The Charlie Kirk Show - July 30, 2025


Cartman Kirk — Winning the Culture War


Episode Stats


Length

41 minutes

Words per minute

175.91458

Word count

7,277

Sentence count

681

Harmful content

Misogyny

4

sentences flagged

Toxicity

8

sentences flagged

Hate speech

7

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, joins me live from South Park to talk about why the U.S. Senate is holding up some of President Trump's nominees and why it's so important to have them confirmed.

Transcript

Transcripts from "The Charlie Kirk Show" are sourced from the Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool. Explore them interactively here.
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Hey everybody, Charlie Kirk here live from thebitcoin.com studio.
00:00:04.000 I am profiled on South Park.
00:00:06.000 What is that all about?
00:00:08.000 And then we also dive deep into what is a blue slip.
00:00:12.000 You're about to learn something that is a blue slip educational crash course as to why President Trump can't get some of his nominees through the U.S. Senate.
00:00:21.000 Senator Michael Lee joins us to react and email us as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:00:25.000 That is freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:00:27.000 Buckle up, everybody.
00:00:28.000 Here we go.
00:00:29.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.
00:00:31.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.
00:00:33.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.
00:00:37.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.
00:00:40.000 I want to thank Charlie.
00:00:41.000 He's an incredible guy.
00:00:42.000 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.
00:00:50.000 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.
00:00:59.000 That's why we are here.
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00:01:28.000 Yesterday was an interesting day.
00:01:29.000 Apparently, I'm going to be highlighted on South Park.
00:01:32.000 We'll talk about that later in the hour.
00:01:34.000 It goes to show the cultural impact that we have achieved at Turning Point USA.
00:01:39.000 Oh, we'll talk all about that.
00:01:40.000 But first, just something much more important than the fact that we have reached a cultural pinnacle.
00:01:47.000 The U.S. Senate has some very goofy traditions.
00:01:51.000 And right now, President Donald Trump has hundreds of people that he needs in his administration that are not being confirmed.
00:01:58.000 Hundreds of people.
00:02:00.000 People such as third in line at the Department of Justice.
00:02:04.000 People such as general counsels at the Department of Education.
00:02:07.000 Very important positions.
00:02:08.000 So when you don't fill these positions, do you know who then currently occupies those slots and those posts?
00:02:15.000 Careers.
00:02:16.000 Career employees of these agencies that have contempt for Donald Trump.
00:02:21.000 They are part of the deep state of government.
00:02:23.000 These folks run the day-to-day operations.
00:02:26.000 So basically, President Donald Trump has not yet taken over the federal government.
00:02:31.000 Donald Trump won the election.
00:02:33.000 Donald Trump is president, but Donald Trump has not yet taken over the federal government.
00:02:38.000 I want you to think about that.
00:02:40.000 Even though we had an election almost a year ago, even though Donald Trump has been president for six months, he still does not have his people in there.
00:02:47.000 Career bureaucrats in a city that went 90-10 for Democrats are running your government.
00:02:54.000 And it's not because of Donald Trump or the White House.
00:02:56.000 They're doing their job and they're doing it rapidly.
00:02:58.000 No, it's because of the U.S. Senate.
00:03:00.000 Now, we've talked yesterday, and I mean this half-jokingly, the U.S. Senate, John Thune, turn off the air conditioning.
00:03:07.000 By the way, in the coming days, it'll be a very muggy 85 degrees in D.C.
00:03:11.000 And you better believe they'll start confirming people if you do that.
00:03:14.000 But there's another problem at play here outside of the delay, which we examined thoroughly with Senator Rick Scott and with Senator Mark Wayne Mullah.
00:03:23.000 And then we have Senator Lee coming up because we are keeping the pressure on this program.
00:03:27.000 We are demanding pace.
00:03:28.000 We're demanding confirmations.
00:03:30.000 At this show right now, in this midsummer moment, the most important thing that we can draw your attention to, the most important thing that we as a collective Charlie Kirk show team can do is to demand the U.S. Senate Acts.
00:03:44.000 But it's not just the delays.
00:03:46.000 It's something also called a blue slip.
00:03:51.000 You're about to learn something.
00:03:52.000 If you don't know what a blue slip is, you're about to learn how the good old boys club of the U.S. Senate operates.
00:03:58.000 The blue slip refers to a practice used by the Senate Judiciary Committee for judicial nominations, for circuit and court judgeships, but also for U.S. attorneys.
00:04:09.000 So what is a U.S. attorney?
00:04:11.000 A U.S. attorney is someone that works for the Department of Justice, confirmed by the U.S. Senate that oversees prosecutions and indictments and criminal cases.
00:04:22.000 The U.S. attorney, they have geographic jurisdictions.
00:04:25.000 So there's a U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
00:04:28.000 There's a U.S. attorney for South Florida.
00:04:30.000 There's a U.S. attorney in Arizona.
00:04:33.000 The problem is that President Donald Trump wants to be able to crush sanctuary cities for one.
00:04:40.000 He wants to be able to go after the Democrat Act Blue apparatus.
00:04:44.000 However, this is the key.
00:04:46.000 Donald Trump can't proceed on so much of the sanctuary city cartel activity until he gets his U.S. attorneys confirmed.
00:04:55.000 So U.S. attorneys must go through the Senate Judiciary Committee.
00:05:00.000 And so President Donald Trump wrote this scathing truth social yesterday, but let me dive this a little bit deeper into this.
00:05:06.000 Before the 1950s, blue slips were never used.
00:05:09.000 But in 1956 onward, a senator by the name of James Eastland, the blue slip, became a tool to allow either home state senator to veto a nominee by simply not returning the slip.
00:05:22.000 So basically, let's say Donald Trump wants to get a U.S. attorney for where I live in Phoenix, Arizona, or even more importantly, a U.S. attorney in Tucson.
00:05:32.000 Tucson is filled with cartel activity, child sex trafficking, narco-drugs.
00:05:38.000 Right now, and we're aiming to eventually fix it, Arizona has two Democrat senators, Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego.
00:05:48.000 So let's say Donald Trump wants to have a rock star, non-controversial U.S. attorney for Arizona who wants to go after the cartels.
00:05:57.000 And he nominates, let's just say, Mark Lamb, for example, someone that's just a rock star.
00:06:04.000 To kill that U.S. attorney that the president wants and that people voted for, all Mark Kelly or Ruben Gallego have to do is submit an anonymous blue slip and that nominee dies.
00:06:18.000 Now, the timeline under Orrin Hatch, a nominee could receive a hearing even if one home state senator objected, but basically the tradition, this is simply tradition.
00:06:28.000 This is not constitutional.
00:06:29.000 This is not Senate rules.
00:06:31.000 This is nothing more than a statesman tradition of the United States Senate.
00:06:37.000 Now, but Donald Trump put out a very fiery truth social last night, and he's right.
00:06:41.000 It's a blue slip scam.
00:06:44.000 Joe Biden openly broke with this at least two times.
00:06:47.000 So Democrats have broken with this in the past, but we as Republicans, you see, we're the guardians of tradition while we can't get U.S. attorneys.
00:06:56.000 Now, here is where it completes the point.
00:06:58.000 You want to know why we have not indicted Brandon Johnson as the mayor of Chicago?
00:07:02.000 Do you want to know why we can't go after Karen Bass?
00:07:05.000 Do you want to know why we can't go after some of the ACT Blue oligarchs that have obviously been flirting up against the law? 0.84
00:07:13.000 Do you want to know why we have not been able to go after the sanctuary cities in New York?
00:07:19.000 It's because we don't have U.S. attorneys confirmed there.
00:07:21.000 We have Biden holdovers running the U.S. attorneys' offices all across the country.
00:07:25.000 Now, ultimately, of course, Pam Bondi is in charge of them, but there's, I think there's like 130 U.S. attorney jurisdictions.
00:07:32.000 I could be wrong.
00:07:34.000 And so Pam Bondi can't possibly, and Todd Blanche possibly manage every single U.S. attorney outfit in Montana and Alaska and Hawaii and Missouri.
00:07:42.000 You need your people there.
00:07:44.000 So Donald Trump has made recommendations and nominations for all these people, but unfortunately, a good man is doing something wrong.
00:07:51.000 And that's what happens sometimes in politics.
00:07:53.000 Good men do something incorrect.
00:07:55.000 And that is Chuck Grassley.
00:07:57.000 Chuck Grassley is an awesome person.
00:07:58.000 He's a legend.
00:07:59.000 He's been around forever.
00:08:00.000 He's one of the older guys in the U.S. Senate.
00:08:02.000 I have a lot of respect for.
00:08:03.000 He has won a lot of elections in Iowa, but he is old school.
00:08:07.000 And this is a hill he will die on.
00:08:09.000 You see, Chuck Grassley is empowering blue state Democrats.
00:08:12.000 Chuck Grassley is giving power to Ruben Gallego and to Mark Kelly.
00:08:16.000 Chuck Grassley is giving power to Gillibrand, to Schumer.
00:08:22.000 So if we want to get a U.S. attorney in the southern district of New York, which we need, by the way, to go after sanctuary cities and child sex trafficking and drugs, we can't do it if Chuck Schumer or a Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee submits a blue slip.
00:08:37.000 And so then they go back to the home senators.
00:08:39.000 And here's the one that matters for all of you in the audience and you probably care about. 0.81
00:08:43.000 How about Alina Haba?
00:08:45.000 Alina Haba is trying to become the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, but Corey Booker refuses to move on her.
00:08:52.000 Corey Booker has veto power over the president, even though we have a Senate majority because of this ridiculous tradition called the blue slip scam.
00:09:01.000 President Donald Trump writes last night, I would never be, therefore, after this long explanation that basically I just gave, I would never be able to appoint great judges or U.S. attorneys.
00:09:10.000 So it goes for judges and U.S. attorneys in California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Virginia, and other places where there is coincidentally the highest level of crime and corruption.
00:09:18.000 President Trump is spot on here.
00:09:20.000 This is 10 out of 10, Trump, where Trump is like, I'm trying to clean up the cities of LA, San Francisco.
00:09:27.000 I'm trying to clean up Portland.
00:09:28.000 I'm trying to clean up Seattle.
00:09:30.000 I am the president of the United States of America, not the president of the red states of America.
00:09:34.000 But unfortunately, because of this blue slip tradition that never should have happened because the Senate takes themselves so seriously, they are able to overrule the will of the president.
00:09:49.000 Do you see a pattern here?
00:09:50.000 This reminds me of the parliamentarian story: loopholes gumming up the works of popular sovereignty.
00:09:56.000 This is not constitutional.
00:09:59.000 It's not within, like, well, Article 3 or Article 4 or subsect.
00:10:03.000 Not ain't wrong. 0.93
00:10:04.000 This is simply an old boys' club of some sort of, well, we must honor the senator from Arizona, Ruben Gallego, who, by the way, his policies are awfully akin to that of the cartels.
00:10:17.000 So Ruben Gallego can block, again, I care about Arizona.
00:10:20.000 He can block a U.S. attorney that wants to go against the cartels, even though Donald Trump won Arizona by six points.
00:10:26.000 So Trump wins Arizona and he doesn't get the U.S. attorneys that people voted for because Ruben Gallego has veto power over the president because Chuck Grassley is defending this ridiculous tradition.
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00:11:45.000 So people are blowing us up on emails: freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:11:49.000 Charlie, what can we do?
00:11:51.000 What can we do?
00:11:52.000 Do we have to go to the Supreme Court?
00:11:52.000 What can be done?
00:11:54.000 Nope.
00:11:55.000 Just very simple. 0.85
00:11:56.000 Chuck Grassley has to decide to no longer honor this ridiculous tradition. 0.72
00:11:59.000 That's it.
00:12:00.000 Doesn't require a vote.
00:12:01.000 Doesn't require a parliamentarian.
00:12:03.000 Chuck Grassley literally has to just say, I'm not giving veto power to Democrats over a president who won a popular vote majority.
00:12:13.000 And even here's the kicker, won the swing states that they are contesting it.
00:12:21.000 Let me give you another example.
00:12:22.000 Atlanta.
00:12:23.000 Hotlanta, not exactly a mostly, it's a mostly peaceful city.
00:12:28.000 Two Democrat senators, Raphael Warnock and John Ossif.
00:12:32.000 If Donald Trump wants to put a U.S. attorney in Atlanta, easily could have pocket veto.
00:12:37.000 So again, that's a state Donald Trump won.
00:12:40.000 Donald Trump won Georgia.
00:12:41.000 Donald Trump won Arizona.
00:12:43.000 Donald Trump won Nevada.
00:12:45.000 What if Donald Trump wants to put a U.S. attorney in Las Vegas, one of the child sex trafficking capitals of America?
00:12:51.000 So it was Atlanta.
00:12:52.000 So Donald Trump wants to put a U.S. attorney in Vegas.
00:12:54.000 Nope.
00:12:55.000 Cortez Masto can veto him.
00:12:57.000 And there's nothing he can do about it.
00:12:59.000 It's because Chuck Grassley is defending an antiquated, broken system when the Senate used to actually be about commonality.
00:13:07.000 And by the way, that tradition was when we are in a different country.
00:13:10.000 This is the key.
00:13:12.000 Grassley is defending a tradition that started in 1950 when we used to be a country of neighbors, not strangers.
00:13:19.000 We are a different nation.
00:13:21.000 We have to have dramatic and bold action.
00:13:23.000 This is not even that dramatic.
00:13:24.000 It's can a president get the U.S. attorneys he wants?
00:13:27.000 There's no Senate rule about this.
00:13:29.000 It's simply a spoken tradition.
00:13:32.000 That's it.
00:13:33.000 This was all birthed out of Pax Americana.
00:13:36.000 Chuck Grassley fires back to Donald Trump.
00:13:38.000 Again, I like Chuck Grassley a lot.
00:13:40.000 He is very wrong here.
00:13:42.000 Chuck Grassley is wrong.
00:13:44.000 And, sir, if you're listening, your team is listening, we have great respect for you.
00:13:48.000 Do not die on this hill.
00:13:49.000 This will be a legacy ender.
00:13:51.000 This will be you not finishing well, but you've ran a great race.
00:13:54.000 Do not do this.
00:13:55.000 Do not give veto power to New Jersey, California, Illinois, Arizona, and Atlanta Democrats to be able to usurp the sovereign of this country.
00:14:05.000 Don't do this.
00:14:05.000 Play Cut 392.
00:14:07.000 Last night, I was surprised to see President Trump on Truth Social go after me and Senate Republicans over what we call the blue slip.
00:14:19.000 The people in real America don't care about what the blue slip is, but in fact, it impacts in their states the district judges who serve their communities and the U.S. attorneys who ensure the law and order is enforced.
00:14:37.000 I was offended by what the president said, and I'm disappointed that it would result in personal insults.
00:14:47.000 Now, we're here to do business that's very important part of this committee's work to do our constitutional duties of reviewing people that require Senate confirmation.
00:15:02.000 Okay.
00:15:03.000 First of all, this is not a personal insult attack by Donald Trump.
00:15:07.000 This was very tepid by Trump Truth Social means.
00:15:11.000 So Chuck Grassley should just kind of understand that was hardly a salvo from the president of the United States.
00:15:16.000 We've seen truth socials that get a little bit hot and spicy.
00:15:19.000 That was cool as a cucumber.
00:15:21.000 Secondly, did he say that people in real America don't care about this?
00:15:25.000 No, I think this audience really cares about the fact that Donald Trump, the winner of the election, does not get his U.S. attorneys.
00:15:35.000 By the way, people say, when are we indicting all the Russia gate people?
00:15:38.000 Not going to happen.
00:15:39.000 Will not happen until you get U.S. attorneys.
00:15:41.000 You understand that there will be no high-profile indictments.
00:15:47.000 We're all waiting.
00:15:48.000 Where are the indictments coming?
00:15:49.000 Can't happen if you don't have U.S. attorneys.
00:15:51.000 Literally, I mean, again, the U.S. Attorney General, Pam Bondi, can do some of this, but over time, it's just, it's a manpower.
00:15:57.000 You need somebody to come into a U.S. Attorney's office and then they run the entire thing.
00:16:01.000 It's pure delegation.
00:16:02.000 The Department of Justice has tens of thousands of employees.
00:16:06.000 You're not going to have just a couple civilians like Todd Blanche and Pam Bondi be able to run the entire thing.
00:16:13.000 I think that we need to line up.
00:16:14.000 Why don't we need to light up Leader Thune's phones on this?
00:16:18.000 Forget Grassley.
00:16:19.000 Grassley's not, he's a stick in the mud.
00:16:21.000 He's not going to move.
00:16:22.000 But John Thune can get Grassley to move.
00:16:25.000 And John Thune's phone number is 202-224-2321.
00:16:28.000 Well, not his phone number, but his DC office, his publicly listed one.
00:16:31.000 That's 202-224-2321.
00:16:34.000 Let's put it up on screen.
00:16:36.000 It's 202-224-2321.
00:16:39.000 Call Leader Thune's office and say, we're not going to put up with this blue slip scam.
00:16:46.000 The leader needs to come in and say, Chuck, enough.
00:16:48.000 This has been a 1950s Pax Americana tradition that we've grandfathered in.
00:16:53.000 We're going to put an end to this.
00:16:55.000 Because I'm telling you right now in the audience, you will get a fraction of what you voted for if the blue slip scam remains.
00:17:03.000 Email me your thoughts, freedom at charliekirk.com, and give a ring to John Thune and give him a piece of your mind.
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00:18:14.000 Joining us now is Senator Mike Lee.
00:18:16.000 Senator Lee, thank you so much for taking the time.
00:18:18.000 Senator, our audience is pretty fired up about the blue slips.
00:18:22.000 Where did this tradition come from?
00:18:25.000 And why should we give veto power to Democrat senators over President Trump's ability to have U.S. attorneys as he chooses?
00:18:33.000 As far as where it came from, it's a precedent that's many, many decades old, and it really is a protection that's there to make sure that local judges, U.S. attorneys, U.S. Marshals have the support of their home state senators.
00:18:48.000 Now, one thing I should point out here is that it's not an immutable rule.
00:18:53.000 It was not carved into stone.
00:18:55.000 It's not set by law or even rules of the Senate.
00:18:58.000 It is only a tradition.
00:18:59.000 Consequently, it has changed many times, including during the previous Trump administration.
00:19:06.000 So what exists today as the blue slip process is not identical to what it's always been.
00:19:11.000 It changes periodically.
00:19:13.000 More changes could be made as it's abused.
00:19:17.000 Customarily, members of both political parties have in the past deferred in many respects to some of the sitting president's priorities, even if they're of the opposing party.
00:19:30.000 People have recommended district judges and U.S. attorneys, for example, who might not be the same people they would recommend if the president were of their party, but who they find acceptable nonetheless.
00:19:45.000 Over time, though, Democrats have started abusing the blue slip and, in many instances, unreasonably refusing to identify anyone who might be mutually agreeable to both them and the president.
00:19:57.000 And so that's where we're running into a little fork in the road.
00:19:57.000 Right.
00:20:00.000 So, for example, in California, these senators do not want anyone.
00:20:05.000 And so, is it time for us or is there conversations to bypass this blue slip tradition?
00:20:10.000 Because Senator, you and I both want to see cartels gone after.
00:20:14.000 We can't have empty U.S. attorneys' offices for years that robs President Trump of an important instrument of his government, including in New York or Seattle or Portland.
00:20:25.000 In some ways, you're basically confederating the entire country.
00:20:29.000 This is a neo-Confederate way to create sanctuary zones where U.S. attorneys would not be able to fulfill what the president won a popular vote majority on, Senator.
00:20:39.000 Yeah, and we certainly can't have that happening.
00:20:40.000 Look, in previous Democratic administrations, including most recently in the Biden administration, we had the understanding that you could break the blue slip if you acted unreasonably, if you unreasonably refused to consent to anyone the president might find acceptable or refused to recommend somebody to return a blue slip.
00:21:03.000 If you did that unreasonably, that the blue slip might well be circumvented.
00:21:09.000 And so I suspect we may near that point if we're not there already.
00:21:13.000 Yeah, so as far as my encouragement goes, Senator, I think you guys are there.
00:21:18.000 And I have such great respect for Senator Grassley.
00:21:21.000 I think he's wrong here to just be, let's say, immovable.
00:21:24.000 So for whatever it's worth, I think you need to tell the colleagues, your colleagues, our audience is fired up because look, when you are now six, seven months into administration and you guys can't get U.S. attorneys confirmed, too deferential to the Democrats.
00:21:36.000 And you and I both know, Senator, that if these were good faith objections by the Democrats and they're trying to come to some sort of happy medium, fine.
00:21:43.000 This is pure obstructionism.
00:21:44.000 This is hate Trump.
00:21:45.000 Get in the way of the agenda.
00:21:47.000 There are cartels that are running rampant in a lot of these states, and we need U.S. attorneys to be able to broker the enforcement of the law.
00:21:57.000 So, Senator, I now want to ask you more broadly about confirmations.
00:22:02.000 The audience is also very fired up as to why there are so many confirmation backlog.
00:22:07.000 You have a lot of thoughts on this.
00:22:09.000 You were texting me the other day.
00:22:10.000 I actually missed a call from you.
00:22:11.000 So sorry.
00:22:11.000 So we'll talk now, I suppose.
00:22:13.000 Senator, what is the plan forward so that we can get President Trump, his personnel, and properly staff the government?
00:22:19.000 Look, there are two basic ways we can approach this.
00:22:22.000 As of right now, we're approaching 150 Trump nominees who are on the Senate's executive calendar.
00:22:29.000 That is the pending list of presidential nominees before the Senate.
00:22:33.000 It keeps going up every day.
00:22:35.000 Just day before yesterday, it was at 144.
00:22:39.000 We just this morning, two of the committees I serve on, Energy and Natural Resources, which I chair, and Foreign Relations, on which I also serve, those two committees alone submitted an additional six names to the executive calendar just today.
00:22:54.000 And we're not clearing the backlog nearly as quickly as we're adding to it.
00:22:58.000 So here's my basic pitch.
00:23:00.000 The Senate has no business taking a recess for the month of August, which is currently set to be the entirety of the month of August, without first clearing the backlog.
00:23:12.000 We shouldn't do that.
00:23:13.000 The American people work hard.
00:23:14.000 They expect us to do the same, especially when we're seriously behind.
00:23:18.000 Now, there are reasons for this.
00:23:19.000 The Democrats have delayed unreasonably.
00:23:21.000 They've thrown every procedural or wrench in the gears that they can find.
00:23:26.000 But we got to work twice as hard when they do that.
00:23:29.000 So we shouldn't recess.
00:23:31.000 And if somehow the Senate were to decide to recess, unwisely in my mind, without clearing the backlog at a minimum, for the love of all that is sacred and holy and constitutional, we should not be holding what are called pro forma Senate sessions while we are in recess.
00:23:48.000 Because those pro forma sessions, what they do is prohibit the president of the United States from exercising what would otherwise be his power to fill appointments for a recess appointment under the Constitution.
00:24:01.000 So don't recess.
00:24:02.000 And if we unwisely recess, no pro forma sessions.
00:24:05.000 That's the formula.
00:24:07.000 And so is there also a strategy to try to break the will of the Democrats to try and get them to basically surrender their obstruction, Senator?
00:24:07.000 Yeah.
00:24:18.000 Yes.
00:24:19.000 Yes. 0.98
00:24:20.000 And the best way to do this is the way the Senate always works.
00:24:23.000 The Senate works according to unanimous consent.
00:24:26.000 You can't do almost anything in the Senate without the Senate agreeing unanimously to move to the next step.
00:24:32.000 You can grind the Senate to the halt if you've got objectors who object to literally everything.
00:24:37.000 But there's a way around that.
00:24:39.000 And the Senate works on the principle of exhaustion.
00:24:43.000 Meaning at some point when we remain in session and these guys have to show up and speak, they have to show up and vote.
00:24:49.000 They get tired of all the procedural objections because it becomes more difficult, particularly where you hold them in at a time when they don't want to be here.
00:24:57.000 So let's use it to our advantage.
00:24:59.000 They want to get out of town.
00:25:00.000 We want to get these people confirmed.
00:25:02.000 Let's think when, when.
00:25:03.000 Hold them in session until they relent.
00:25:06.000 And then we can get through these nominations very quickly.
00:25:08.000 I love it.
00:25:10.000 Now we're talking, Senator.
00:25:11.000 The way you just crisply put that in the last minute is the best I've heard anyone summarize it.
00:25:16.000 It works on exhaustion.
00:25:18.000 And also, I know people make fun of me when I say this.
00:25:20.000 Just turn off the air conditioning.
00:25:22.000 Oh, Democrats, you guys want to, you know, obstruct us?
00:25:24.000 85 degrees humid.
00:25:27.000 Air conditioning is not in the U.S. Constitution.
00:25:29.000 All kidding aside here, though, Senator, on exhaustion, is there a plan to get the Democrats what they want?
00:25:38.000 Democrats want to go to Aspen, Jackson Hole, Kenny Bunkport.
00:25:42.000 They want to get out of town.
00:25:43.000 You want our people.
00:25:44.000 But, Senator, is the Republican Conference unified?
00:25:48.000 I mean, look, I know you can't talk ill of your colleagues, but I know some colleagues, for example, that they get out of town Thursday at the first moment they can.
00:25:56.000 Will we have a unified Republican conference?
00:25:58.000 That's a very important question, or will Republicans also end up sipping cocktails in the south of France in August when they should be voting for nominees?
00:26:08.000 Look, I want to believe, Charlie, and in most ways I do believe that most of my Republican colleagues want to get this job done.
00:26:14.000 Now, I think there are a number of different opinions.
00:26:17.000 We've got 53 Republican senators, got a lot of different opinions on exactly how best to go about that.
00:26:24.000 But I will say this, based on our conversations yesterday afternoon, the conference is coming together much more than we were last week in acknowledging that there is a problem, that it has to be addressed, and we can't simply leave without fixing the problem.
00:26:41.000 There are still a number of opinions about how exactly to go about that, but I think we're coming closer to being unified on this issue.
00:26:49.000 I myself could accept several different variations of an outcome, but the one we absolutely must not do is recess and then prohibit the president from doing what presidents are allowed to do during a recess.
00:27:02.000 That is unacceptable.
00:27:04.000 The very best solution involves staying here, getting butts and chairs, and making those same senators who are delaying the process be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. 0.96
00:27:14.000 When we make it easy for them to delay and obstruct, just so that they can have more governance, more dominance by the overwhelmingly left-leaning deep state bureaucrats that otherwise will control these agencies, as long as we don't confirm these personnel. 0.90
00:27:31.000 The more we facilitate that and make it comfortable for them to obstruct and delay, the more we'll get that.
00:27:36.000 And by the way, Charlie, if we leave and we don't fix the backlog, even if we didn't add a single additional nominee between now and next year, we'd still be well into the second quarter of 2026, probably the end of April before we got these nominees confirmed.
00:27:55.000 And that's before you consider the fact that there'll probably be at least 200 additional nominees on the calendar by then.
00:28:02.000 August is where all the Democrats, they do all their planning, they want time off.
00:28:06.000 Take it from them, break a deal.
00:28:08.000 Senator, really quick, the SAVE Act, Chuck Schumer went after you so aggressively the other day.
00:28:14.000 What is the latest on the SAVE Act and remind people exactly what it is?
00:28:18.000 Minute and a half remaining.
00:28:19.000 The SAVE Act tells the American people what American people already expect and demand, which is that only U.S. citizens may vote in U.S. elections.
00:28:29.000 Now, that is already the law, but unfortunately, the way the Supreme Court has interpreted the law, the states which run voter registration are not even allowed to ask on the National Voter Registration Act forms for proof of citizenship, even if they know or have reason to know that somebody is, in fact, either illegally in the country or in the country legally, but not a citizen.
00:28:52.000 They're not even allowed to ask for it or deny somebody that if they certify that they are citizens, just taking it on their word.
00:28:58.000 So the SAVE Act would require proof of citizenship at the time you register to vote.
00:29:03.000 Look, you have to prove who you are when you get on an airplane, when you go to the drugstore, when you go to the doctor's office, when you get a hunting license.
00:29:12.000 Why not when you have to vote?
00:29:13.000 Meanwhile, Chuck Schumer comes out, calls it a return to Jim Crow.
00:29:17.000 Chuck Schumer, how exactly is that a return to Jim Crow to require people to prove who they are when you have to do that every time you go to TSA?
00:29:26.000 This is absolutely nonsense, and it's irresponsible for the party of Jim Crow to be comparing to Jim Crow that which any sane American recognizes must be the law.
00:29:37.000 Gotta go, Senator.
00:29:38.000 Thank you for your time.
00:29:39.000 And please go back to your colleague, Senator Grassley and Senator Thune and say, look, good job passing Big Beautiful Bill, but we got to end this blue slip operation that gives Democrats an outsized and leveraged veto power over the presidency.
00:29:51.000 Senator, great work as always.
00:29:52.000 Thank you so much.
00:29:53.000 Thank you, Choe. 0.95
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00:30:33.000 Let's face it, if you have distress or defaulted private student loans, there's no better place to go than whyRefi.
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00:30:46.000 May not be available in all 50 states.
00:30:47.000 Go to yrefi.com.
00:30:48.000 That is why.com.
00:30:52.000 So let me continue on the John Thune situation.
00:30:56.000 Let's go on the Chuck Grassley one.
00:30:58.000 Let's go 409 up on screen.
00:31:00.000 This is John Thune's DC office.
00:31:02.000 If you guys want to call, calls 202-224-2321.
00:31:08.000 Far too often, Republicans play to protect traditions, and Democrats play to win.
00:31:14.000 Let me say that again.
00:31:15.000 Republicans play to protect traditions, and traditions should be protected if the tradition is helping the country.
00:31:22.000 Traditions should not be observed if they are bad or they're not lifting you up towards something important.
00:31:31.000 John Thune's DC office is 202-224-2321.
00:31:36.000 And look, a lot of egos are involved in this.
00:31:38.000 Many senators don't like being told how to run their kingdoms.
00:31:42.000 The reason I'm not putting Chuck Grassley's number up is that this has got to come from higher up.
00:31:47.000 Democrats are abusing the tradition.
00:31:49.000 Democrats do not have good faith.
00:31:51.000 This is what always is important.
00:31:52.000 People say, well, Charlie, you know, don't Democrats.
00:31:54.000 No, they don't have the same intentions that we have.
00:31:58.000 Democrats are abusing the tradition, is what makes this entire thing null and void.
00:32:04.000 It invalidates the tradition at its core.
00:32:07.000 You see, taking a step back here, the idea that President Donald Trump cannot have the people of his choosing because some Senate Democrat from a blue state doesn't like him, I think it's completely and totally outrageous.
00:32:25.000 Because I do want to talk about South Park.
00:32:28.000 So yesterday, I just started laughing when someone said this to me.
00:32:31.000 Apparently, our very popular prove me wrongs and our extraordinarily viral campus debates are being prominently profiled on South Park.
00:32:43.000 Let's play Cut 394.
00:32:45.000 Wednesday, August 6th. 0.99
00:32:46.000 You can just shut up, baby, because you hate America and you love abortion. 0.99
00:32:49.000 On an all-new South Park. 1.00
00:32:53.000 The epic season continues.
00:32:55.000 South Park, new episode Wednesday, August 6th to 10th.
00:32:58.000 On Comedy Central, next day on Paramount Plus.
00:33:02.000 So if you don't watch South Park, it's very, very popular, especially with younger people.
00:33:06.000 Look, I mean, I think we just should have a good spirit and laugh about this and a good attitude.
00:33:11.000 But first of all, that trailer was hilarious. 0.92
00:33:14.000 You could shut up because you hate America and love abortions. 0.88
00:33:17.000 I mean, that's a pretty good summary of a lot of the left I see on campus. 0.97
00:33:21.000 But look, of course, this is going to be professional comedians.
00:33:25.000 They know what they're doing.
00:33:26.000 They're going to probably roast me.
00:33:28.000 But it's about time that we don't take ourselves so seriously.
00:33:31.000 That's one of the problems with the current political landscape, especially on the left, is people take themselves so seriously.
00:33:37.000 Be able to take a joke, have a good sense of humor.
00:33:40.000 And so South Park is kind of a cultural phenomenon.
00:33:43.000 And make no mistake, being mocked, it means that you're doing something.
00:33:46.000 And I've been texted, by the way, congratulations by so many people.
00:33:49.000 And they're probably going to be nasty and vulgar and all that stuff.
00:33:54.000 But as you can see, Benny Johnson's tweet up on screen there, which is Cartman is playing Charlie Kirk, which is pretty cool.
00:34:04.000 And also, you see the security guy behind and the water bottle.
00:34:07.000 Let's put some of these up on screen.
00:34:08.000 Benny Johnson says, Cartman is playing Charlie Kirk on the next episode of South Park, and it's a great honor pop culture can bestow upon you.
00:34:14.000 Jack Pesobic says, South Park is doing Cartman as Charlie Kirk.
00:34:18.000 Cartman is playing character inspired by Charlie Kirk in the next South Park episode, Daily Caller Rights, and Colin Rugg as well.
00:34:24.000 This is all very good.
00:34:25.000 And this shows that the cultural impact that we are making at Turning Point USA cannot even be ignored by the professional comedians at Comedy Central.
00:34:36.000 And billions and billions of views later, I tell you guys, hey, we're going viral on Instagram and TikTok.
00:34:42.000 This is exhibit A.
00:34:43.000 This is evidence.
00:34:45.000 And we love it.
00:34:46.000 And look, they're going to make fun of me or whatever.
00:34:48.000 Great, fine.
00:34:49.000 That means I've done something.
00:34:50.000 That means that we are in a different league of cultural penetration.
00:34:54.000 We are on their feeds.
00:34:56.000 You know what this means?
00:34:56.000 This means that all the graphic designers, all the artists, all the scriptwriters, all the comedians, they're seeing Charlie Kirk turning point USA stuff.
00:35:06.000 When they're flipping through Instagram, when they're flipping through TikTok, our stuff is going viral and it is making a difference.
00:35:13.000 In fact, one of my favorite things is when I'm on vacation or I'm traveling, when a liberal parent has to take the picture of their conservative son who likes me.
00:35:24.000 Oh, it's great.
00:35:26.000 Yeah, they asked me to take a picture, but I can't stand you, but my son loves you.
00:35:30.000 It just goes to show how viral what we are doing at Turning Point USA is.
00:35:36.000 And look, the left killed comedy.
00:35:37.000 We didn't.
00:35:38.000 And I think it's fine.
00:35:39.000 I mean, look, if you can't make fun of yourself or get made fun of, especially if you're a public figure, I mean, if you're making fun of just some guy on the side of the street, that's cruel.
00:35:46.000 I mean, look, but I'm a public figure, billions of views.
00:35:49.000 Okay, great.
00:35:50.000 So it's part of the game.
00:35:52.000 However, we did do some research, and we have been told that it's a very rare cultural accomplishment as a conservative to kind of be profiled on this program.
00:36:02.000 This is Tim Poole and also Steve Cortez saying that this is evidence that we are winning the culture war.
00:36:09.000 Play Cut 418.
00:36:10.000 Charlie Kirk, congratulations, man.
00:36:13.000 You made it.
00:36:14.000 It's wild because I'm pretty sure South Park is older than Charlie is.
00:36:18.000 Yeah.
00:36:18.000 By the way, so a huge win for Charlie Kirk, Chicago boy, like we are.
00:36:22.000 We love to see Chicago boys do well, but more importantly for the country.
00:36:25.000 You know, I think the point is here, you're right.
00:36:27.000 We are winning the culture war, right? 0.60
00:36:28.000 When South Pork Park feels that they need to mock a show host and a campaign operative, albeit a super important one, like Charlie Kirk.
00:36:37.000 And that is just more evidence and an example of the cultural penetration that we have enjoyed at Turning Point USA.
00:36:46.000 We commonly say that cult that politics is downstream from culture.
00:36:51.000 And what this shows is that through the phenomenon of us going on these campuses, by having those debates, by engaging in this, that South Park and the whole leadership team of South Park can't escape us.
00:37:03.000 And the response has been amazing because the left is very mad that I am not mad about this.
00:37:09.000 I changed my profile picture.
00:37:10.000 I think it's hilarious.
00:37:12.000 And yes, of course, and people say, Charlie, they're making fun of you.
00:37:14.000 Aren't you mad?
00:37:16.000 Okay, like, because I don't take myself as seriously as you take me, I suppose.
00:37:21.000 And also, just have a little lightheartedness about it.
00:37:24.000 Be able to take a joke.
00:37:25.000 It's okay.
00:37:26.000 It's part of life.
00:37:27.000 And it's just a symbol that we're making a big difference.
00:37:30.000 And look, I'm sure, again, to repeat myself, it is just going to, it's going to be pretty intense.
00:37:36.000 Fine, great.
00:37:38.000 And look, the whole season apparently is woke as dead.
00:37:41.000 So that was Cartman's thing in the last episode that Trump won and all the young people are conservative.
00:37:47.000 And look, the tweet that we put out of, by the way, can we put up that?
00:37:52.000 That's my new profile picture.
00:37:53.000 And apparently they have the PC principal behind him, which apparently the PC principal changed his name this season or something.
00:37:59.000 Is that right, Brian?
00:38:00.000 To something else?
00:38:02.000 I didn't watch the first episode, by the way, was super anti-Trump and really nasty.
00:38:07.000 And so we're anticipating it.
00:38:09.000 But yeah, look, so that tweet right there has 88,000 likes.
00:38:11.000 My favorite responses are liberals that are so mad.
00:38:15.000 And oh, yeah, it's the power Christian principle. 0.79
00:38:17.000 By the way, it's also, if you look at the little details, the picture of Cartman, he has the Holy Bible.
00:38:21.000 By the way, no joke.
00:38:23.000 I am not kidding you.
00:38:24.000 I told Mikey this fall I'm bringing a Bible with me actually so I can quote the scripture.
00:38:29.000 It's like hilarious.
00:38:30.000 South Park is one step ahead.
00:38:33.000 They're like one step ahead of us.
00:38:34.000 Now, the only thing that they're missing, and they might, they have time to fix it.
00:38:38.000 Where are my lozenges?
00:38:40.000 Where are the lozenges?
00:38:42.000 Where is the tea?
00:38:43.000 They got my hair perfect.
00:38:45.000 They got the security guard.
00:38:46.000 They even have the little background, the mic, the kind of the darker shirt.
00:38:51.000 And where are the hats?
00:38:52.000 It's exactly right.
00:38:54.000 And by the way, they have distilled my essence rather well.
00:38:58.000 And so I have to say that, again, we got to watch the episode, but if Cartman comes out throwing hats at people, woof, that'd be phenomenal.
00:39:07.000 And so we see no hats so far, but just the entire image and the entire thing is obviously us.
00:39:15.000 And so, again, just like we said with Media Matters yesterday, we love this.
00:39:19.000 It's all just another example of the cultural penetration, the success.
00:39:26.000 And we're going to take this in good step and in good spirit.
00:39:28.000 And it's just a good lesson for life, everybody.
00:39:30.000 Don't take yourself so seriously.
00:39:32.000 We're all sinners.
00:39:32.000 We all fall short of the glory of God.
00:39:34.000 We're all broken people.
00:39:36.000 And look, comedians got to do what comedians do.
00:39:39.000 They're going to throw stuff at you.
00:39:40.000 Have a little humility, have a little grace.
00:39:42.000 And, you know, if they go too far, they go too far.
00:39:43.000 It's like, okay, fine, whatever.
00:39:44.000 Just shrug your shoulders.
00:39:46.000 And that's the attitude that I encourage you guys to have in your life.
00:39:50.000 And we're going to really enjoy it.
00:39:52.000 It feels, and look, some people think that them mocking me will make it like attack us.
00:39:59.000 Honestly, it's not even an attack.
00:40:03.000 Of course, it's an attack.
00:40:03.000 It's that.
00:40:04.000 But in some ways, it'll only make us bigger.
00:40:06.000 It would only make us stronger.
00:40:07.000 And honestly, it is a thrill.
00:40:10.000 Growing up watching several episodes of South Park, I haven't watched it in about a decade, you know, been busy building some stuff, but it's without a doubt a cultural phenomenon.
00:40:17.000 I think they signed a $1.5 billion, $1.5 billion five-year deal with Paramount and CBS.
00:40:24.000 Is that right?
00:40:25.000 $1.5 billion, $33 million an episode.
00:40:30.000 $33 million an episode.
00:40:34.000 And so I am a happy in-kind contribution to the $33 million an episode.
00:40:40.000 But honestly, it is a fun moment.
00:40:43.000 And it goes to show that when we go to those campuses and producer Andrew fills in and we're doing hundreds of hours of debate a year on these campuses and explaining and teaching and being with students, that it's been so popular that now it is a really a household thing, moving the needle and helping to win this cultural battle.
00:41:02.000 Getting, no joke, billions and billions of views.
00:41:07.000 It is a remarkable thing to witness and to be a part of.
00:41:10.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.
00:41:11.000 Email us as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:41:14.000 Thanks so much for listening and God bless.
00:41:18.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk.com.