11:39.000 But really, at the grassroots, it's all the work that TP did.

00:11:45.000 And it's why, probably 14 years ago, when you came up with this idea, that you were able to find people interested in bankrolling it.

00:11:54.000 Because there were other people who thought, well, you know what?

00:11:56.000 If this kid can pull it off, that's going to completely change.

00:11:59.000 Future elections.

00:12:01.000 Because we're always so used to losing these young votes.

00:12:04.000 So I think that's where it's coming from, Charlie.

00:12:06.000 I don't know if you've already talked about it before, but one thing I wanted to add quickly was, you know, unfortunately we had a Democrat congressman who'd been in office for 62 days who replaced Sheila Jackson Lee, passed away last night.

00:12:20.000 Tough situation.

00:12:22.000 Yeah, it's obviously when anyone passes, it's very tough.

00:12:26.000 But Democrats enjoyed when we lost Matt Gaetz and when we lost Elise Stefanik and how that was going to help their voting.

00:12:32.000 So I think the bottom line of what happened is we now have one more vote to play with.

00:12:39.000 And something else I'll add that's just been breaking as I've been on the show with you, Howard Lutnick was on Fox News Live.

00:12:45.000 They tried to get him on to explain what's going on with the tariffs.

00:12:49.000 I'm sure your readers...

00:12:51.000 We've had, you know, Lutnik came out yesterday and said that Trump might be announcing a 30-day pause.

00:12:59.000 So he sort of clarified in the last 20 minutes.

00:13:02.000 He said the full tariff agenda from Trump will come out April 2nd.

00:13:07.000 And he said that it has not been, and the reason it hasn't been announced, and I'm guessing this is why Caroline Levitt is delayed.

00:13:13.000 I think she's waiting to get a full confirmation.

00:13:15.000 She just took the stage. 1.00

00:13:17.000 So, Cain, if that's okay, let's cut to her.

00:13:19.000 Cain, we'll talk to you soon.

00:13:21.000 Citizenfreepress.com.

00:13:22.000 You're the best, Cain.

00:13:23.000 Let's go to Caroline Levitt, who is on stage. 1.00

00:13:26.000 Let's listen in.

00:13:27.000 Everyday Americans love this president because he tells it like it is, no matter what.

00:13:33.000 And he did that last night.

00:13:34.000 President Trump level-set with the American people on the economy and exposed how badly Joe Biden screwed it up by causing the worst inflation crisis in four decades.

00:13:45.000 President Trump was honest about where we are while making clear that help is on the way.

00:13:51.000 As the president declared last night, he will make America affordable again.

00:13:57.000 Last night, you also saw who motivates the president to work so hard.

00:14:02.000 Everyday Americans, who President Trump shined a spotlight on last night in his speech.

00:14:08.000 From Mark Fogle, who President Trump was finally able to reunite with his family and his beautiful 95-year-old mother after being detained in Russia.

00:14:17.000 To Peyton McNabb.

00:14:18.000 Whose heart-wrenching story motivated President Trump to end men in women's sports.

00:14:24.000 And to Allison and Lauren Phillips, the mother and sister of Lakin Riley, who President Trump honored by signing the Lakin Riley Act to ensure her name will live on forever.

00:14:36.000 In other amazing and surprise moments, President Trump honored the life of Jocelyn Nungere, who was brutally murdered by illegal alien gang members.

00:14:45.000 He ensured Jocelyn will never be forgotten by renaming a national wildlife refuge in her home state of Texas to honor her life.

00:14:53.000 And in one of the greatest surprise moments of the night...

00:14:56.000 DJ Daniel, an incredible 13-year-old boy who is beating brain cancer, saw his dreams fulfilled by President Trump when he was made an honorary Secret Service agent.

00:15:06.000 And finally, after nearly four years, President Trump delivered justice for the families of the 13 American heroes who were killed at Abbey Gate in the Biden-botched Afghanistan withdrawal, which was one of the worst humiliations in the history of our country.

00:15:23.000 President Trump announced that we have detained Mohammad Sharif Fula, the monster who was responsible for that horrific attack, and he was delivered to Dulles Airfield earlier this morning.

00:15:34.000 On his first day in office, President Trump's national security team across the federal government prioritized intelligence gathering to locate this evil individual.

00:15:45.000 President Trump's team shared intelligence with regional partners such as Pakistan, who helped identify this monster. 0.99

00:15:55.000 He said last night, this killer will now face the swift sword of American justice for these atrocities right here on United States soil.

00:16:03.000 Joe Biden was responsible for this botched withdrawal, and he had three years to find this evil terrorist, and he didn't even try to get the job done.

00:16:12.000 But President Trump campaigned on behalf of and grew very close to the Gold Star families.

00:16:18.000 He promised them accountability, and last night, he kept his promise.

00:16:22.000 He spoke to those Gold Star families yesterday.

00:16:25.000 ahead of his speech in an incredibly heartwarming call to share this incredible news.

00:16:30.000 And as President Trump asked in his speech last night, how could anyone possibly be opposed to any of this action that he is taking?

00:16:39.000 Well, apparently, the modern-day Democrat Party could.

00:16:43.000 The behavior of Democrats last night was completely disgraceful and demonstrated how severely out of touch they are with the American public.

00:16:53.000 It was the most shameful moment in the history of presidential addresses in that beautiful chamber.

00:16:59.000 In what was supposed to be a unifying moment for our country, Democrat members of Congress instead screamed at the President of the United States, who was just overwhelmingly re-elected by their constituents, walked out of the chamber, and worst of all, they disrespected the American people.

00:17:16.000 Democrats didn't stand to keep men out of women's sports. 1.00

00:17:20.000 They couldn't even clap for a girl who got her head smashed in by a man on a volleyball court.

00:17:25.000 Democrats didn't stand for an innocent and beautiful child who is surviving brain cancer.

00:17:30.000 They opposed eliminating taxes on tips and Social Security.

00:17:34.000 They didn't stand in favor of cutting taxes for hardworking Americans.

00:17:38.000 They couldn't even clap for two mothers whose daughters were killed by illegal aliens.

00:17:43.000 One of the only things that could get Democrats off their feet last night was cheering for Ukraine.

00:17:49.000 Not for America.

00:17:51.000 Last night was a very clarifying moment for our country. 0.97

00:17:54.000 The Democrats exposed themselves as the party of insanity and hate.

00:17:59.000 The party that wants to put America last. 0.79

00:18:02.000 They've allowed their Trump derangement syndrome to stop them from celebrating America and our people.

00:18:08.000 And we will not allow them to forget that.

00:18:10.000 And it's not just the Democrat Party.

00:18:12.000 The mainstream media still doesn't get it.

00:18:15.000 Last night...

00:18:16.000 MSNBC's Nicole Wallace disgustingly looped in a 13-year-old boy with brain cancer into an attack on the president over January 6th. 0.96

00:18:25.000 And CNN's first chyron out of the speech called it divisive.

00:18:29.000 President Trump wasn't divisive.

00:18:32.000 The Democrats were.

00:18:33.000 And CNN was proven wrong by their own viewers, 69% of whom, in a post-speech poll, said they had a positive reaction to the president's speech.

00:18:43.000 It's sad and frankly pathetic that Democrats and liberals in the legacy media continue to allow their hatred for the president to override their love for our country.

00:18:53.000 But nevertheless, the president will continue to unify this nation through policies that are grounded in common sense and that uplift all Americans.

00:19:02.000 We have an individual in our new media seat today, Mary Margaret Olihan, who is the Daily Wire's first ever White House correspondent.

00:19:10.000 Congratulations, Mary Margaret.

00:19:11.000 The Daily Wire was founded 10 years ago by Ben Shapiro.

00:19:15.000 The Daily Wire now has over 1 million paid subscribers, a monthly network reach of 138 million, and has evolved into a leading conservative multimedia giant.

00:19:24.000 They are now the fifth largest podcast network in the world, and home to some of the top-ranked shows.

00:19:30.000 With that, I will take your questions, and Mary Margaret, why don't you kick us off?

00:19:34.000 Thank you so much, Caroline.

00:19:35.000 It's great to be here.

00:19:35.000 Thanks.

00:19:36.000 So I had two questions, if that's okay.

00:19:38.000 The first on last night, and the second on May.

00:19:40.000 You talked about behavior from Democrat lawmakers, a lot of disruptions, and I just wanted to kind of go back to that.

00:19:48.000 We saw Democrat lawmakers not stand for Lincoln Riley, for Peyton McNabb, for the son of a slain police officer and 13-year-old cancer survivor.

00:19:56.000 What are the optics of that nationally, just in terms of not just the people who were in the room last night, but across the nation?

00:20:02.000 And also, was President Trump expecting this type of behavior when he was crafting his speech?

00:20:08.000 So I gave a quote to one of the media outlets in this room yesterday that Democrats behaving like children would be the least surprising thing of the night.

00:20:15.000 And unfortunately, that quote did turn out to be true.

00:20:18.000 I think the president and everyone, frankly, was surprised by the Democrats refusing to stand for not the president's policies, because frankly, we expected that, but for the everyday Americans who President Trump was shining a light on their stories.

00:20:32.000 Mark Fogle, for instance, an American school teacher who was detained by the Russians.

00:20:37.000 President Trump freed him.

00:20:40.000 If Joe Biden had done that, they all would have been on their feet, but because of what came from President Trump, they weren't.

00:20:45.000 So we think it's very sad, but we're very proud of the president today, and the American people are the people that this president cares about most, and the reviews are in, and everybody loved his speech.

00:20:55.000 Thank you.

00:20:55.000 And then on Maine, we know that the governor of Maine has really pushed back against the president's executive order, saying the boys should not be in girls' sports.

00:21:02.000 I spoke with a lawmaker from Maine this morning who told me she'd been censured by state lawmakers for calling a man a man and speaking up on this.

00:21:09.000 Private student loan debt in the United States totals about 300 billion dollars.

00:21:21.000 Because of private student loan debt, so many Americans feel stuck and helpless and they've even lost hope.

00:21:25.000 Why Refi gives you a light at the end of the tunnel.

00:21:27.000 So check it out at whyrefi.com.

00:21:29.000 Do you have a co-borrower where I ReFi can get them released from the loan?

00:21:32.000 You can give mom or dad a break.

00:21:33.000 Go to whyrefi.com.

00:21:34.000 You can finally take control of your student loan situation with a plan that works for your monthly budget.

00:21:40.000 Go to YReFi.com.

00:21:41.000 That is Y-R-E-F-Y.com.

00:21:43.000 It may not be available in all 50 states.

00:21:45.000 When the payment on your distressed or defaulted private student loan is so big, you guys should check out YReFi.

00:21:51.000 Let's face it, if you have a distressed or defaulted private student loan, nobody is going to bail you out, and bankruptcy is not an option.

00:21:58.000 Go to YReFi.com.

00:21:59.000 They provide you with a custom loan payment based on your ability to pay.

00:22:03.000 If your private student loan debt keeps you up at night and is ruining your life, Y-Refi could be the place for you to get it fixed and settled.

00:22:12.000 Can you imagine being debt-free and not living under this burden anymore?

00:22:16.000 Be unburdened by what has been.

00:22:18.000 Go to YRefi.com.

00:22:20.000 Y-R-E-F-Y.com.

00:22:21.000 That is YRefi.com.

00:22:24.000 Okay, we have a lot to get to.

00:22:27.000 Caroline Levitt continues, but I want to get to our guest here from the greatest college in America, Hillsdale College, Dr. Miles Smith, who's an assistant professor of history at...

00:22:39.000 Dr. Smith, welcome to the program.

00:22:41.000 We love Hillsdale and there's lots to discuss.

00:22:43.000 I want to talk about freedom of speech because when I go on college campuses, they say that, well, Donald Trump is against freedom of speech, but let's get back to our roots.

00:22:52.000 How did the founders view the press and freedom of speech?

00:22:56.000 Freedom of speech is kind of a tricky thing.

00:22:58.000 We sort of forget that the question of freedom of speech developed.

00:23:04.000 George Washington, for example, had a pretty capacious view.

00:23:07.000 He thought that even...

00:23:09.000 If you're criticizing the president, you're allowed to do that.

00:23:12.000 His successor, John Adams, in the Aliens and Seditions Act, actually passed laws against that.

00:23:17.000 So it's never been quite as clean as we want to think.

00:23:20.000 There's been quite a few sort of, you might even call it interpretations of freedom of speech throughout the years.

00:23:26.000 Abraham Lincoln, of course, used the power of the government to suppress newspaper publication during the Civil War.

00:23:33.000 Franklin Roosevelt did, too, during World War II. Definition of freedom of speech sort of has ebbed and flowed throughout the years.

00:23:42.000 There's not one clean definition that we might want to appeal to.

00:23:46.000 Okay, so let me ask just a separate question then.

00:23:50.000 What are the implications of the fight for freedom of speech today, and what are the dangers of limiting wrong information?

00:23:57.000 Well, so I think that the problem is that the First Amendment doesn't make the government the referee.

00:24:05.000 A freedom of speech.

00:24:06.000 And so, for example, during COVID, the government sort of setting itself up as the referee of what could be published about, for example, health and medicine and whatnot.

00:24:15.000 That's not what the First Amendment did historically.

00:24:18.000 The government isn't the referee.

00:24:19.000 The government is a participant in a free speech regime.

00:24:22.000 It means that the government is a player, just like all the other players when it comes to speech.

00:24:28.000 The difference is the government carries the power of the sword, carries this coercive power that comes with states.

00:24:34.000 But it's not the referee.

00:24:36.000 And I think that's the mistake that a lot of people made during COVID. They perceive the government to be the referee.

00:24:41.000 It's not the referee.

00:24:42.000 The government doesn't get to tell us what's right speech and what isn't when it comes to, say, medicine or what you saw during COVID tide.

00:24:50.000 So we've largely strayed away from the founders' intent for America.

00:24:56.000 Speak about the growth of the administrative state and how in the last couple of weeks we are seeing this new administration at least attempting to reorient us back to first principles.

00:25:10.000 Yeah, so I think that, for example, what the president's doing on college campuses, you know, withholding federal money from schools where he perceives, and I think a lot of the American public perceives, to be inappropriate and even illegal protests.

00:25:25.000 He's not actually trying to tell them they can't speak what they want.

00:25:29.000 He's just saying the government's not going to fund you if you do that.

00:25:32.000 And so I think what that is, is the president attempting to do what I think is in his heart and turn all the educational universities and colleges in the United States towards what their actual mission is.

00:25:46.000 Of course, the mission of education is education.

00:25:48.000 It's not protest.

00:25:49.000 And so maybe there's some protests that add to the mission of a college, but the mission of colleges is not protesting.

00:25:57.000 And so my best guess is that the president kind of perceives that and wants to push back against the idea that colleges are sort of places where protest is the preeminent value or even the preeminent action that they do.

00:26:09.000 All federal funding being prohibited from these universities, what then is case law kind of leading up to the idea of what is acceptable and unacceptable speech on these campuses?

00:26:21.000 Where is the line?

00:26:22.000 Educate our audience on that, please.

00:26:24.000 But I think that the answer is we're going to find out where the line is.

00:26:28.000 Sort of just how Abraham Lincoln had to find out where the line was on war powers was for the president.

00:26:34.000 I think we're going to find out.

00:26:36.000 And that'll be probably a political engagement between the president, Congress, and the courts.

00:26:42.000 And so the president is...

00:26:45.000 Sort of figuring it out.

00:26:47.000 He's probably trying to see what works.

00:26:49.000 He's going to see what he can get stick and what can't.

00:26:51.000 And so, you know, case law always develops, you know, for this idea of settled law.

00:26:57.000 For example, Roe v.

00:26:59.000 Wade was called settled law for a long time.

00:27:01.000 It turns out it's not settled.

00:27:03.000 And so I think that things are going to change.

00:27:05.000 The president is going to maybe push what people might think of as the settled boundaries of settled law.

00:27:11.000 But it's never quite as settled as we want to think.

00:27:13.000 And so I think the president...

00:27:17.000 I want everyone in the audience to know, in the same way we struggle with truly free speech, we need to uncover the true American founding.

00:27:27.000 Everyone can do that at charlieforhillsdale.com, The Real American Founding, a conversation.

00:27:32.000 In closing here, Doctor, please tell us about the work that you are doing, the scholarship you're most interested in, what you appreciate about Hillsdale College.

00:27:40.000 Tell the audience.

00:27:41.000 Yeah, thanks.

00:27:41.000 I do a lot of in the intersection of Christians and how Christians in the United States' history have sort of understood the relationship of their faith and religion and government.

00:27:53.000 I wrote a book called Religion and Republic, and it sort of shows that people think there's a lot more interaction between religion and government than people might have perceived historically.

00:28:03.000 We're not a theocracy, but we are a very religious republic, and our republic has religious commitments throughout its institutional history.

00:28:11.000 So that's a lot of what I do.

00:28:14.000 And I hope Christians will take their history and their government more seriously and take the American Republic more seriously.

00:28:20.000 You guys should check out his book.

00:28:22.000 What is the name of your book?

00:28:23.000 It's called Religion and Republic.

00:28:25.000 Excellent.

00:28:26.000 Just for about, you know, about a minute, elaborate a little more.

00:28:28.000 You say we are a religious republic.

00:28:30.000 What do you mean by that?

00:28:31.000 That will make a left-wing person go a little nuts. 0.99

00:28:36.000 Yeah, well, I think that we sort of, we always have these discussions on church and state, church and state.

00:28:41.000 And my point is, I'm not really saying that we have a state church or that we should have state churches, but religion is part and parcel of our institutional life here in the United States.

00:28:51.000 You can't really go very far.

00:28:53.000 You can't throw a rock without hitting an institution with religious commitments.

00:28:57.000 And the United States is Republican government.

00:29:01.000 Guarantees the protection of those religious institutions.

00:29:04.000 The government's not indifferent to it.

00:29:06.000 The Constitution is not indifferent to the protection of religion.

00:29:10.000 The government is our protector as religious people, and it protects religious institutions.

00:29:16.000 And so the Republic, the President, the Congress, and the courts, their job is not to tell us what our religion should be or shouldn't be, not to tell us what our beliefs should or shouldn't be.

00:29:28.000 It's to protect us as we, Christians, declare what we think of as the truth of the gospel.

00:29:36.000 And the gospel has both sort of very spiritual and political ramifications too in various ways.

00:29:43.000 So it's the government's actually job to protect the church's right to say those things in public.

00:29:48.000 Doctor, I would love to have you on at a different time.

00:29:50.000 We have a lot of breaking news here with press conferences and etc.

00:29:53.000 People should check out charlieforhillsdale.com and I see the ash and to all of our Catholic friends, Ash Wednesday.

00:30:00.000 People should know that the idea of using ashes as a sign of mourning goes all the way back to the Old Testament in the book of Daniel, in the book of Jonah.

00:30:08.000 It is a very ancestral idea in the scripture.

00:30:12.000 So thank you, Doctor.

00:30:13.000 Talk to you soon.

00:30:14.000 Thank you.

00:30:14.000 Thank you, Charlie.

00:30:16.000 Let's cut back to Caroline Levitt. 0.95

00:30:17.000 Let's see what's going on.

00:30:19.000 In the Oval Office who is committed to doing what's right for them, especially women and girls across the country.

00:30:24.000 And I think it's very ironic, thank you for bringing up the point about women, that Democrat women were wearing pink to support our fellow females, yet they couldn't stand, again, for a young woman who was almost killed and severely injured by a man on the volleyball court.

00:30:41.000 They couldn't stand for the mothers of two beautiful young women whose lives were taken, tragically, at the hands of a leader.

00:30:48.000 So you can't say you're the party of women and then support men in women's sports and not stand up for basic law and order and immigration reform that will protect women in this country.

00:31:01.000 That's what President Trump is doing.

00:31:02.000 He's the president for women.

00:31:03.000 Lindsay, good to see you.

00:31:06.000 So, speaking of tariffs, China said yesterday that they're ready for any kind of war with the U.S. because of these tariffs that have been placed on them.

00:31:15.000 And a Chinese spokesperson also said that the tariffs would not lead to a resolution of U.S. concerns about fentanyl originating in China.

00:31:23.000 Can you speak to how the administration is planning on responding to that?

00:31:27.000 Well, I think Secretary Hegseth has responded to that this morning.

00:31:31.000 he said that America will always be prepared to defend itself, especially under the leadership of this president in the Oval Office.

00:31:38.000 And that certainly remains true. 0.86

00:31:40.000 Again, when it comes to tariffs, the president has been very tough on China, not just now with 20 percent and more with the reciprocal tariffs that will hit on April 2nd.

00:31:49.000 But look at what he did in his first term.

00:31:51.000 There were billions of dollars worth of tariffs that he implemented on China.

00:31:54.000 And it's quite telling that the previous administration did not rescind those tariffs because they realized the value that they had in not only deterring China, but also raising revenue here in the United States.

00:32:05.000 Thanks, Caroline.

00:32:07.000 Just a quick follow-up, two quick follow-ups on tariffs.

00:32:09.000 The president mentioned a little disturbance during his remarks yesterday.

00:32:12.000 The CEO of Target says that consumers will likely see prices go up on everything from strawberries to bananas to avocados.

00:32:19.000 How long should Americans expect to pay higher prices?

00:32:22.000 Are we talking a week, a couple of days, a few months?

00:32:25.000 Again, I don't have a crystal ball, but what I can assure the American people is that this president and this administration is doing everything they can.

00:32:33.000 And I would remind you and everybody else in this room that it's because of the previous administration's economic policies that Americans were left with record high inflation.

00:32:44.000 Inflation throughout Joe Biden's entire 48 months in office was at or above 3%.

00:32:49.000 It hit record highs, as you know.

00:32:52.000 And there's a whole list of what...

00:32:54.000 The Biden economic disaster, this president was left to clean up.

00:32:57.000 It's been a month, but he's working hard every single day to do just that.

00:33:01.000 Just one quick follow-up on the carve-out.

00:33:02.000 Sorry to cut you off there.

00:33:03.000 The U.S. imported $43 million worth of eggs from Canada.

00:33:07.000 I know you mentioned some of the exemptions when it comes to automakers.

00:33:11.000 Will there be any other carve-outs, including for eggs?

00:33:14.000 We know prices are soaring for Americans.

00:33:15.000 The president is open to hearing about additional exemptions.

00:33:19.000 He always has open dialogue and he'll always do what's right, what he believes is right for the American people.

00:33:25.000 But again, as for the egg crisis in this country, the president is wholeheartedly committed to ensuring we're increasing our egg supply and we're also bringing down cost.

00:33:36.000 And Secretary Rollins has been all over this issue.

00:33:39.000 She comes from an agricultural background and family.

00:33:41.000 That's why she's leading that very important department.

00:33:43.000 She wrote an amazing op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.

00:33:46.000 She's been all over the media talking about her plan.

00:33:48.000 She has a real plan.

00:33:49.000 The president endorses it.

00:33:50.000 And he even, you know, gave her an off-the-prompter shout-out last night to say, Brooke, I'm counting on you.

00:33:55.000 It's an important issue.

00:33:56.000 And this White House is working with Secretary of Agriculture every single day to address this issue.

00:34:03.000 You know what keeps me up at night?

00:34:05.000 Not my conscience.

00:34:06.000 It's actually my aging DNA. It's like getting hammered like a pinata at a kid's birthday party.

00:34:11.000 But here's the wild thing.

00:34:12.000 Scientists in Australia just discovered that one mineral might be the bouncer your DNA needs.

00:34:16.000 In this fascinating study, they found that low magnesium levels are like leaving your DNA's front door wide open to damage.

00:34:24.000 But here's the kicker.

00:34:25.000 A whopping 80% of us are walking around magnesium deficient, basically telling Father Time to come at us, not smart.

00:34:32.000 My favorite part?

00:34:48.000 I'm sleeping like a teenager again, handling stress like a Zen master, and waking up with the kind of energy that makes coffee jealous.

00:34:54.000 So you can either keep letting your DNA take hits, or you could try Magnesium Breakthrough risk-free for 365 days.

00:35:01.000 Head on over to magbreakthrough.com slash Kirk.

00:35:03.000 That is magbreakthrough.com slash Kirk.

00:35:06.000 And if you subscribe, not only will you get amazing discounts and free gifts, you'll make sure your monthly supply is guaranteed.

00:35:13.000 Again, that's magbreakthrough.com slash kirk.

00:35:15.000 Your DNA will thank you.

00:35:17.000 Hey, so might your mirror.

00:35:20.000 Frustrated with President Zelensky when he was handing out blank checks and President Zelensky kept asking for more, Joe Biden was quite frustrated with that.

00:35:30.000 So, again, as I've said repeatedly, Friday revealed the frustrations that this administration has had in closed-door negotiations with the Ukrainians.

00:35:39.000 However, President Zelensky did put out a statement yesterday, which we believe is a positive step forward.

00:35:44.000 And National Security Advisor Mike Waltz has been talking to his Ukrainian counterparts.

00:35:50.000 So we're in the midst of this, and we'll see what happens next.

00:35:53.000 Caitlin?

00:35:53.000 Thanks, Caroline.

00:35:54.000 I have two questions.

00:35:55.000 One on the reprieve that is being granted to these three automakers for one month on the tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

00:36:01.000 How did the president settle on one month?

00:36:04.000 The reciprocal tariffs will go into effect on April 2nd, and he feels strongly about that no matter what, no exemptions.

00:36:11.000 So that's where the one month comes from.

00:36:13.000 So does he expect them to be able to shift production within a month?

00:36:16.000 He told them that they should get on it, start investing, start moving, shift production here to the United States of America where they will pay no tariff.

00:36:23.000 That's the ultimate goal.

00:36:24.000 And on the conversations between the White House and the Ukrainians and the letter that President Trump revealed last night that he got from President Zelensky, Director Ratcliffe said today that the president has paused also intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

00:36:36.000 Is that temporary or is that permanent?

00:36:39.000 I believe what the National Security Council told me in regards to that was that they paused or they are reconsidering the funding for Ukraine, as you saw, the pause on the funding.

00:36:53.000 As for intelligence matters, I would refer you to either the National Security Council or the CIA as well.

00:36:58.000 But they're considering lifting the – or reinstating the military aid going to Ukraine, which they paused.

00:37:03.000 Again, it's a pause for a review.

00:37:05.000 Follow up on that.

00:37:07.000 Sure.

00:37:08.000 The President read parts of the letter that he received last night from President Zelensky.

00:37:13.000 Can you give us a sense of when President Trump now plans to sign that mineral seal after receiving that letter?

00:37:18.000 Those talks are happening as we speak.

00:37:20.000 I just saw the National Security Advisor.

00:37:22.000 He's working very hard on it.

00:37:24.000 I believe he was going into the Oval Office to give the President an update on where this stands.

00:37:28.000 But again, the President is committed to a peace deal.

00:37:31.000 He wants to see this war end.

00:37:32.000 And I think that President Zelensky's message, which he also shared on...

00:37:38.000 The President also said that the United States was reclaiming the Panama Canal.

00:37:43.000 The President of Panama this morning, or at some point today, said that President Trump was lying.

00:37:49.000 Wanted to get your response to that.

00:37:51.000 And also, curious if the President had a reason for not specifically mentioning BlackRock last night when he was praising the company that is buying canals or ports around the Panama Canal.

00:38:05.000 Iraq is now interested in investing and taking over the two ends of the port, which is very important because the President was very vocal several weeks ago about the need to ensure that China is not controlling the Panama Canal.

00:38:18.000 This is a very important place for the United States of America.

00:38:24.000 We also saw that the Panama Canal lifted fees on our US naval ships that are going in and out of the canal.

00:38:31.000 That's a win for the United States of America. 0.94

00:38:34.000 ...just given to me in different verbiage of three different times, and I will answer it again in an effort of transparency to the American people, because this is an important issue, and the American people, this president understands that it is.

00:38:46.000 And again, that's why in his joint address to Congress last night, he addressed this issue with a realistic and honest approach.

00:38:52.000 He talked about what this administration is doing to unleash American energy and to make America affordable again, and this administration is wholeheartedly committed to doing it.

00:39:02.000 And I would remind...

00:39:03.000 The American public that the first-term record of this president speaks volumes.

00:39:08.000 That's why they re-elected him, because they know that he can fix our broken economy, and it's very, very broken from the previous administration.

00:39:18.000 I've got two questions, one on press access and the other on fentanyl and tariffs.

00:39:22.000 Sure.

00:39:22.000 On press access, your predecessor, Corrine Jean-Pierre, presided over many novel press access restrictions, criticized the recent changes to the press pool made by your office.

00:39:34.000 She said in an interview, quote, what we're looking at is what North Korea is doing.

00:39:39.000 What's your response to that?

00:39:41.000 And can you say anything to allay concerns that unfavorable coverage will be punished in this new press conference?

00:39:47.000 I think that's the same individual who said from this podium numerous times that the commander-in-chief was mentally and physically up for the job, which we knew was a lie.

00:39:56.000 Many people in this room knew it was a lie.

00:39:58.000 Many of you were admonished for asking questions about that truth.

00:40:03.000 And so when it comes to truth and transparency, this administration, this White House, is setting the example.

00:40:09.000 This president is taking far more questions than his predecessor Joe Biden did on a daily basis, and that will continue.

00:40:16.000 And on fentanyl and tariffs, fentanyl produced largely in China has killed 334,000 Americans over five years.

00:40:26.000 According to CDC data, that's about one in every thousand Americans.

00:40:31.000 President Trump has cited this for applying new tariffs to Canada, Mexico, and China.

00:40:35.000 But in addition to China's talk about being ready for any kind of war, they said yesterday, the foreign ministry said that, quote, the fentanyl issue is a flimsy excuse to raise U.S. tariffs, and, quote, U.S., not anyone else, is responsible for the fentanyl crisis.

00:40:49.000 So what's the response to China that... 0.71

00:40:52.000 The talk offensively is just an excuse for tariffs.

00:40:54.000 And what does that say about the resolution?

00:40:56.000 Well, of course the country that is getting very rich off of distributing this deadly poison to American citizens is going to say that.

00:41:04.000 Again, the president knows where the American people stand on this issue.

00:41:08.000 Fentanyl overdoses.

00:41:10.000 Dasha brought up all of us campaigning all across the country.

00:41:13.000 They talked about inflation.

00:41:14.000 They also talked about the border, the illegal immigrants that were pouring through, but also these deadly drugs.

00:41:19.000 And again, the president keeps in mind those families every single day when he is making these tough decisions.

00:41:24.000 But it's a necessary decision, and he's no longer going to allow the United States of America to be a dumping ground for illegal immigrants and for illegal drugs that are killing our nation's people. 0.97

00:41:34.000 This is the number one leading cause of death in our country, and there needs to be action taken to ensure that that cannot continue.

00:41:41.000 Thank you very much, guys.

00:41:43.000 We'll see you later.

00:41:43.000 Thanks, Caroline.

00:41:44.000 Good morning, Caroline.

00:41:44.000 Thank you.

00:41:49.000 Okay, everybody.

00:41:50.000 Email us, as always, freedom at charliekirk.com and subscribe to our podcast.

00:41:55.000 Caroline Levitt just finished her press conference there. 1.00

00:41:58.000 Make sure you subscribe to our podcast for instant analysis on the Gavin Newsom conversation.

00:42:03.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

00:42:04.000 Email us, as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:42:07.000 Thanks so much for listening, and God bless.

The Charlie Kirk Show - March 06, 2025

Can Democrats Pull Out of Their Death Spiral?

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript