The Charlie Kirk Show - Charlie Kirk: A Life of Faith, A Legacy That Endures

00:00:33.000 I'm here in Utah with Andrew Colvet, Charlie Kirk's partner, and particularly on the content side.

00:00:41.000 First off, can you get us up to date?

00:00:42.000 How's everything doing?

00:00:43.000 How's everybody holding together?

00:00:48.000 You know, I think as good as could be expected, as well as could be expected.

00:00:55.000 You know, yesterday was a day that, you know, none of us ever wanted to live through or experience, and it was a horror and a nightmare.

00:01:06.000 Um, you know, at the same time I didn't, you know, I got when when the team told me that um you guys wanted me on the show this morning.

00:01:15.000 I candidly didn't want to do it, but um I knew Charlie would want me to be here.

00:01:20.000 And I could hear his voice in my head being like, you know, toughen up, you know, better figure it out.

00:01:26.000 You can handle this.

00:01:28.000 And um and so yeah, I mean, we're gonna, you know, just just like before, we're gonna do things that uh push us and we're comfortable with, but um that he would want us to do.

00:01:41.000 So um and um, you know, we're gonna take his spirit on and keep fighting and keep pushing and um yeah, but um it's still raw, you know.

00:01:54.000 It's it's a organization that's uh changed the direction of the country in American politics, but it's a very young organization with young people.

00:02:04.000 I mean, Charlie was young, and then and the thing about Charlie, he was a happy warrior, right?

00:02:09.000 No matter how intense it was always uh how how is the organization doing?

00:02:14.000 You you have so many young people there, right?

00:02:16.000 It's I mean Charlie started this thing when he was what, eighteen, nineteen, eighteen, nineteen years old.

00:02:21.000 How's the overall team doing?

00:02:24.000 You know, um I think the everybody's still in shock.

00:02:28.000 Um I think um, you know, we we held a prayer vigil at the HQ last night.

00:02:33.000 Uh it was beautiful.

00:02:35.000 There was outpourings of support from across the country.

00:02:38.000 Um vigils popped up in random places, and that was amazing to see.

00:02:44.000 And I think all over the world.

00:02:46.000 All over the world.

00:02:46.000 Yeah.

00:02:47.000 Um huge, spontaneous.

00:02:50.000 Self-organizing.

00:02:51.000 And um as Charlie would love.

00:02:53.000 Right.

00:02:53.000 I mean, that was his whole thing.

00:02:54.000 Yeah.

00:02:55.000 And um Yeah, I mean, listen, a lot of uh the senior leadership came straight here immediately.

00:03:02.000 Um there's a few senior leadership that are still in Phoenix.

00:03:06.000 And um listen, we're one of Charlie's I mean, absolute cries of his heart, and something I heard him say repeatedly was that we're building an institution that's gonna live beyond me.

00:03:20.000 And he said that over and over and over again.

00:03:23.000 Obviously, he is re uh irreplaceable and one of one.

00:03:28.000 Um but I know that's what he'd want.

00:03:31.000 And um already the outpouring of support from donors and supporters and friends um that want to keep the mission going and they want um Charlie's uh legacy, part of that legacy to be that it doesn't end with him.

00:03:48.000 And um I think that's something that we are very committed to.

00:03:52.000 And um there's you know, it's just a lot to there's a lot to still just process.

00:03:57.000 He picked you guys for a reason.

00:03:58.000 I mean, you've got uh you and Tyler and the senior team, uh, you know, he was building an institution.

00:04:05.000 That would live, you know, because Stacey.

00:04:07.000 Charlie, I told Charlie all the time he was a future president of the United States at some point in time he was going to go into elective politics, right?

00:04:15.000 Therefore he would the institution would survive him as he went on and did other, you know, either ran for governor of Arizona or ran for the US Senate uh or you know, was picked as a vice presidential candidate, right?

00:04:27.000 So the in s he was building an institution the entire time, knowing that his future wasn't always gonna be turning point.

00:04:35.000 He would turning point would stand on its own at some point in time.

00:04:39.000 Yeah, I mean that's true.

00:04:40.000 Um obviously we uh anticipated um Charlie being with Turning Point a lot longer and sort of always being there, whether it was emeritus, you know, uh or not.

00:04:51.000 But um, you know, I I know um what you're saying is true, you know.

00:04:57.000 Uh my my wife um just this morning before I left to come here said the same thing.

00:05:02.000 It's like God has put you guys in this position for such a time as this and for a purpose and a reason, and he knew what he was doing, and I believed that.

00:05:10.000 And um, you know, uh I think right now we still have some mourning and grieving, obviously, to do.

00:05:18.000 And um, but yeah, I mean Charlie the the if if we wanted to disgrace the legacy of Charlie Kirk, it would be not carrying on his mission.

00:05:30.000 And that is not an option.

00:05:32.000 No, he was a fighter.

00:05:34.000 I mean, his life ended right there when he's doing what he loved to do, right?

00:05:37.000 Debate.

00:05:38.000 Let's play.

00:05:38.000 Can we play?

00:05:39.000 I want to play President Trump's remarks about Charlie at the beginning of the Pentagon commemoration for 9-11.

00:05:46.000 Can we go and play that?

00:05:46.000 And I want to get I want to get the feedback from Andrew.

00:05:50.000 Before we begin, let me express the horror and grief.

00:05:55.000 So many Americans at the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk have felt.

00:06:03.000 Charlie was a giant of his generation, a champion of liberty, and an inspiration to millions and millions of people.

00:06:11.000 Our prayers are with his wonderful wife Eric and his beautiful children.

00:06:17.000 Fantastic people they are.

00:06:19.000 We miss him greatly, yet I have no doubt that Charlie's voice and the courage he put into the hearts of countless people, especially young people, will live on.

00:06:32.000 I'm pleased to announce that I will soon be awarding Charlie Kirk posthumously the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

00:06:42.000 The date of the ceremony will be announced and I can only guarantee you one thing that we will have a very big crowd.

00:06:48.000 Very, very big.

00:06:49.000 So Charlie posthumously awarded by the president the Medal of Freedom.

00:06:57.000 That's a pretty powerful statement by the president of the United States.

00:07:01.000 Yeah.

00:07:01.000 Um, um I'm reminded of so many conversations where I would ask Charlie, well, you know, what did the president say?

00:07:10.000 You know, what is and and uh so many times his answer is like, you you know, people just understand.

00:07:16.000 Like we're actually friends.

00:07:17.000 Like we're good friends.

00:07:20.000 And he loved him.

00:07:22.000 And I know Trump loved Charlie.

00:07:24.000 And um it wasn't transactional.

00:07:27.000 And Steve, you know this.

00:07:29.000 Um Charlie was loyal to a fault.

00:07:32.000 And um, you know, I'd see the people on online uh, you know, criticizing if they if Trump did something they disagreed with and and Charlie wasn't loud enough, you know, against it.

00:07:43.000 And people just didn't understand Charlie was loyal.

00:07:46.000 He was fundamentally good and decent.

00:07:50.000 And anybody who knew him intimately knew that he was overly loyal, overly generous, overly decent, impatient.

00:07:58.000 Um, and so many people that um, you know, uh maybe didn't treat him the way they should have.

00:08:04.000 Charlie would never return like for like, and he really saw his role as keeping the coalition together that Trump built in 2024 and that turning point played a huge role and Charlie played a huge role, and you played a huge role, Steve.

00:08:20.000 And uh keeping that coalition together um because he didn't see this as a a four-year win.

00:08:27.000 He saw it as as a generational win as a 60-year win that he wanted to build upon for the sake of his kids and uh this country.

00:08:36.000 And um, you know, uh I think um I can hear it in the president's voice this morning um that uh he lost a friend as we all did, and um I think it's a great honor.

00:08:49.000 I know Charlie is honored and his wife is honored, Erica, and it's well deserved.

00:08:57.000 Charlie a man, particularly people that may have not had a chance to go to the turning point events or C Trying.

00:09:02.000 What always impressed me the most was not simply the hard work or the pressures under because he was dealing at the highest level and build this organization.

00:09:10.000 I call him the happy warrior.

00:09:12.000 He was never down, totally up, no matter what the circums was, circumstances was, he'd always say, We'll figure it out, right?

00:09:20.000 These very complex events, and then of course the ground game, which you guys delivered Arizona and Pennsylvania, right?

00:09:28.000 Besides helping in Georgia and Michigan and Wisconsin, two states that put Trump over the top.

00:09:32.000 Talk to us about uh Charlie the man, particularly as this positive energy that was always out there because obviously the the left-wing media is uh you know accusing Charlie or hate speech and being divisive, he was anything really but divisive.

00:09:46.000 No, I mean for people who really know I mean the clips that go viral, it's just the internet doing the internet, what the internet does, you know, where it gets you know lively.

00:09:55.000 And Charlie understood that dynamic.

00:09:57.000 I mean, he but as he got older, these campus debates especially turned into big brother teaching.

00:10:04.000 Yeah, and and 90% of the interactions.

00:10:07.000 If you go back and look, it 90% of the interactions, he was so soft and gentle and patient with these people.

00:10:12.000 And the people that really understood what you're trying to teach.

00:10:15.000 Yes, he would be yes, exactly.

00:10:17.000 He became such more much more of a big brother figure, um, or role model figure.

00:10:23.000 And um, you know, Charlie, some of my my favorite moments with Charlie was just flying on planes late at night, you know, across the country, darting all over the place during the campaign or whatever, and um, you know, the weight of the world really was on his shoulders, and here we are joking at you know, 35,000 feet um and having just a blast, and um the the Charlie was funny, he was really funny, and he never you know that's not part of what people think about Charlie.

00:10:53.000 He was hilarious.

00:10:54.000 Um, and he was he had this uncle uncanny ability, Steve, to think about others like more.

00:11:03.000 I and I told my wife this last night.

00:11:05.000 I said he thought about me and like my travel or my family or how he could make my life better, or if he could help me out in some way or get me a hotel more than I thought about me.

00:11:15.000 And he would be like, Hey, does you just is your wife, you know, is she set up?

00:11:19.000 Did you do you do you need us to do something for her?

00:11:21.000 Like, let me know.

00:11:22.000 And he would just constantly do that.

00:11:24.000 And I would be thinking, this guy has his schedule so tightly backed, like a Tetris, you know, board.

00:11:30.000 And yet somehow he made space in his brain to worry about me.

00:11:34.000 And I knew that he was doing that for literally hundreds of people almost every day.

00:11:38.000 And uh, I don't know how he did it.

00:11:40.000 Um, but it's truly remarkable.

00:11:42.000 Let's talk about let's talk about that together.

00:11:44.000 The content and and uh and the building organization, and particularly something he focused on ballot chasing a ground game, given the experiences we had.

00:11:52.000 The last weekend of his life, he spent with Mina Kim uh in the and the folks in Korea, that tremendous conference.

00:11:59.000 You guys have done tremendous work there with Grace Chung and um Tyler too.

00:12:03.000 And Tyler by Zoom.

00:12:04.000 Yeah, okay.

00:12:05.000 Um the let's bring in title Bory.

00:12:07.000 We'll give this a second.

00:12:08.000 Tyler Boyer joins us now.

00:12:10.000 Uh Charlie's um head of kind of the political operation.

00:12:14.000 Uh Tyler, your memories uh of Charlie, particularly the upbeat nature and the positive energy he put in everything.

00:12:23.000 Yes, Steve, thank you for having us.

00:12:25.000 And and I, you know, I I just echo everything that Andrew said is we have been in just a constant state of of mourning here.

00:12:35.000 But as we're going through all this, what you said is that him being a happy warrior was the front face for what Charlie Kirk is and what continues on.

00:12:45.000 And you know, we're out fighting a battle every single day, and this is part of that battle.

00:12:52.000 Uh that I know everybody's waking up to this morning, and you know, they've yeah, like a lot like me, probably didn't get a whole lot of sleep, but you're going through and you're looking at the legacy of Charlie Kirk and who he is, and the man that that he led the organization with,

00:13:11.000 and you know, you start to just to break down what the next steps are here, and there's a lot of emotions that I think a lot of people are feeling right now.

00:13:22.000 And you know, there's a sense of patriotism.

00:13:25.000 I think that comes in moments like these, and that's that's a good thing.

00:13:31.000 That's that's a that's a great thing.

00:13:32.000 I I'm telling people right now, the anger, those feelings that you're feeling uh must turn to activism, turn into activism.

00:13:42.000 Uh that's what Charlie would want.

00:13:45.000 And you know, being a person like me or Andrew, who's has had like a front row seat to the Charlie Kirk show, you know, in a bigger sense, not the say a little S on big S from the capitalization of the show.

00:13:59.000 But being around Charlie and seeing how he operates and uh building things every single day.

00:14:05.000 And I don't think people realize every single day the plan of waking up is what are we building next?

00:14:11.000 What are we doing next?

00:14:12.000 What is the next step?

00:14:13.000 What is what is the country need uh to essentially survive?

00:14:18.000 And and that's why it's just you know, it's been such a pleasure, uh, such an honor of a lifetime to be able to be part of that.

00:14:28.000 Uh, because without many of those things, we wouldn't be where we are today in the movement.

00:14:32.000 And and I I know you know you feel that way, and but it wasn't a mistake by any means that we are we are where we are with with young people with the party with everything.

00:14:43.000 So he was building an institution.

00:14:47.000 He had you were putting up amazing amount of content every day.

00:14:50.000 Tyler is one of the key architects of Trump's victory in 24 with the ground game and ballot chasing, which as a learning organization, you learned yourself the importance of that in the Carrie Lake race.

00:15:03.000 And you know, I remember Charlie saying in Tyler, that'll never happen again, right?

00:15:07.000 And and and it it manifested itself in the victory in 2020.

00:15:11.000 Okay.

00:15:11.000 And look, Charlie Kirk was assassinated in cold blood.

00:15:14.000 Charlie Kirk was executed.

00:15:16.000 Uh we're gonna get to the bottom of that, right?

00:15:20.000 And you know, that'll be dealt with when it's gotta be dealt with.

00:15:24.000 But the work of Charlie Kirk, particularly the three things of building the institution, which was so powerful, really telling everybody I can change with this institution, the arc of uh uh where young people's perception of politics and engagement in politics and volunteering in politics, and therefore the arc of the nation, which he did.

00:15:46.000 This is what 2024 was.

00:15:48.000 You two guys are the two key guys.

00:15:50.000 You on the content side, more or less, and Tyler on the political side.

00:15:54.000 And what I always impressed me about you guys and Charlie, you he created a learning institution.

00:16:00.000 I remember coming on the show the all-night in the weeb hours of the morning, Carrie Lake, this this county's coming in, this district's coming in.

00:16:10.000 And and I remember Tyler and Charlie and you guys afterwards, okay.

00:16:14.000 We've learned a lesson here, and it's never gonna happen again.

00:16:17.000 And we will build an organization to the fact that Tyler and look, if it was not been for turning point, your guys' focus on getting the kids up, or particularly ballot chasing low propensity, low information voters, President Trump would not be in the White House right now.

00:16:31.000 There's uh I uh I totally agree.

00:16:33.000 We were we were la laughing yesterday, like that uh Charlie would have been upset that we weren't streaming last night.

00:16:39.000 Um Charlie Charlie would have wanted us to do it.

00:16:44.000 And that's partly why I'm here this morning.

00:16:46.000 Um, you know, I couldn't help but think, and I hope this isn't you know too bold of me to say, but watching the second tower uh commemoration.

00:16:56.000 I feel like you know, America just lost a third tower of a man uh yesterday.

00:17:02.000 And um we're gonna miss him.

00:17:05.000 But um, but we built an institution, he built an institution um designed to set stand the test of time and to be able to ride out these uh these waves and the different iterations of our political environment and the different generations to come behind.

00:17:22.000 And so um, and I do, I can just tell you there is the outpouring of love and support, blowing me away some of the text I'm getting.

00:17:30.000 And so, yeah, those three prongs.

00:17:32.000 I mean, he he did build a learning institution.

00:17:35.000 We were taking education into the universities that the universities weren't doing.

00:17:40.000 And there was such a hunger and a thirst on these campuses from these kids to see that that that that combat of of ideas and the back and forth, and to hear people say something unapologetic about what they believed and they stood by it and they could defend it.

00:17:59.000 And um and that piece, Steve.

00:18:02.000 I mean, we there's a uh a polster, Mitchell Brown is one of the Trump pulsar signal.

00:18:07.000 He did a a uh a poll after the election, and basically if you extrapolate it out, it was 16 or 17 million young people were more likely to vote for Trump um across the country because of the content that Charlie Kirk made on these college campuses.

00:18:24.000 Uh President Trump awarded posthumously Charlie Kirk the presidential medal of freedom, which is the highest civilian honor uh that one could get.

00:18:32.000 He's also announced he was going to give one to Rudy Giuliani the mayor, as we see in the New York shots is in the front row there as America's mayor.

00:18:39.000 Tyler, um I remember uh when I say learning institutions, you got Charlie led an institution.

00:18:48.000 You guys didn't kid yourselves.

00:18:50.000 I remember coming on the show, uh but you guys were in the studio and I would come on and literally in the Carrie Lake thing, we're going, remember is this precinct, you know.

00:18:59.000 And you guys after that really changed everything by coming up with this ballot chasing initiative.

00:19:06.000 And this ballot chasing initiative is hard work, and it's not the type of work you think young people are gonna be that excited about.

00:19:12.000 But you guys, tell Tyle Tyler, tell us about that because the reason we're here today with a House and a Senate and the presidency is because the work of Charlie's vision of Charlie Kirk in the work of the team around him, sir.

00:19:27.000 Yeah, and and you're exactly right, Steve.

00:19:30.000 And you know this is we've buckled in and and got again an introspection into the world of politics, the R and C what the Republican establishment wasn't doing uh on behalf of the American people.

00:19:46.000 And decided made it made a a decision.

00:19:49.000 Charlie made a decision to do that work.

00:19:52.000 And it's not easy work, it's big work, and we knew we had the people to do the work.

00:19:57.000 And so we felt and Charlie had always felt this way, it's felt like there was a mantle that that needed to be carried by him with his influence, especially with young men in this last election to get that work done, and and that's all of the conversations we had moving forward.

00:20:17.000 And so you look at, you know, the the most recent conversation I had with Charlie was you know this last week of being dramatically concerned about the direction of of where the Republican Party's going, about you know, conservatives, uh lifting up conservatives,

00:20:34.000 making sure that we have enough young people that feel like they have the backing to run to run for he's constantly focused on who from the who in the bench were we building, just like we were focused on every single day, you know, getting things done by 9 a.m.

00:20:51.000 Uh, you know, having a full agenda of things that we're gonna move the needle.

00:20:55.000 The big question was is who's going to be the next man up to to fill the need and fill the void, and then how are we going to help those people make sure that they get elected?

00:21:06.000 And those are the two very simple things when we talk about ballot chasing that that Charlie and his legacy will carry on.

00:21:12.000 We will carry it on as so many people within our within our sphere with our ecosystem are uh hopefully yesterday waking up and realizing they have to get more involved, they have to do more, they have to help chase ballots, they have to help get out the vote,

00:21:27.000 they have to run for office, they have to step up because life is is fragile, it's short, and this country is hanging by a thread at times, and we are very lucky this last election, we were able to uh bring all of that together and and work with the team from the content side to the turning point USA side,

00:21:50.000 building the the funnel for the bench, and then working on the political side to actually put bodies on the ground that we need.

00:21:58.000 And again, we're looking ahead to 2026 and 2028.

00:22:01.000 You know, and I said this to some of our team yesterday is there's there's nothing that we can do more to honor Charlie than to see this thing through.

00:22:11.000 It cannot lose steam, it cannot lose any kind of gas whatsoever.

00:22:14.000 We have a war to fight, we have a fight.

00:22:17.000 Charlie Kirk Charlie Kirk would want to finish what we started, right?

00:22:21.000 That was about but I'll start with Andrew, then I want to bring you in Tyler.

00:22:26.000 When I looked at Charlie, I said, this guy's tapped into something, and what it was Was a deep spirituality and a focus on young men.

00:22:34.000 He realized that young men were were were lost.

00:22:37.000 Tell me about this.

00:22:37.000 Oh, I mean you know, uh, we saw it in the social media metrics.

00:22:42.000 Um, we saw it in the crowds.

00:22:45.000 Um, we saw it and just, you know, he couldn't walk down a street, and I kept telling this because you know, after the fall of 2025 and into the spring, we had to kind of recalibrate because he was so so so famous.

00:22:59.000 Like 24.

00:23:01.000 24, fall 24, spring of 20.

00:23:03.000 Yeah.

00:23:05.000 And it was like, you know, he was always pretty well known.

00:23:09.000 Um, you know, even when I first started working with him, like, you know, eight years ago, you know, he'd get fist bumps in the airport and stuff like that from random people.

00:23:17.000 But then like, I mean, it went so nuclear.

00:23:20.000 Um, and it would always be these young, young guys.

00:23:23.000 Charlie, can I get a selfie?

00:23:24.000 Can I get a self?

00:23:25.000 I mean, and they would mob him, they would mob him.

00:23:26.000 It didn't matter if he was walking on the street of Manhattan or in Seoul, South Korea, or uh London, England, or you know, Montana, or anybody anywhere in between.

00:23:37.000 It was it was incredible.

00:23:39.000 I have a story for you that you probably enjoy, Steve.

00:23:42.000 He was hanging out with some Fox uh personalities, on-air fox personalities, and they were at this bar and they were kind of you know, uh talking.

00:23:51.000 They wanted to talk about some some things.

00:23:54.000 And I won't say the names, because that would be Charlie wouldn't want these were people that you would you would know.

00:23:59.000 These are people that the public would know.

00:24:01.000 Of course, like very well-known people within conservative movement.

00:24:04.000 Right.

00:24:05.000 And they're at this bar because that's the only place nearby.

00:24:07.000 Just imagine.

00:24:08.000 I think I'm gonna love this story.

00:24:10.000 Yeah.

00:24:11.000 And you gotta understand, um, you know, Charlie Charlie, you know, had a good relationship with Fox, especially at the end, but there was times where it wasn't, you know, where he wasn't hanging out, like for three years when he was banned because of your guy's work on stolen election and all that, but what does it matter now?

00:24:28.000 I mean, it was you know, it was after after Tucker.

00:24:30.000 There was, but anyways, they they ended up embracing, and it was it was uh it was good, it was good.

00:24:35.000 Anyways, I I I want to be I want to be gracious in this time.

00:24:38.000 It was good.

00:24:39.000 Anyway, so part of that getting good time, they're at they're talking about they're talking at this bar.

00:24:43.000 And it's in a small town.

00:24:45.000 I mean, you can imagine Fox is on every television in this town.

00:24:49.000 And um, and there was a series of about 50 to 75 people, I'm told, over the course of about an hour, and they all came up for selfies with Charlie.

00:25:00.000 And on about 20 of those occasions, they asked these very famous Fox hosts if they could take the selfie with Charlie.

00:25:07.000 They could take the picture.

00:25:08.000 Right.

00:25:09.000 Can you work the camera for him again?

00:25:11.000 And so, yeah, I mean, like that was that that was what Charlie's life had become, and he told me he's like, I've just I've um I've come to grips with it.

00:25:19.000 I've accepted this as my new reality, and uh, but the the amount of love just that he organically got.

00:25:24.000 Look at look at we'll play later today in the afternoon show.

00:25:27.000 Mean the great meeting of Kim, Grace and Mo go over to Korea.

00:25:30.000 And Charlie, I mean, there's thousands of people at this thing, and Charlie's like such a known personality, right?

00:25:36.000 It's just it's incredible.

00:25:37.000 It's it's it's global, it's not just the United States, it's so global.

00:25:40.000 Uh Tyler, uh Tyler, talk to me about the focus on men.

00:25:44.000 Why did you choose?

00:25:45.000 Why did Charlie Kirk particularly focus on young men and made the point continually that they're adrift, that something's happened different uh now in our country that's never happened before.

00:25:56.000 That young men are kind of adrift, and and we turning point in the senior leadership need to focus on that.

00:26:03.000 Well, well, Steve, remember I met I met Charlie when he was basically a teenager, and you're not too long after that.

00:26:09.000 And uh, you know, Andrew and I are uh the exact same age, and we have a very similar family, so we married and kids and everything else.

00:26:18.000 And I think one of the pleasures of getting that front row seat with Charlie is being able to see Charlie uh grow into a husband and a father.

00:26:30.000 And for us being a little bit older than him, I'm sorry.

00:26:38.000 It was always extremely gratifying to watch him become the man he he wanted to be that he saw for himself.

00:26:49.000 Uh that he advocated for from day one, even as a young guy.

00:26:57.000 That he wanted to be that honorable uh vision of a father and a husband for Erica that he is and you know that many people know this story, but you know, Erica I I met Erica hosting the very first Trump rally ever.

00:27:17.000 We we'd organized it in 2015 in July of 2015, and it was a Phoenix, and it was what started the whole Trump Trump rally phenomenon.

00:27:28.000 It was the first big one in Phoenix.

00:27:30.000 But maybe people don't realize behind Trump speaking, was my family, and Erica was right behind the president.

00:27:40.000 And she I wanted to hire her.

00:27:44.000 Charlie had different plans for that.

00:27:46.000 He uh he met Erica and was like, oh my gosh, I have to marry this girl.

00:27:51.000 And he did.

00:27:52.000 And her world is collapsing, you know, because of this this circumstance.

00:28:01.000 But he wanted to be a father and a husband and a father first.

00:28:06.000 And so when you talk about young men and that influence over young men, every single decision that has been made for year many years, you know, I would say pretty close to the beginning of turning point has been centered around this being a good husband and a good father figure and how we can influence young men.

00:28:27.000 And when you have that as your as your mission first, as your voice first, you attract young men.

00:28:35.000 And it wasn't popular to be that, you know, 10 years ago when when you know, 11 years ago when I met Charlie.

00:28:42.000 Uh and now it is popular.

00:28:44.000 You we see it everywhere and everything that we do.

00:28:47.000 Young men admire Charlie Kirk for the husband and dad that he is.

00:28:53.000 And I think that that's the most important thing that I want people to know.

00:29:00.000 He was such a great example that all of us then knew him the best, and that we we gotta watch him operate because there was never a decision that was made that didn't go through that lens, and that's so important for people to know.

00:29:17.000 And it's such an example, and that's why young men are coming around because they're figuring out that that's the way.

00:29:24.000 There's nothing better than having kids, there's nothing better than being used, but there's nothing better than putting your family first.

00:29:29.000 So I'm so sorry.

00:29:31.000 Like so.

00:29:34.000 No, it's great.

00:29:35.000 How did Charlie how did Sheri Clerk do that?

00:29:38.000 How did he make himself into the man that he wanted to be?

00:29:43.000 Well, I gotta say, um, Erica gets a lot of credit for that.

00:29:48.000 When Erica came around, I mean Charlie knew what his North Star was, but then when Erica came around, it was like just focused him like a laser.

00:29:57.000 And um, if anybody who knows Erica knows she's like legitimately one of the most amazing people you're ever gonna meet.

00:30:05.000 And this is why Charlie continue to focus on marriage and particularly getting married young and starting a family and family formation.

00:30:11.000 Well, but he was in very Charlie fashion to tell a story, you know.

00:30:16.000 Tyler, you know, he's like, he basically told Erica, you know, I have some bad news and some good news.

00:30:22.000 Uh the bad news is, you know, I'm not gonna hire you at turning point.

00:30:25.000 The good news is like I want to date you.

00:30:27.000 And they went on, they went on dates and obviously ended up getting married.

00:30:32.000 And um, and that was very Charlie because he was, you know, one thing I can tell you is from 18 to 31, Charlie packed more life into his those short days than most humans will pack into a hundred.

00:30:49.000 And he lived his life so full.

00:30:53.000 And he, you know, I was just reflecting on what Tyler was just saying about young men and your question, you know.

00:30:59.000 I got off topic, I apologize.

00:31:01.000 But your question about young men, and you had this this NBC poll that came out just a couple days ago, and Charlie was so excited about it because he said he said, Listen, we got a lot of work to do with the women.

00:31:10.000 He's like, but we've done some great work with young men.

00:31:13.000 Like they know it, they want to have uh talk about married.

00:31:17.000 Because uh the number one thing of young men is they wanna they want to have children.

00:31:21.000 Yeah, and and Charlie, Charlie, I mean, we preached it so I mean, and by the way, that's this is this is existing in a world full of other voices, even some on the right that say, well, you know, you know, don't get married, it's not worth it.

00:31:35.000 The the marriage laws are XYZ and Charlie's P POV was like, let's let's make them sacred again.

00:31:42.000 Let's restore this institution because it's God's design, and he said that over and over again.

00:31:46.000 God's design is beautiful.

00:31:48.000 God's design is amazing.

00:31:49.000 Let's pour into it.

00:31:51.000 Let's lean into God's design.

00:31:52.000 And um, and I can just tell you with the outpouring of all the letters and the notes, and I've been showing you here that my team is sending me from all the vigils that these pictures of these notes and handwritten notes with tears, right stains on them, and um, you know, they keep saying, like, you led me back to faith in God, you led me back, you restored my faith.

00:32:16.000 And um Charlie wanted to be remembered for his faith.

00:32:19.000 And so I'm just so proud of that.

00:32:21.000 And Steve, with your permission, I wanted to I wanted to read um something that's gonna be going up on our uh turning point socials very soon.

00:32:30.000 Um our team put their heads together and wrote this and says, and you're gonna see this on the website soon, but I figured I'd give it to you here first, Steve.

00:32:39.000 Um every one of us at turning point is crushed and devastated by the hateful murder of our founder and guiding light, Charlie Kirk.

00:32:48.000 All of us have lost a leader, a mentor, and a friend.

00:32:53.000 Above all, our hearts are with Erica and their two children.

00:32:57.000 Charlie was the ideal husband and the perfect father.

00:33:01.000 Above all else, we ask you to pray for the Kirks after the incomprehensible loss that they have suffered.

00:33:07.000 More than anyone, Charlie believed in the power of argument and good faith debate to find the truth and guide people towards, if not agreement, at least mutual understanding.

00:33:17.000 Charlie was no stranger to threats.

00:33:19.000 He received hundreds throughout his life, and really it was almost daily.

00:33:24.000 Um, but he will always he always prioritized reaching as many young Americans as possible over his own personal safety.

00:33:32.000 Now Charlie has become America's greatest martyr to the freedom of speech he so adored.

00:33:38.000 In his 31 years, Charlie lived more than any of us will live in a hundred.

00:33:42.000 He had an overwhelming passion for life and a deep belief in his power as an individual to make a difference.

00:33:48.000 With the spirit of a pioneer, Charlie launched turning point out of his parents' garage as an 18-year-old with no money, no name recognition, and only a dream.

00:33:56.000 His energy and drive were awe-inspiring, without equal, and deeply infectious.

00:34:02.000 Charlie refused to squander a single day of his life.

00:34:05.000 And that's so true.

00:34:06.000 He was a natural builder and problem solver who loved to challenge and saw every setback as a chance to learn, grow, pray and try again.

00:34:15.000 He was fundamentally decent, always eager to make new friends and allies and to support and defend the ones he already had made.

00:34:22.000 His values were timeless American ones.

00:34:25.000 Honesty, forthrightness, duty, loyalty, and fair play.

00:34:30.000 And I'm almost done.

00:34:31.000 No, it's fantastic.

00:34:32.000 Keep going.

00:34:33.000 Charlie loved America, its people, its constitution, its freedom, and the limitless good of all of all of them have done for the entire world.

00:34:44.000 But above all, Charlie lived every day with an overflowing love of the Christ he knew he would one day get to see.

00:34:52.000 When asked, Charlie said that above all, he wished to be remembered for his faith.

00:34:56.000 Far more than any political victory, Charlie wanted to see a spiritual revival among America's youth.

00:35:02.000 He wanted a nation of happy, thriving families who loved God and each other.

00:35:07.000 And at his final public speech, just days before his murder, Charlie witnessed to Jesus Christ to an audience of non-believers.

00:35:16.000 Even in his very last moments, Charlie was professing the gospel.

00:35:20.000 He ran his way race well all the way to the end.

00:35:24.000 Now he goes to his heavenly reward.

00:35:26.000 Although Charlie is gone, his legacy will endure.

00:35:29.000 He shall not grow old.

00:35:31.000 Age shall not weary him.

00:35:41.000 For all time, he will remain the brave young man who inspired tens of millions of Americans to better themselves and take action to better America.

00:35:56.000 All of us will miss Charlie.

00:35:58.000 None of us will ever forget him.

00:36:02.000 Fantastic.

00:36:04.000 Tyler, uh comments, observations.

00:36:07.000 Beautiful.

00:36:10.000 Yeah, it's the one of the most beautiful things that the team has put together is is that and it's it's important for people uh to know that that work, his focus on again,

00:36:26.000 what we were talking about young men, uh rebuilding the home is the fundamental to uh having a faith-centered life, and you know, his belief that culture uh downstream from cultures is how you get your politics.

00:36:45.000 And so we talked about that.

00:36:47.000 We train all of our staff to that every single day.

00:36:51.000 And and that is what the culmination of what the the full Charlie Kirk perspective was, and it was and the beautiful part about this last election in 2024 was people saw it was undeniable that everyone on the left could see it.

00:37:08.000 Forget the right that you know we sometimes think we see these things, but the left saw it, and they were so they were so scared of that because the left could never uh embrace any of these values.

00:37:21.000 They they're not interested in any of these values, and that's why these conservative principles that you know we have worked with so many young people at all different ages, you know, everything from high school, college, you know, colleges are bread and butter, which is the heartbeat of turning point USA,

00:37:38.000 where we started, and you know, pulling Charlie Kirk pulling out a uh uh folding table on campus, a uh card table on campus and handing out flyers that he printed himself uh out of a small office and in Illinois in the shadows of the Obama re-elect campaign.

00:37:55.000 People don't understand this was all born from the shadows of the Obama re-elect campaign, uh heading to 2012, where you had a Chicago boy in the shadows of the Obama re-elect campaign that was out of uh the Chicago metro area working as a as a a true uh small versus large uh battle.

00:38:24.000 I mean, one kid, all of this, millions of voices, tens of millions of voices now have come out of it over the last decade uh plus.

00:38:33.000 And it's really been such an honor to see how that work is culminated and and the fruit that it's bore and it will continue to bear.

00:38:42.000 Um, and and that's the that's the mission that we have to be on at this point, which is we have to carry the baton of what Charlie's vision was because it's it's irrep, it's not replicable, uh, but millions of people can uh can stand in the pocket,

00:39:03.000 can uh can be uh a a version that version of American that Charlie hoped to influence uh because that was not the path that we were on uh in in 2011, 2012, and and Charlie stepped in as a as a teenager to give America a voice again, to give conservatives a voice again.

00:39:32.000 And uh just like Andrew had said, he's go always, you know, there was always that question of uh I can't really envision you know, an old man Charlie Kirk, and for many of us, it was envisioning him as president of the United States for that reason.

00:39:48.000 And he is now going to live on forever in all of forever and eternity as that young man who did that work, who engaged in that work, uh, who changed so many lives, who dramatically changed the trajectory of where America was heading.

00:40:05.000 And I don't think anyone can ever you know fully comprehend what that what that will do, what that will what that will bear over the course of the next decades.

00:40:18.000 Uh but we'll see it and we know, and again, we'll be able to have those conversations and and remember him for that.

00:40:25.000 You've you've never had uh uh uh someone of that age.

00:40:29.000 And remember, Charlie did not have a college degree.

00:40:33.000 Charlie did this as a teenager.

00:40:34.000 And And you have to go back to the revolutionary generation, Hamilton, Jefferson, people like that in that youth, right?

00:40:41.000 To see somebody at that age do it.

00:40:44.000 Um, I know you guys got so much to do, and I appreciate taking that, but I want to finish what with one just observations um from both you, and I'll start with uh with uh you, Andrew.

00:40:54.000 People don't realize the bravery and cur courage is the most important of all virtues, as we know because upon courage, all other virtues rest.

00:41:04.000 People do not understand the pressure, the tension and the threats against Charlie Kirk that he just goes, I'm not gonna stop this work.

00:41:13.000 I mean he was assassinated in the very moment of what he did, what really changed the arc of this country personal engagement in in an upbeat mode, but but digging in on debate and and free speech and the sharing of ideas and changing minds.

00:41:31.000 But talk to me about he constantly, you guys, he was under uh threats and he and he would not back off.

00:41:37.000 He did not, and that's what we have to understand here.

00:41:40.000 We cannot uh back off, we can't flinch.

00:41:42.000 Your thoughts.

00:41:43.000 I mean, I hate to be the guy, but I begged him to do less.

00:41:48.000 I was, you know, worried about his energy level.

00:41:50.000 I was worried about his his uh his health.

00:41:53.000 And um I begged him to, you know, maybe we don't need to do uh a fall tour this way.

00:42:00.000 Maybe we could put glass up.

00:42:01.000 I mean, we've talked about all this stuff, and he just you know how Charlie was.

00:42:05.000 He was just like, no, I'm not gonna do that.

00:42:06.000 You know, like, you know, I want to be close to everybody, you know.

00:42:09.000 And um, you know, and and our security team is legitimately top notch for anybody wondering.

00:42:15.000 They they worked so long and extensively with local PD and advancing all of these stops.

00:42:21.000 I mean, we have like an army of these guys.

00:42:24.000 Yeah, and he did want to do that.

00:42:26.000 But he, you know, and I in some ways, you know, he died with his boots on and with the microphone in his hand, doing what he loved most to do.

00:42:32.000 And I want people to understand Charlie loved this like format, this moment with these students.

00:42:40.000 He learned so much.

00:42:41.000 He would always say that I learned so much.

00:42:44.000 He loved it.

00:42:45.000 He and and he died doing what he loved, and I know that because I saw it firsthand.

00:42:50.000 I was the I was the voice in his ear going like, maybe we shouldn't try no, he's like, I love this.

00:42:55.000 You don't understand.

00:42:56.000 Um caps and engagement.

00:42:59.000 He loved it.

00:43:00.000 Tyler, your closing thoughts and observations, sir.

00:43:04.000 What Andrew just said is exactly right.

00:43:06.000 This is this was the work the man loved.

00:43:08.000 Uh there is nothing that was going to stop Charlie Kirk from doing the work that he loved to do.

00:43:14.000 Doing the work that was uh very directly what was needed to be done to to put this country on the right track.

00:43:21.000 Uh that debt of gratitude that we all have that have been around Charlie, that have worked with Charlie uh in in the trenches that have uh been in the battles.

00:43:32.000 I mean, we've seen I I've been with Charlie.

00:43:35.000 You've we've seen it, we've told these stories before where we've been attacked by Antifa.

00:43:40.000 Uh in in places we've been uh uh you know spit on and and hit and stuff has been thrown at us.

00:43:49.000 We've seen it all from early days to to where we are today.

00:43:53.000 And he's just become more loved, and as we know, as he's become more loved, is that there's the the crazy people and the the radicals that that are very uncomfortable with how that popularity is ascended.

00:44:10.000 And again, the best thing that we can do is teach others to fearlessly do the work, the brave work that has to be done in order for this country to survive, for the constitutional republic to be defended.

00:44:24.000 Uh there was no there was no pathway for a Trump revival without Charlie Kirk.

00:44:31.000 There was no pathway for a Trump revival without uh all of the energy that you see in these images of particularly young men, but young people in general coming around, turning around.

00:44:47.000 Uh that pride that Charlie had that we had shifted in many of these states well more than double digits to the right.

00:44:57.000 Young people.

00:44:58.000 I mean, in some of these places, we're talking 30, 40 points.

00:45:01.000 And we should have to this is generational change that will never stop or be forgotten.

00:45:07.000 And so that's the best way we can honor Charlie's to risk honor and respect his work, how he went about his work, and then do our best to do pieces of it to to replicate it.

00:45:19.000 And I know that that's what all of our people are thinking about today.

00:45:23.000 Uh as we wake up and we think about Charlie and his legacy.

00:45:27.000 And I know, Steve, I just want to say this.

00:45:29.000 I know he how much he loved and adored you.

00:45:32.000 Um as a as a guy that was in the foxhole with him constantly.

00:45:37.000 And you know, we talked about that loyalty.

00:45:40.000 That was that was felt both ways with you.

00:45:43.000 And and I know I just want to say on behalf of the entire turning point family, and for for myself, is I I can't thank you enough for being that great friend to Charlie through the thick and vent.

00:45:54.000 Because that's what that's what you know enabled Charlie to become Charlie and to do the work that he did.

00:46:04.000 Yeah, um, I uh I echo that, and I know I know because I saw what he said about you behind closed doors, Steve, how much he loved you.

00:46:13.000 And uh, no, I mean that.

00:46:15.000 Um he did, he really did cared about you a lot and respected you a lot, and um never said him say a side word sideways word, you know.

00:46:25.000 And um I uh I just wanted to say one thing, and I I don't think it's worth giving them uh the time of day, frankly.

00:46:32.000 Um, but you see, I I want I just wanted to echo something I saw Matt Walsh actually write online because there's there's people celebrating this, and I think it's really disgusting, and they don't really deserve the time of day.

00:46:46.000 But Matt had a great take, and that he's like, you know, when I die, I hope my enemies are uh are happy because that meant that like I was effective and they knew it.

00:46:58.000 Yeah, and so Charlie was fighting against ideological enemies against this country, against God, against goodness, against righteousness.

00:47:07.000 And I will say this what is sown in righteousness will bear righteous fruit.

00:47:12.000 And Charlie, and you're hearing it from two guys and three guys really that knew him intimately and well and saw him day in and day out, saw him in the tough moments where the chips were down.

00:47:24.000 He was fundamentally good, and he was decent and he was kind and he loved God and he was anchored, and he honored his friends.

00:47:34.000 And what what he did behind closed doors is the same thing he did with his friends, whether it be you know Tucker Carlson or Megan Kelly or Steve Bannon or some you know kid that he randomly met at some chapter, it was who he was, and he was the exact same person he lived his values out, and that's why I say what is sown and righteousness will bear bear righteous fruit.

00:47:57.000 You cannot you cannot snuff out what is sown and righteousness, and um I truly believe that.

00:48:05.000 And um anybody in the that can hear the sound of my voice, like take faith because like God is our refuge, God is was Charlie's strength.

00:48:15.000 Charlie is with God right now, he is with Jesus, and I believe that with all my heart.

00:48:20.000 I've gotten like some these pastors and prophetic voices calling me saying that the craziest things happened right when uh Charlie's life was taken from us.

00:48:30.000 And I believe it that um that God is going to bring about his vision and his goodness um and his plan from this terrible tragedy, and I believe it with all my heart.

00:48:41.000 And I last thing, Steve.

00:48:43.000 Sure.

00:48:44.000 Charlie was not a revolutionary.

00:48:46.000 It's funny because I helped him with this book, The Right Wing Revolution.

00:48:52.000 And that was that was actually a counter-revolutionary book.

00:48:56.000 It it was like, hey, we love peace and we love our country, we love America.

00:49:00.000 We don't want to see um, we don't want to see blood in the streets.

00:49:04.000 We don't want to see uh violence.

00:49:06.000 And I just want to say that for all I love the righteous anger that I'm seeing from our friends.

00:49:12.000 Don't get me wrong.

00:49:12.000 I love it and I share it.

00:49:14.000 And I want whoever did this to be brought to justice swiftly and uh firmly.

00:49:20.000 But Charlie wants a country for his kids to thrive in and grow in.

00:49:25.000 And I would just say it's okay to be radicalized.

00:49:29.000 It's not okay for that to go in the wrong direction.

00:49:33.000 Remember what Charlie would want.

00:49:34.000 He won he loved our founders, he loved this country.

00:49:37.000 Um please um direct what you're feeling towards saving America, not ripping it apart.

00:49:44.000 Well, let's do that because Charlie, it's it's on your shoulders and the team at turning point to finish what uh he started.

00:49:50.000 So what's the uh what's your social media?

00:49:54.000 Um Twitter is uh ex.

00:49:56.000 It's uh Andrew Kay say.

00:49:58.000 Um I'm mostly there as a tack dog for Charlie.

00:50:02.000 Um, but I did leave a note um as best I could yesterday, moments after what happened.

00:50:07.000 Um we're gonna we're gonna probably be doing the show after you today with with Jack Casova.

00:50:14.000 He's gonna remote.

00:50:15.000 I'll probably chime in a bit.

00:50:17.000 And um uh we're gonna I know Jack's got a whole plan and um and uh turning point USA.

00:50:23.000 We're gonna toss you guys like we always toss.

00:50:26.000 Tyler, uh closing thoughts and where do people track you guys, because now it's upon the team at turning point, like I said, to finish uh to finish what Charlie started.

00:50:36.000 Yeah, uh Steve.

00:50:38.000 The best way, just like uh Andrew said, the best way to get involved is is the spirit of Charlie Kirk, which is not the you know misdirected animosity and anger way.

00:50:51.000 It's the way that Charlie Bell, I mean, the the beautiful part about what Charlie did that's different from everyone else, and I just had this conversation with others is we've had legends pass who have done so much good for this this world.

00:51:04.000 Uh guys like Rush Limbaugh and so many others that we've seen in the in the past.

00:51:09.000 The difference is that Charlie built something and led the way of this is what you do in order to help save the country in the way that Charlie would save it.

00:51:19.000 All the programs that we do through Turney Point USA, high school college and our faith, TP USA Faith, uh getting involved with that, or you know, beyond that into politics and the elections is winning elections, winning the argument, winning the debate within the public space.

00:51:38.000 That's what Charlie did.

00:51:39.000 That's his entire legacy, this is entire life, is get involved, become part of something in your community.

00:51:46.000 Don't stand by and become so cynical that you don't think this thing, these things can change.

00:51:51.000 The cynics all sat along the sidelines and said that Trump can never win again.

00:51:56.000 And we knew better than that.

00:51:58.000 We knew that if we could get everybody involved, Charlie knew that if we could get everybody involved doing these things that you could win.

00:52:05.000 So getting involved at Turning Point Action, we would welcome everybody with open arms.

00:52:10.000 We have swing states to win, we have places to establish so that uh Charlie's kids and our kids can all uh live in the in the America that the the constitutional republic that we once knew and we we know can be uh that we know that the the left is the radical left is working against.

00:52:31.000 And so getting involved at TPAction.com.

00:52:34.000 Uh just click the links to get involved.

00:52:37.000 We would love nothing more than for millions of Americans to march to the beat of Charlie's drum for the rest of their lives.

00:52:45.000 Uh that's that's the way.

00:52:46.000 So thank you, Steve.

00:52:48.000 Amen.

00:52:49.000 Uh we will toss to you guys at at noon.

00:52:51.000 Tyre Tyler Boyer, uh TP, uh Turning Point Action, and of course Andrew Colvet, the uh kind of the uh tack dog a little bit, the the the exec executive producer of the show and uh spokesman for turning point.

00:53:05.000 That's good.

00:53:06.000 That was my that was my two of the two of the tough job.

00:53:08.000 Two of the toughest homebrees I've ever met, and uh uh Charlie left this in good hands.

00:53:14.000 So let's go ahead.

00:53:15.000 We got we got Charlie Kirk last weekend of his life.

00:53:18.000 What did Charlie Kirk do?

00:53:19.000 Charlie Kirk went to Korea to spread the uh to spread the gospel of conservatism and also our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, uh the great Mina Kim.

00:53:28.000 Let's go ahead and see it.

00:53:29.000 Oh, you're should be up in the trends.

00:53:32.000 We're gonna do a Korean way of prayer for you.

00:53:35.000 It's called a uh praying out loud pray.

00:53:38.000 We would want to do that to you and bless you today.

00:53:40.000 Let's pray.

00:53:40.000 God, I pray.

00:53:47.000 Oh, we'll see how it's sing with me.

00:54:11.000 How great is our God Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your warrior to Korea.

00:54:21.000 I lift up Charlie, the leader you raised up in America to wake up next generation.

00:54:26.000 May he remember Korea in every step he takes, and may you protect him, Lord.

00:54:32.000 And be with him so that he may fully carry out the mission you have entrusted to him.

00:54:36.000 And Lord, I thank you for making this gathering possible.

00:54:40.000 And I give all the glory to you, Lord.

00:54:42.000 I pray all this name in the name of Jesus.

00:54:47.000 Amen.

00:55:15.000 Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

00:55:19.000 I'm Jack Pasovic here, live in Washington, DC.

00:55:26.000 And today, I'm sitting in a chair that I never wanted to sit in.

00:55:32.000 I'm sitting in a chair that I never hoped to be in, that I don't want to be in, but I'm gonna be here.

00:55:43.000 Because I know that's where Charlie would want me to be today.

00:55:47.000 And I'm not just here as I don't know.

00:55:53.000 MAGA Pasobic or fellow conservative firebrand to the world, you know.

00:56:00.000 Charlie Kirk was conservative firebrand, hero, cultural icon.

00:56:11.000 But to me, he was my friend.

00:56:16.000 And it's been the honor of my life to be standing shoulder to shoulder with him in this great fight.

00:56:26.000 And so it's with a very heavy heart that I sit in this chair on this show that he built on the platform that he poured his soul into.

00:56:35.000 Because Charlie is no longer with us.

00:56:38.000 He was taken from us in an act of left-wing political violence, of terrorism, assassinated.

00:56:46.000 Yet even in his final moments, Charlie was doing what he always did, standing tall, speaking boldly, proclaiming the truth without fear.

00:56:58.000 Greater love hath no man than this.

00:57:02.000 That a man lay down his life for his friends.

00:57:07.000 Charlie Kirk isn't just an American martyr.

00:57:13.000 And I've got right here.

00:57:16.000 One of those hats.

00:57:21.000 Charlie signed right there.

00:57:25.000 I'm never going to let it go.

00:57:26.000 I'm always going to keep it right here with me.

00:57:29.000 Because Charlie's always going to be here with me, with you, with all of us.

00:57:36.000 And he's watching us all right now.

00:57:39.000 And what is Charlie saying?

00:57:42.000 It's your turn.

00:57:44.000 It's your turn.

00:57:47.000 Lock in, Patriots.

00:57:50.000 Charlie's faith in Christ Jesus was not just a private belief, it was the foundation of his entire life.

00:57:58.000 The courage that he had to go into the battle that he went into every day on every campus was the courage straight from heaven.

00:58:07.000 It was the Lord's.

00:58:08.000 He spoke with the conviction because he believed the truth of Scripture, and he was unshakable.

00:58:13.000 And he gave of himself tirelessly.

00:58:15.000 He loved his family, his friends, and this country that he knew God had blessed in a very special way.

00:58:23.000 So today, we're not just going to remember the man who founded Turning Point USA or hosted this show or owned the Libs.

00:58:34.000 We're remembering the son, the husband, the father, the friend, the mentor, and the warrior who never wavered.

00:58:46.000 Charlie Kirk died with his boots on and a microphone in his hand, proclaiming the truth on campus, his eyes fixed on eternity.

00:58:57.000 He'll be forever 31.

00:59:00.000 So as we begin this memorial podcast, let us not only mourn his loss, Erica's loss, their children's loss.

00:59:10.000 Let's also commit ourselves to carrying forward his mission.

00:59:15.000 Because the mission of Charlie Kirk, the mission of Turning Point USA goes on, and it will never stop.

00:59:23.000 Charlie wouldn't want us to retreat.

00:59:25.000 No, the word was not in his vocabulary.

00:59:28.000 He would want us to fight with truth, with faith, with love for this nation, and for each other.

00:59:38.000 They couldn't debate him, so they shot him.

00:59:42.000 That's what happened.

00:59:44.000 And everybody needs to understand that.

00:59:46.000 What was his crime?

00:59:48.000 Talking.

00:59:53.000 And that was too much for you.

00:59:55.000 Charlie Kirk Memorial Show.

00:59:57.000 Got our hats right here.

00:59:58.000 And if you were ever anyone who happened to have a hat that was thrown out by Charlie Kirk or signed by Charlie Kirk, I'm asking, I'm actually gonna say something right now that you know, kind of outside of memorial, but I'm just gonna say because I think it needs to be said, if you have one of those hats that's signed by Charlie Kirk, do us all a favor.

01:00:18.000 Don't put it on eBay, don't be that person.

01:00:21.000 Just just that's not what Charlie was about.

01:00:24.000 Charlie was never about that.

01:00:25.000 He was never about trying to uh trying to turn this into something that was personal because it wasn't about him, it was about the country, it was about students, it was about young men, young women connecting, and it was about winning.

01:00:40.000 It was never about playing these games.

01:00:43.000 It just it just wasn't about and uh as a guy who knew Charlie, it was not about that.

01:00:49.000 Guys, do we have did I see Andrew there?

01:00:54.000 Okay, so working on uh I want to get one of the guests on, but I'd love to play now some of the I think we have some visuals, these visuals, vigils that have been popping up overnight and completely organic, completely not planned at all, all across the country, the South, the North, the East, the West, they're everywhere.

01:01:23.000 They're praying Rosaries in Scottsdale, where Charlie and Erica lived.

01:01:29.000 They're spontaneously doing this, you know.

01:01:37.000 Charlie Kirk spent his entire career trying to inspire a turning point in America.

01:01:48.000 Spent his entire career trying to inspire a turning point in America, and he's done it.

01:01:59.000 America now has a turning point, and that was Charlie's gift to all of us.

01:02:06.000 Charlie's gift of his time, his energy, his courage, and ultimately his life.

01:02:15.000 Got my good friend and Charlie's good friend, Andrew Colvet.

01:02:20.000 You guys know him, producer Andrew.

01:02:22.000 We get him on here.

01:02:23.000 Andrew, uh, how are you holding up, man?

01:02:27.000 Hey, Jack.

01:02:28.000 Um, just want to say thank you, first of all, for um uh hosting today.

01:02:33.000 I know it's not easy for you either, and um, I mean, I'm holding up as well as you can imagine.

01:02:39.000 You know, I was hosting this show yesterday for Charlie so that he could go to the campus stop in uh in Utah.

01:02:48.000 And um, you know, you just don't you know you're never prepared for something like this, obviously, and um, you know, but uh I know he um he would want me and he would want you and all of us to to keep going.

01:03:06.000 I know he'd want me to do this, and so um we do the best we can and um and uh well you know the thing with the thing with Charlie too is I remember when even when you and I were chatting, or or you know, some of the gang was chatting last night.

01:03:26.000 There wasn't even a question of would we have a show today?

01:03:30.000 There wasn't even a question of, you know, would would would turning point keep moving forward.

01:03:36.000 There wasn't a question of that because that's who Charlie was.

01:03:40.000 And I remember, you know, I remember we were saying, should I should I, you know, come up and do shows?

01:03:45.000 Should I fly out there?

01:03:46.000 What, you know, what do you think?

01:03:48.000 And I could hear Charlie's voice in my head.

01:03:50.000 And he would always say to me, he said, because whenever I would go to him with with a question and say, Charlie, I've got a you know, a choice I have to make.

01:03:57.000 Do I need to, you know, gut check?

01:03:59.000 What do you think?

01:03:59.000 Do this or do that?

01:04:00.000 He'd say, do everything.

01:04:01.000 Do everything.

01:04:02.000 Yeah.

01:04:02.000 Do it all.

01:04:03.000 Say, keep going, do it all, do everything, be everywhere.

01:04:06.000 That was Charlie.

01:04:08.000 I think he was secretly mad we weren't streaming last night, you know.

01:04:11.000 Um I 100%, we all had the same thought at the same time that we all know that when something big is going on, when something uh big is is happening.

01:04:24.000 Charlie Kirk would be like, let's get in there, let's go live stream it, get it up, make sure we get the rumble live, make sure it's all going.

01:04:33.000 We got everybody in freedom of Charlie Kirk.com, Freedom of Charlie Kirk.com.

01:04:37.000 Make sure you're all signed up, subscribe to the podcast.

01:04:40.000 And that's that was Charlie, right?

01:04:42.000 Because he just wanted to gather people together.

01:04:46.000 And I think I I actually think that's that's sort of Charlie's mission, or or maybe it was his great skill in life, that he was a gatherer of people, or of course, to use the biblical phrase, a fisher of men.

01:04:59.000 Charlie Kirk truly was a fisher of men.

01:05:02.000 And I actually hadn't even thought about it that way until just this minute.

01:05:06.000 But that's exactly what he was that he had that ability to go out into a crowd of strangers.

01:05:12.000 And he could he could get everyone together, and he could turn them into followers and he could activate them, you know, politically, and he could get he could motivate people.

01:05:21.000 And that that is not something that you can learn.

01:05:25.000 That that is a talent that was given to him from God.

01:05:30.000 And now he's on another assignment for God.

01:05:32.000 And we don't know and we can't really understand that, but that's what it is.

01:05:37.000 That's what it is.

01:05:38.000 You know what?

01:05:38.000 My my one pushback, Jack, is that um I watched Charlie Kirk be terrible at a bunch of things.

01:05:45.000 And he learned how to be good.

01:05:48.000 He he learned how to be good at them by sheer force of will.

01:05:53.000 He refused to not be good at things that he needed to be good at.

01:05:57.000 And he learned a lot of that stuff.

01:05:59.000 Yes, he was blessed by God with this just this engine, this motor that you couldn't hold back.

01:06:04.000 He was blessed by God with just uh a spirit that you couldn't keep down.

01:06:10.000 Um, he was a happy warrior.

01:06:12.000 He would genuinely was a happy warrior.

01:06:15.000 And um he loved this country, he loved his family, and he loved God.

01:06:21.000 And um all of those things were true.

01:06:23.000 And that drove him to be the absolute best he could be.

01:06:26.000 It drove him to study the ancient texts.

01:06:30.000 It drove him to study political philosophy and read the important books and the great books.

01:06:35.000 And it drove him to like, I mean, I have a story.

01:06:37.000 We were coming back from Aspen with Dr. James Orr from Cambridge, um, who's become a good friend.

01:06:42.000 And um, we spent the whole plane ride and then and then uh talking about what James knew picking his brain, and then Charlie looked at him and he said, Hey, what are you doing tomorrow?

01:06:52.000 Can you spend the entire day with me on a Sunday?

01:06:54.000 And I'm just gonna ask you questions.

01:06:55.000 And so Cambridge professor sitting there teaching, coaching Charlie for an entire Sunday.

01:07:02.000 That was his idea of a good time.

01:07:04.000 And um, and it was that was Charlie.

01:07:07.000 He wanted so badly just to keep growing and be infinitely curious and getting better so he could articulate his ideas better to the next generation so that he could go out to these campus events and be more equipped and ready, uh, no matter what the question was.

01:07:23.000 And um, and he ultimately put that same sort of energy into his family and into his marriage, and he wanted to be the best husband He could be, and he wanted to be the best father he could be.

01:07:32.000 And he knew that the demands on his time were extraordinary, that they were superhuman.

01:07:37.000 And so he threw himself into biohacking and how he could get the most out of his body and how he could sleep the deepest and how he could keep his energy the highest.

01:07:46.000 And then he would spend his.gov

01:10:23.000 slash Utah Valley shooting.

01:10:25.000 And so you can you can see this individual seems to be college age, um, thin, you know, I'd say rail thin, average height, uh, glasses, again, a hat, you know, clearly someone who has some kind of patriotic lettering or or logo.

01:10:42.000 So clearly someone who was attempting to blend in with the crowd who was there.

01:10:46.000 Um, they have not told us whether or not this is the shooter.

01:10:49.000 But here's what I'm gonna say.

01:10:51.000 If you were, even if you didn't see that person, okay, if you were at that event yesterday, and and Andrew, I certainly hope, you know, if the team's available or has footage that they haven't yet turned over to the FBI, scroll through your phone, scroll through your videos,

01:11:06.000 go frame by frame, just see if you can find this person, these glasses, this hat, uh, this logo anywhere in the crowd, because that is, and they could throw that back up again real quick, because that is going to be a way to potentially determine if he was talking to anyone, what he was up to, what direction he went in, any of those things.

01:11:28.000 So if you were there, or if you just recognize him from this, please go ahead and share that out with the FBI.

01:11:34.000 Um, you know, we'll cover that as we can.

01:11:36.000 Obviously, there's been a lot of questions as going on as to what happens, and I don't want to turn this into huge speculation about that.

01:11:43.000 I want to make this about Charlie, but at the same time, if there are official updates, we're gonna share them as we can.

01:11:49.000 Uh Andrew, do you wanna do you want to take us out?

01:11:52.000 Yeah, I mean, um, I hope they get this guy or guys.

01:11:56.000 Um, if it was coordinated, if it was sophisticated and well funded, as some of the rumors that I'm hearing are, I hope they get them all.

01:12:04.000 From root to STEM, I hope they get them all.

01:12:06.000 And I hope righteous justice is visited upon whoever was behind us.

01:12:11.000 Um, very honored that we are now joined by someone who knew Charlie very well.

01:12:15.000 It is the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson.

01:12:18.000 Mr. Speaker, thank you so much for joining on this today.

01:12:20.000 And although I I just have to say for myself, and I'm sure you as well, I would much rather be talking to you about literally any other subject.

01:12:28.000 Of course, uh, Jack, you're doing a great job with an impossible assignment today.

01:12:32.000 I mean, I I should have wondered last night who would be in the chair today, because the the nation needs to hear what you're sharing and what we're all sharing.

01:12:42.000 Um, I can tell you it has changed the atmosphere of Capitol Hill.

01:12:46.000 It began immediately after this event.

01:12:48.000 Uh, I was I was in a high level meeting, and my chief of staff burst in the door and handed me a card and said, Charlie Kirk has been shot.

01:12:55.000 And I stopped.

01:12:57.000 And I mean, we had, you know, these are like heads of state, and we all just paused and I told them what was on the card.

01:13:03.000 And it's it's it still seems unbelievable to me.

01:13:06.000 I mean, we're all kind of in shock here.

01:13:08.000 Um, Charlie was a singular voice, as you know.

01:13:12.000 I mean, this show is about him, it's a tribute to him.

01:13:14.000 He deserves it.

01:13:15.000 He deserves so much more because there's there are few people who had such an effect on the country and on his generation.

01:13:24.000 I did all the you know, media shows last night.

01:13:28.000 I was on I think on CNN.

01:13:30.000 I said, you know, he we talk a lot about the free marketplace of ideas.

01:13:33.000 And I think it is undeniable.

01:13:35.000 I don't think anyone can argue.

01:13:36.000 Charlie Kirk contributed more productive content, the free marketplace of ideas than anyone in his generation, and arguably in several generations.

01:13:46.000 I mean, he just was that kind of figure, and he's irreplaceable.

01:13:51.000 But I'm comforted to know, Jack, that his his legacy will continue because what he did and what he started will go on.

01:13:58.000 And I hope it inspires in the hearts of everybody who followed and loved him and believed in him and prayed for him.

01:14:03.000 Um, that same spirit that Charlie carried, you know, to not give in, to stand for freedom, stand for the truth, and love the people on the other side of the argument.

01:14:13.000 And that's what he represented.

01:14:15.000 You know, I and I was saying this we were on last night, and and you know, when you would go to these events with Charlie, he would act, he would actually say, if you disagree with me, come to the front of the line.

01:14:26.000 I don't want you to, I don't want you to ride in the back of the bus.

01:14:28.000 Come to the very front of the line.

01:14:29.000 Let's have it out, let's talk.

01:14:31.000 And he had this ability to kind of get past the argument, the the politics of it, and see if there was a way, this was this was his move, right?

01:14:40.000 His his skill.

01:14:41.000 He would he would try to connect with the person, find out what made them tick, find out who they were at their core, and then start there.

01:14:50.000 And you've never seen anyone do it like that before.

01:14:53.000 No, he was so talented because he had that gift.

01:14:56.000 It's a gift from God, a gift from the Lord, to be able to go to the heart of the matter and the heart of the person.

01:15:02.000 Because he, what Charlie was motivated by, you and I both know, I knew him so well.

01:15:06.000 And he was a man of deep faith as I am, and we've talked about this a lot.

01:15:10.000 That the objective is not just to win the argument, the objective is to move the heart, right?

01:15:16.000 And and what Charlie was about was trying to advance the permanent things.

01:15:20.000 He was a master in the temporal things, right?

01:15:22.000 He could he could argue any issue better than anybody, better than most people on Capitol Hill or could ever hope to.

01:15:28.000 Uh, and he he could talk about public policy or issues that were pending.

01:15:32.000 He would, he was a master of his of his uh of his science in that regard, political science and all of that.

01:15:38.000 Um, but really what it was really about was not winning the temporal argument or that particular issue.

01:15:44.000 It was about the permanent things, the eternal things, the scripture says.

01:15:48.000 The apostle Paul said, we don't focus on the temporal, we focus on the eternal.

01:15:51.000 And that's what Charlie was about, because he was trying to be an ambassador for the king of kings.

01:15:56.000 He was trying to be an ambassador for his savior, Jesus.

01:15:58.000 And he modeled that.

01:16:00.000 And so, you know, what I love about Charlie, and I said this to a big gaggle of reporters here this morning, because they're following me around.

01:16:05.000 They want me to just give comment at every turn about this, and because they know I knew him well and loved him, and we, you know, it's moved us so much.

01:16:13.000 But this is what I said about Charlie as I said, you know, the thing about it was he was the sharpest wit.

01:16:19.000 He could argue and win any debate, but he never held it personally against the person on the other side, no matter how far to the other end of the spectrum they were.

01:16:27.000 In fact, the further they were, the more compassion he had For their heart, because he he he believed that he was ultimately trying to lead people to the truth that we know, the eternal truth, right?

01:16:36.000 And so what Christ taught us is that it says in Romans 12 that you stand strong, you you uh you be courageous and bold and you you stand firm uh and you act like men, it says, which Charlie was a man's man.

01:16:49.000 But do let all that you do be done in love.

01:16:52.000 That's what scripture says.

01:16:54.000 And that's what Charlie was about.

01:16:55.000 And he was motivated by his love for his fellow man.

01:16:58.000 He didn't hate anybody.

01:16:59.000 He was trying to win him over to the argument because he knew that would be better for them in the long run.

01:17:03.000 And that's what we appreciated about him so much.

01:17:06.000 And we opened the show with that.

01:17:07.000 And uh, I said, Greater love hath no man than this.

01:17:10.000 He gives himself give his life for his friends.

01:17:12.000 And I'm sure, Speaker, I'm sure you're on Charlie's list as well, because you could always tell what Charlie, what Charlie was focusing on in the Bible, because he would he would pull a quote every morning and he would just text it to his whole list of people individually.

01:17:26.000 I said, How are you doing this, Charlie?

01:17:27.000 And I would see him doing it sometimes if we were together.

01:17:30.000 And he, and and it wasn't just, you know, some you know, ephemeral thing, or he's you know, pulling it from one of those verses of the day or or you know, different things.

01:17:38.000 And it was fine, but no, this was deep study.

01:17:42.000 And he pulled those verses for a specific reason.

01:17:45.000 And in a strange way, when I woke up this morning and I didn't get that text from Charlie, it's almost like that's when it hit me.

01:17:55.000 Yeah.

01:17:56.000 Because he he always does that every single day.

01:17:59.000 That's true, but every single day.

01:18:01.000 And today he didn't.

01:18:03.000 Yeah.

01:18:04.000 Um, it leaves a big void, not just in the text chain, but in in our society.

01:18:10.000 Uh there, what are the more than 2,500 chapters, turning point chapters on university campuses around the country.

01:18:16.000 I mean, it's uh uh just an unequaled movement that he began and grew and and stewarded uh as a great steward, by the way, of the platform that God gave him.

01:18:26.000 You know, he was faithful in the little things, and then God trusted him with more and more.

01:18:30.000 He had one of the biggest voices in the culture, and he and he knew the responsibility that came with that, and he was very careful with it.

01:18:37.000 And um, that's why he was so deep in the scripture and uh and and in prayer, because he wanted to make sure that he he carried that mantle well and he did, you know.

01:18:47.000 We know where he is right now.

01:18:49.000 I'm absolutely convinced where he is, and he's hearing that great uh that great call, well done, good and faithful servant.

01:18:56.000 Speaker Johnson, President Trump earlier today at the 9-11 memorial, of course, today is is 9-11.

01:19:03.000 It it certainly feels like 9-11 again.

01:19:06.000 Um, that he announced that Charlie will be at some upcoming uh date posthumously awarded the presidential medal of freedom.

01:19:17.000 Uh, do you know anything about that or potential other uh memorials that uh around DC that maybe up with the Capitol that are being discussed?

01:19:27.000 Yeah, there's a lot being discussed.

01:19:29.000 Um it's interesting.

01:19:30.000 I talked to President at length uh yesterday, probably about an hour before this event took place, and I have not spoken to him since.

01:19:37.000 And so my we've been, he was busy all last night, and I was in this morning.

01:19:41.000 I'm gonna call him here shortly.

01:19:42.000 But I I know that the president was felt very close to Charlie.

01:19:46.000 He was like family, as you know, um, in the Trump family.

01:19:50.000 And and we all shared that same uh so many people, so many members of Congress, Republican members in the house, for certain, all of my closest friends here, they all felt a close connection to Charlie because he made everybody feel that way.

01:20:02.000 And because of that, there's so there's there's just sort of uh this big movement now that that members are just um one after the other are coming up with ideas on how to memorialize him and how to have an appropriate um you know remembrance.

01:20:17.000 And there are lots of ideas or different resolutions.

01:20:20.000 Uh, that some of them were begun to be filed uh in the record, you know, last yesterday evening, uh shortly after all this took place.

01:20:28.000 So um we've got to sort all that out.

01:20:31.000 I'm gonna have a collection, a stack of ideas of things of how to do this and we'll we'll figure it out.

01:20:35.000 But we want to do something certainly that is appropriate for his stature and what he meant to the country, what he meant to the conservative movement, what he meant to our party.

01:20:44.000 Um, but it does, it really does transcend party because Charlie, in so many ways represented the best of America, like all of us, right?

01:20:51.000 He obviously was on our team.

01:20:52.000 He was a he was the one of the principal conservative voices in the culture.

01:20:58.000 But even larger than that, he represented the best of America.

01:21:02.000 And you know, he he Charlie believed in and tried to advance and share with the next generation the principles of freedom.

01:21:09.000 He he believed and he understood that the foundation of all this is our Judeo-Christian heritage, the the great tradition that we have that began 250 years ago when we boldly proclaimed the self-evident truth that our rights come from God, not the government, and that God made us in his image.

01:21:24.000 And we owe a responsibility to him.

01:21:26.000 I mean, Charlie understood what made America different and exceptional and the greatest nation in the history of the world.

01:21:30.000 And he was so passionate about making sure the next generation understood that.

01:21:34.000 Even the people that didn't agree with him.

01:21:36.000 Um, that was his drive.

01:21:38.000 And so he represents so much.

01:21:40.000 And I all that is to say that I, you know, there's an appropriate level of memorialization of this great life that is, you know, not suited for most.

01:21:49.000 And uh, we got to sort that out and figure it out.

01:21:50.000 And that's what we'll be doing in the next couple of days.

01:21:53.000 Uh I think that's absolutely right.

01:21:54.000 I think that's absolutely appropriate.

01:21:56.000 And I've also been privy to some of the ideas and and memorial ideas and perhaps naming ideas of of you know, maybe a park or something that uh you know tied with the 250th, people have been kicking around that that because Charlie loved the outdoors.

01:22:11.000 That's something that actually people don't, you know, you see him on campus, you see him on camera, but you know, every single minute he could get in the sun, he was a big believer, you know, big Maha guy, and always believed in the power being outside and believed in our country.

01:22:26.000 You know, this this past weekend, he he went to Korea, which uh I believe Korea, Japan wound up being his last tour.

01:22:33.000 And and that was the first time he'd been to that part of the world.

01:22:36.000 And he just loved America so much and traveled to, I remember he used to used to tell me he was so uh so proud that he'd visited every state twice.

01:22:44.000 He said, I got every state twice, Jack.

01:22:45.000 You have all 50 yet, you know.

01:22:47.000 And and that's so he and I were always ribbing each other.

01:22:50.000 And that's that's the uh I think that's what I'm you know, in many ways, I'll miss that the most.

01:22:54.000 Just the little debates and the camaraderie that you that you have with him.

01:22:57.000 Mr. Speaker, I understand you obviously have quite a lot on your plate as well today.

01:23:02.000 Um, just is there any other message that you wanted to give for the folks that are watching before he take off?

01:23:08.000 Well, I'll just say this.

01:23:10.000 I mean, because you touched on it there, he traveled to all 50 states more than once.

01:23:13.000 Um, he was a singular figure in history because I heard uh yesterday some people comparing Charlie in a way, his his stature, his intelligence, his character, his demeanor, his integrity to that of the founding fathers.

01:23:25.000 I mean, he kind of had that spirit about him, right?

01:23:27.000 As we know.

01:23:28.000 And what's interesting about Charlie as opposed to our our forefathers is that he had the the ability of of technology of modern transportation means he could take the voice everywhere, and he did.

01:23:39.000 I mean, he used every platform available.

01:23:41.000 I mean, radio, podcast, everywhere, television, he was ubiquitous.

01:23:45.000 Um, and and he used the again, the platform that God gave him to the greatest extent possible.

01:23:51.000 In fact, he was a pioneer in that regard.

01:23:54.000 I mean, you know, people said, well, he aspired to be like um Rush Limbaugh.

01:23:58.000 He went further than Rush in many ways because he because he mastered all these other mediums, right?

01:24:04.000 And he did more than the founders could have ever imagined to advance the principles that they set in place.

01:24:10.000 And it is very appropriate on the eve of our 250th birthday as a nation, the greatest nation in the history of the world, that we had a figure like this for such a short time, and he left such a tremendous legacy for the next chapter of American history that we're all gonna forge together.

01:24:24.000 And I hope we do it in the spirit that Charlie left us with, not timidly, but boldly, but in love.

01:24:31.000 And that is his his greatest, um, his greatest contribution.

01:24:34.000 So, Jack, thanks.

01:24:35.000 You're doing an extraordinary job on an impossible assignment.

01:24:38.000 Appreciate you, brother.

01:24:39.000 We'll see you soon.

01:24:40.000 Speaker Johnson, thank you so much for your time.

01:24:41.000 Thank you so much for your kind words today for Charlie and his family.

01:24:45.000 You know, uh just piggybacking on what he said there, the founding fathers, they they certainly used new media their time as well.

01:24:51.000 The printing press is uh indelibly and inextricably linked to the founding generation.

01:24:56.000 So the new media of the time, Thomas Payne, comma sense, that was the new media that was going viral.

01:25:03.000 And uh, I just wanted to read something just very quickly before I bring our next guest on.

01:25:08.000 People were talking about the the ages of the revolutionary generation, and uh one thing that I don't think people realize.

01:25:16.000 So Charlie, Charlie's 31.

01:25:18.000 When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, 1776, he was 33 years old.

01:25:23.000 John Hancock was 39 when he signed it, Patrick Henry, 40, John Adams, 40.

01:25:28.000 James Munro, 18 Years old, Alexander Hamilton, 21 years old.

01:25:33.000 James Madison, 25 years old, and Edward Rutledge and Thomas Hayward, 29 years old.

01:25:39.000 And Washington was 44.

01:25:41.000 Ben Franklin, of course, was the old man of the group.

01:25:43.000 He was 70.

01:25:44.000 So when you look at the revolutionary generation, they were the exact same age as Charlie, and the age of the people that he's trying to reach, and even the next generation of that.

01:25:55.000 I want to bring on Tyler Boyer here, the COO, Turning Point Action, and just Charlie's right-hand man and so many things.

01:26:02.000 And Tyler, as a student of history, as you are, you know, I had it ever occurred to you that you know that's that's the exact age Charlie was.

01:26:12.000 Well, first off, Jack, I just want to say this is thank you for taking taking on the job of standing up for Charlie's show today.

01:26:21.000 He wouldn't have wanted it any other way than you know, his partner in crime, in which you've been his is his right hand guy and doing so much of media on real America's voice and on radio and everything else.

01:26:35.000 So thank you for that.

01:26:36.000 But yeah, I mean, I look at the group, you know, that picture just came up of the four or five of us, you know, Andrew, who I think was on earlier, yourself, uh, me, Charlie, like we have some young guys.

01:26:50.000 Like when I got got involved with Charlie, I'm eight years older than him, and I was in my mid-20s, yeah, when I when I was getting involved with Turning Point and with Charlie, and starting to take, you know, that bull by the horns.

01:27:03.000 Charlie was a teenager.

01:27:05.000 So, you know, we now we I we feel old, you know, and we're we're on the precipice here, because you, me, I think Benny Johnson and Andrew are all basically the same age, and we're a little bit older than Charlie, about seven or eight years older than him, each of us.

01:27:23.000 And but you know, we're all under the age of 40, clearly, and have been doing this work for the last 10 to 15 years.

01:27:30.000 Charlie's legacy is that he was the young guy in that group when you make the comparison to that, but he was the leader.

01:27:38.000 And uh the thing that we've reflected on this entire time, uh, for the last 24 hours in particular, is uh Charlie has always been uh uh a leader amongst men.

01:27:51.000 I remember meeting him uh again in my 20s, and he was basically just coming out of his teenage years.

01:27:58.000 And I just thought to myself, I was like, oh my gosh, this guy's like an 85-year-old trapped in a in a 20-year-old.

01:28:05.000 He's an old soul.

01:28:06.000 He always was but he was like that, he was like that Lincoln-esque, you know, Ben Franklin-esque, you know, the way that you read it in the textbook as a wise person.

01:28:17.000 That's the kind of and I know everybody's listening, but listens to the show.

01:28:22.000 He's had that sense.

01:28:22.000 He had that sense that came from somewhere else for once.

01:28:26.000 Charlie Kirk is in the audience right now, and Charlie Kirk is watching all of us.

01:28:31.000 I said in the beginning of the show, I'll say it here again.

01:28:34.000 I know what Charlie's message would be to everyone asking, what do I do next?

01:28:41.000 What do I do next?

01:28:43.000 It's very simple.

01:28:44.000 Charlie would say, it's your turn now.

01:28:48.000 Want to uh bring back on Tyler Boyer, you know, one of one of Charlie's closest, uh closest associates.

01:28:55.000 And and Tyler, you know, we were we were just kind of talking about that, about how, you know, personally, as as many things that Charlie was interested in and involved in, even non-political things.

01:29:06.000 We Andrew and I were talking about the biohacking, uh, you know, earlier, that that he was just fascinated with that and lived it.

01:29:13.000 Uh, theology that that he was a simple, he he was he had uh this tenacity and this ability to make the complex simple.

01:29:21.000 And and just in in so many realms outside of the things that you see or or that you know him for, that's that's just who he was, no matter what he was doing.

01:29:30.000 Yeah, you know, and that's really the legacy of turning point USA.

01:29:34.000 I mean, we talked about this all the time.

01:29:36.000 Uh, you know, most people don't really connect the dots on this, but when we we came onto the scene and really Charlie started Turning Point USA, there were no battle tanks.

01:29:49.000 It was all think tanks, and we used to talk about this point, which is you know, there's all these think tanks out there making things really hard to reach for the average American, uh, a little bit overcomplicated, a little bit over convoluted.

01:30:05.000 Uh, and there just weren't enough battle tanks of people going out and fighting the good fight, or just as you said, is making the really smart things, the complex things simple, so that the average American could understand them, uh, that the average American would want to understand them, that they would want to engage them.

01:30:25.000 This is the whole thing is like this is what Charlie died doing was this very issue.

01:30:31.000 I mean, you listen to Charlie, and you and I both know Charlie better than just about anybody, you know, Andrew who was on earlier, and there's a number of us and our senior team at Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action.

01:30:43.000 But people knew Charlie is a genius.

01:30:47.000 You met Charlie, you talked to him.

01:30:49.000 He was an absolute genius of a man, but he spoke and broke things down so simply and so easily, so that everybody could really uh approach it.

01:31:00.000 And that's what's made politics approachable.

01:31:03.000 That's what's I think has got so many young people through Turning Point USA involved.

01:31:09.000 It's what's gotten so many young men being able to embrace uh the qualities of what the the Christianity that Charlie professed, and that's what he would want everybody to know him by.

01:31:24.000 But his activism as well, uh being a dad and being a uh a husband, uh those things are not complex things, but the world is complicated and the challenges are complicated, but the application of those things is really simple.

01:31:42.000 And I think that's the memorial that we'll have for Charlie forever, and that I hope that my my dear friend that I have known for so long, uh since essentially the beginning of time, I was joking with Benny Johnson earlier today that we had to convince Charlie to start his Instagram.

01:32:00.000 And you wouldn't believe that knowing Charlie today of how you know Speaker Johnson just said he he you know dominated all these mediums, you know, Rush Limbaugh didn't dominate social media or have a full 501c3 or a C4 and employ thousands of people.

01:32:17.000 The man did everything.

01:32:18.000 He did it all, but he made it so simple for everyone to approach and be able to engage with.

01:32:25.000 And uh I will greatly, greatly miss him for that.

01:32:28.000 Cause there's not this there's no one that that is like Charlie.

01:32:32.000 There's no one, it's it's not likely we'll ever encounter someone that's able to do all those things.

01:32:39.000 No, and and I agree with you that there was something timeless, but also outside of time about Charlie.

01:32:48.000 There was just he he just didn't seem to be of this era.

01:32:52.000 And I'm not even sure what era he belonged in.

01:32:55.000 He just the way he fit in the world, but also was different from anyone else that you would meet.

01:33:03.000 I mean, it's it's it's just God knew what he was doing when he made Charlie.

01:33:09.000 God gave him assignment, and now God's got him on another assignment, and that's how it is.

01:33:16.000 And he's up there with Rush now.

01:33:18.000 And well, Tyler, let me let me ask you this though.

01:33:22.000 You know, Charlie, obviously, he's been building turning point USA, building turning point action all of these years.

01:33:30.000 Um he built these institutions to last.

01:33:34.000 And and I I always got the sense, I never really talked to him about this directly, but I always got the sense that he wanted turning point USA to be separate from him in the sense that it would always go on because it was always about the students.

01:33:50.000 It was always about the chapters, and the chapters were constantly changing.

01:33:54.000 And and yeah, what what does that look like from your perspective?

01:33:58.000 Well, and we talked about that all the time, you know, uh having the honor of being COO of Turning Point USA for many years and now turning point action and having you know hired and worked with thousands and thousands of people,

01:34:16.000 uh the greatest legacy that Charlie Kirk has is that he infused his energy, his resilience, his uh constant need for improvement for the conservative movement because when we uh really start engaging on many of these things you know the the question was was wow why doesn't the conservative movement have good enough events why why aren't we attracting enough people we got to do a bigger and better why did why did why is there no one that has a real legitimate field pro program and

01:34:46.000 that supports young people we got to do it bigger and better why is there no 501c4 a political operation that's out there actually yeah doing it the way that the left does it with community organizers and we got to do it bigger and better and and just each and every one of those things and that's not even touching all the individual unique things on the media front the podcast front the uh you know tiktok obviously is the second largest voice on tiktok next to donald trump this year and

01:35:15.000 i mean you're just talking about a monster of a a human being irreplicable that desire to fight and work and you know i was just talking about this as well it's just like we you know one of the quotes was you know don't care keep working go don't care work harder uh you know we talked about hating to lose you know how devastating the 2020 election was and how how horrified we were to learn that there wasn't

01:35:45.000 enough work being done on the political side which which caused turning point action to really you know kick into gear you know really following in the lead up to 2022 and following 2022 for 2024 i mean that was the really the first time anyone's ever done anything like we did it was throwing the kitchen sink at the thing and charlie was leading from the front on that and there's just no one else and i could i could tell because you know of course there's that election night

01:36:15.000 live stream 2022 it's me you charlie andrew was in and out and we were doing the uh we were doing remember the batches and other batches in another batches in other batches in other batches in and i remember doing the math till late in the wee hours and and i can remember the moment where charlie just turns to me i don't even know if it was on air and he just he just turns to me sitting there and says jack we need to start doing ballots and you could just see it in his eyes

01:36:44.000 he said they won this thing with ballots and we need to start doing that and i could tell just in that moment again very simple that he took this whole complicated thing and he had figured it all out and he was doing the math you could see him doing it furiously just scribbling away and doing the math in in real time like like like rain man you know and uh and he said it's all ballots and so we need to chase ballots and i could tell in that movement everything that was going to happen in that moment everything that would happen between

01:37:14.000 then and 2024 and that's exactly what happened and he knew that he had you to execute it well i was talking with his sweet wife who all the prayers we need to be praying unceasingly for erica and his two sweet babies um that i just was talking talking with her about this yesterday the look on charlie's face when he figured when he would figure something out he kind of gave you that yeah oh look

01:37:43.000 and i'd seen that a million times because i've been in these rooms oops sorry about that i've been in these rooms with charlie you know fighting these battles and these wars and we'd figure out the problem that existed and then try to come up with the solution and then applying the right solution and you know going and getting the donors to pay for it and work work towards it and then we build it and then we do the next thing and then the next thing and then the next thing and it never stopped lock in

01:38:12.000 patriots lock in that's how charlie would want us to be that's what Charlie would that's what Charlie would say he would say be better.

01:38:24.000 Work harder what are you doing next what's the next fight take the next hill finish the job finish the job complete the task complete the mission with the editor Breitbart Alex Marlowe now joining us.

01:38:47.000 Alex you you knew Charlie as well as as any of us obviously and uh for you coming from Breitbart um this is now the second time uh you've had to go through something Like this in this in this moment.

01:39:03.000 Um, talk to me a little bit about uh the legacy of of going through the legacy of Andrew, and now we have the legacy of Charlie.

01:39:11.000 Thanks, Jack.

01:39:12.000 And you're doing a wonderful job on this.

01:39:13.000 It's beautiful tribute so far.

01:39:15.000 Um, I I guess I'm unique in this regard that I was Andrew Breitbart's right hand man when he passed away at 43.

01:39:22.000 Different circumstances, certainly wasn't an assassination while he was just trying to debate people on a campus.

01:39:30.000 But a similar situation in a genuinely great man who is here and called to do great things for this country and in this life, and got taken from us.

01:39:39.000 And one thing that was so heartening that after Andrew passed, people understood the importance of hard work of determination of trying to externalize all the messages that Andrew had given us that we'd internalized.

01:39:52.000 And he became the pioneer of citizen journalism.

01:39:56.000 He already was, but people not everyone stopped and thought about it until he was taken from us, until that light was extinguished.

01:40:04.000 And that has got to be the exact approach, if not twofold, tenfold with with what Charlie's done.

01:40:11.000 Tyler was touching on something really important that I've been trying to share with people is that Charlie wasn't just a giant in talk radio and podcasting.

01:40:19.000 Uh, he wasn't just a giant in activism.

01:40:21.000 And he may have been the biggest at that, but he was also meeting people where they were.

01:40:26.000 He was on the campuses a hundred hours a semester.

01:40:29.000 He was on the platforms that conservatives wouldn't even go on, things like TikTok.

01:40:33.000 He was someone who was reaching people who might not get news from anywhere else.

01:40:38.000 Now I wish people got news from all over the place.

01:40:40.000 But a lot of the times they were relying on Charlie.

01:40:43.000 He was an international sensation.

01:40:45.000 We at Breitbart today were covering how the international press is reacting to Charlie's assassination.

01:40:51.000 And they've strong opinions.

01:40:52.000 They've thought long and hard about this guy.

01:40:55.000 And he did it all with a smile with joy.

01:40:58.000 He was always trying to run up that next hill and summit it.

01:41:01.000 That spirit always inspired me as one of his peers and colleagues.

01:41:05.000 And it is just infectious to be around.

01:41:08.000 And my heart breaks for his family for the whole turning point team.

01:41:12.000 But Charlie's message was loud and clear.

01:41:15.000 We need to be those happy warriors who we need to be fearless.

01:41:18.000 We need to be determined.

01:41:19.000 And the fight, sadly, is only just begun.

01:41:22.000 You know, it's it's it's one of those things too.

01:41:25.000 And obviously, we're still getting more and more information out about the shooter who is still at large.

01:41:32.000 And um, I know we have these photos that have come up as well.

01:41:35.000 Alex, can you can you put us just give us a little bit of that taste?

01:41:40.000 Um, you know, where do you think we stand with this uh this manhunt?

01:41:44.000 Well, it's not great.

01:41:45.000 It's not great news.

01:41:46.000 We're getting nothing but bad news.

01:41:47.000 First of all, there were some uh false hope that we had caught the guy right away, and then the person got away.

01:41:54.000 And um, I think that that already is a disgrace.

01:41:57.000 Um, a person like Charlie should have protection.

01:42:00.000 I think we need to be very cautious going to these universities going forward.

01:42:04.000 And I think that that's a shame because we need free speech now more than ever.

01:42:08.000 And they're going to use this as an opportunity.

01:42:10.000 They, the left, who's responsible for this.

01:42:13.000 Uh, they're going to use this as a victory because they're going to see that there will be a chilling of speech because they hate free speech.

01:42:19.000 They want control, they want authoritarianism.

01:42:21.000 Charlie was an affront to that, and that's why he was targeted.

01:42:24.000 And law enforcement needs to get the job done as soon as humanly possible.

01:42:27.000 And I know our guys are in charge at a federal level.

01:42:30.000 I don't know much about the local uh law enforcement, the state law enforcement, but it doesn't matter.

01:42:35.000 We need to demand answers.

01:42:36.000 We need to demand accountability right away, and we must be better.

01:42:39.000 I'll tell you, I was just reading a lot about Butler recently and how we still don't have answers from Butler.

01:42:45.000 That's a warning to people.

01:42:46.000 I was on campus with Charlie Kirk over a year ago at UC Davis.

01:42:49.000 They're smashing windows, they're trying to break into the building.

01:42:51.000 Antifa's present.

01:42:53.000 It is very dangerous to be a conservative right now.

01:42:55.000 And I'll tell you, Jack, my audience right now, we feel hunted.

01:42:58.000 We feel hunted down right now.

01:42:59.000 And that is not a good thing.

01:43:02.000 And we're just showing some of these images that are now coming in from all over the country last night.

01:43:09.000 Spontaneous vigils, prayer services, rosaries, people coming out and putting up pictures of Charlie.

01:43:17.000 I don't even know how he gets something like that printed so quickly.

01:43:20.000 And the candles going up everywhere.

01:43:25.000 And it's all organic.

01:43:26.000 This is this is nothing that um that was directly from the organization, even the turning point's own headquarters, which you're showing there.

01:43:35.000 Uh, they held a vigil last night uh that was completely spontaneous and organic, which is exactly what Charlie would have wanted.

01:43:44.000 People becoming activated, people doing things on their own, stepping up, taking agency.

01:43:51.000 That's that's what he always wanted.

01:43:54.000 And I remember him saying this.

01:43:55.000 He would say, I would if I can just get people to step up and start doing things, then we win.

01:44:02.000 If we just get people motivated, we will win.

01:44:06.000 And I said it before, Charlie spent his entire life trying to inspire a national turning point.

01:44:14.000 And he's accomplished that.

01:44:16.000 He has now done so.

01:44:18.000 Alex Marlowe, what do you make of the uh uh of the this where it's it really is just uh the a very positive outpouring.

01:44:27.000 We're seeing it from around the world.

01:44:29.000 We're seeing it from uh members of you know, across the aisle, uh, liberals, Democrats, people saying, you know what?

01:44:37.000 I think even the New York Times, Ezra Klein, they said politic uh uh Charlie Charlie did politics the way it should be done, with with moxie, with smarts, with boldness, but never with anger.

01:44:48.000 Yeah, pretty remarkable contrast to the initial reactions from the JB Pritzkers of the world and the MSNBCs of the world who are suggesting maybe Charlie brought this on himself.

01:44:56.000 The New York Times was very intentional today when they put in his obituary, they called him a provocateur.

01:45:01.000 That word is on purpose.

01:45:02.000 They believe he provoked his own assassination.

01:45:05.000 And that's disgusting.

01:45:06.000 But you did start seeing some people start getting a hold of themselves and start understanding as Ezra Klein flagged on his own, not the paper itself, but and as well as some of these leaders all around the world who are saying this is not the humanity we want.

01:45:22.000 And this is a spiritual fight we're in, Jack.

01:45:24.000 And Charlie knew this.

01:45:25.000 He wasn't just an evangelist for conservatism and for a constitution.

01:45:29.000 He was an evangelist for Christ.

01:45:31.000 He was evangelist for Judeo-Christian values.

01:45:34.000 Charlie stood for that.

01:45:35.000 And people around the world who observe him know that he was as fluent in biblical matters as he was in political matters.

01:45:42.000 And this is the spiritual battle that we need.

01:45:44.000 And people who might not agree with his politics need to understand that Charlie did do things the right way.

01:45:49.000 He did things with debate.

01:45:50.000 He did things with nonviolence.

01:45:52.000 He did things with just trying to meet people where they were and convinced them, trying to get them to change their minds if he disagreed and happily accepting them if they didn't.

01:46:02.000 That's what he stood for.

01:46:03.000 That's who he was.

01:46:03.000 And I think smart people always knew that.

01:46:06.000 Maybe today they're finally starting to admit it.

01:46:08.000 Yeah, and I remember being on campus with them or being at wherever we were.

01:46:13.000 And, you know, he would always say, if you disagree, come right to the front.

01:46:17.000 If you disagree, come right up here.

01:46:20.000 Let's have it out.

01:46:20.000 Let's have that conversation.

01:46:22.000 But you you can watch the, I don't know, hundreds of hours of videotape of Charlie on these campuses.

01:46:27.000 You'll never once see him raise a hand in anger.

01:46:31.000 You know, he's he's he's he's got conviction, of course.

01:46:34.000 He's got boldness, absolutely, when you're when you're debating, you're going to, but he he doesn't get angry, he doesn't get physical.

01:46:39.000 There's no, there's never been a violent bone in his body.

01:46:44.000 I've never seen that in private.

01:46:45.000 I've never seen, I've never known him to be like that.

01:46:48.000 And it it it really does just sum it all up.

01:46:51.000 They they couldn't debate him, so they did this.

01:46:54.000 And that's exactly right.

01:46:56.000 And do you think do you think this will be a turning point against we've seen a wave of left-wing violence, we've seen a wave of political violence and uh anti-Christian violence that's going on just this month.

01:47:09.000 Do you think that it will wind down or are we gonna see more?

01:47:13.000 I I run very pessimistic in this regard.

01:47:15.000 And I think some of those initial reactions we saw from people in the left-wing commentary at uh make me think that maybe it won't be.

01:47:22.000 And I've seen some of the reactions on Blue Sky and TikTok.

01:47:26.000 But if you look around the world, there are so many bright spots.

01:47:30.000 We are tracking today, conservatives in Spain, uh in Latin America, in Brazil, in El Salvador, uh the the all over the world that they're in Argentina.

01:47:39.000 We're seeing even the Mexican president, Claudia Scheinbaum condemning it.

01:47:43.000 So many people are out there saying this is not the way forward for the human race.

01:47:47.000 And it does give me some hope.

01:47:49.000 There is a layer of hope, but there is a deep spiritual problem that we have in this country.

01:47:56.000 There is a yearning for God in so many American households that is absent right now.

01:48:01.000 And it's the absence of God that provided this in people's lives.

01:48:04.000 It's a demonic impulse that we're witnessing day after day in this country.

01:48:08.000 And people need to confront it.

01:48:10.000 They need to confront it though on a micro level.

01:48:11.000 It's communities, it's families.

01:48:13.000 And until we fully address that, then I'm gonna be in fear that this will continue to some degree or another.

01:48:19.000 No, and and I've seen it all.

01:48:21.000 I've seen every single piece of it.

01:48:24.000 People are sending me stuff like crazy phone, you know, blew up yesterday.

01:48:27.000 I was on air when this happened.

01:48:30.000 And I've seen the comments, the TikToks, and there's no other word for it than demonic, the way people are cheering, celebrating.

01:48:42.000 Uh a man whose life was cut down in his absolute prime when he was just getting to the top of the mountain.

01:48:51.000 I I think he was just there, and he had other mountains yet to climb, and we all knew that he did.

01:48:56.000 And he wanted us to be along there with him.

01:48:58.000 And and these these monsters want to celebrate it.

01:49:02.000 And you see it all across Blue Sky.

01:49:04.000 You see it across TikTok.

01:49:05.000 You can find tweet after tweet, you know, sort of the big names have kind of you know realized they have to be careful now.

01:49:12.000 But I've said this for a year now at this point that there will be more manionis.

01:49:19.000 And the cult of Luigi, the fandom of Luigi was there because now that they have lost political power, they are now choosing physical kinetic power.

01:49:31.000 And it was Chairman Mao himself who said political power grows from the barrel of a gun.

01:49:37.000 Uh Alex, I know you gotta run.

01:49:40.000 And uh, where can people go to follow on everything you guys are putting up?

01:49:44.000 Uh, the Alex Marlowe show have a long tribute to Charlie uh today on my podcast.

01:49:48.000 And I uh can't thank you enough, Jack, for having me and including me in this and Real American's Voice, wonderful job over there.

01:49:55.000 Um, and uh we're gonna honor Charlie at Bright Bart News all day, every day.

01:49:59.000 We're putting up dozens and dozens and dozens of pieces of content about Charlie.

01:50:02.000 He got his start writing for us, it's something we're deeply proud of, and we'll always be a part of that in history.

01:50:07.000 Charlie was my friend.

01:50:09.000 I was spoke with him virtually every day, was on his program once a week.

01:50:13.000 He was a good man, and people need to understand that.

01:50:16.000 If you're motivated to get involved right now, know that he wasn't just a conservative warrior, he was a good person, a genuinely good person.

01:50:24.000 He was that guy.

01:50:25.000 Absolutely was Alex.

01:50:26.000 Thank you for being here today.

01:50:27.000 Thank you for being a part of this.

01:50:28.000 Um, President Trump has just put out a new uh statement.

01:50:34.000 Um, he's been talking to reporters, he brought up Charlie.

01:50:37.000 I want to play that now.

01:50:39.000 You know, replace Joe.

01:50:42.000 I don't know, as well as I do.

01:50:44.000 He was a unique man.

01:50:45.000 But uh the best we can.

01:50:48.000 Anything on the investigation or anything on the latest that you've heard from the FBI or Cashell?

01:50:53.000 They've reported to me so far.

01:50:54.000 Pretty much what you see in the news is what it is.

01:50:58.000 Uh they have a virtual manhunt out there.

01:51:01.000 So we'll see what happens.

01:51:03.000 We hope we get him.

01:51:04.000 Sir, thank you.

01:51:06.000 Thank you, Mr. President.

01:51:09.000 So that's President Trump, a virtual manhunt.

01:51:12.000 I hope we get him.

01:51:13.000 I want to go now to Harrison Field's uh press team of the White House.

01:51:18.000 Harrison, thank you so much for joining us and being here today.

01:51:21.000 Uh it's good to be here.

01:51:22.000 Jack, uh, wish it was better circumstances, but it's good to see you.

01:51:26.000 Absolutely.

01:51:27.000 Uh, can you tell us just, you know, beyond the the politics of this, Charlie had so many friends in the White House.

01:51:33.000 Can can you tell me what the mood is like in there or how how it's been in the last 12 hours or so?

01:51:38.000 Well, uh, I recently departed, so I'm actually back in the private sector, but I've been talking to my friends back at the White House.

01:51:44.000 Um, they're just all devastated.

01:51:46.000 There are no words, right?

01:51:48.000 Uh and first and foremost, our prayers, our thoughts, everything in our bodies is going towards Erica and the kids.

01:51:54.000 We can't fathom it.

01:51:55.000 I am a young father myself, recently married, kind of following that Charlie Kirk uh motto get married, have babies.

01:52:02.000 This is what it's all about.

01:52:03.000 Um, you're at a loss for words.

01:52:05.000 There is just no making sense of the unsensible tragedy that took our friend's life.

01:52:11.000 And even if you didn't get to know him, you felt like you did know him.

01:52:14.000 I was talking to friends from all over the country, and they're at a loss.

01:52:17.000 They don't understand how something like this could happen.

01:52:20.000 They got my friends engaged in politics after years of me trying to convince people to become conservatives.

01:52:26.000 All they needed was one Charlie Kirk video, and here they were voting for the president.

01:52:30.000 That's the type of impact that he had.

01:52:32.000 And his legacy will be a lot of things, but one thing, and I know you guys have been talking about it.

01:52:37.000 His legacy as a man of faith, as a Christian, as a lover of Jesus will be of paramount importance.

01:52:43.000 I mean, this is a man uh that when he saw my pin, it's right here on my lapel right here.

01:52:48.000 It has a cross over the United States flag.

01:52:50.000 He pointed it out to me.

01:52:52.000 He noticed it.

01:52:52.000 And I kind of joked with him.

01:52:54.000 I said, it's my Christian nationalist pin.

01:52:56.000 And he got a chuckle out of it.

01:52:57.000 Um, because we cannot be afraid to be Christians in this country.

01:53:01.000 And, you know, just minutes before he passed, we knew that he was professing his faith once again.

01:53:06.000 And I heard Kaylee Mackinetty mentioned this quote, and I think it's beautiful.

01:53:09.000 It's not about left or right, just remember above and up.

01:53:13.000 And we know that uh our brother Charlie is in the arms of Jesus Christ and the angels up there.

01:53:18.000 And as a Christian, that gives you some level of comfort when you're just grasping for something to make sense of it all.

01:53:25.000 No, and and martyrs, martyrs, uh, absolutely go straight in.

01:53:31.000 Uh, you know, Harrison, we got about a a minute here until the break, but you know, it's it's it's something that Charlie always led with, and he was so unapologetic about his faith.

01:53:43.000 And I think that's something that to Gen Z really was able to connect with them at a time when so many people are asking what's going on.

01:53:52.000 It felt like you know, through COVID, everything was collapsing, and then here comes Charlie.

01:53:56.000 It's God, it's the Bible, it's Jesus, and he's there serving it to you right on campus.

01:54:01.000 Yeah, we talk about all the time.

01:54:02.000 We have a loneliness epidemic between our younger population.

01:54:06.000 Charlie was able to influence them in a way to introduce them to God.

01:54:10.000 With God in your life, you can't be lonely.

01:54:12.000 You are so fulsome and wholesome in your life.

01:54:14.000 So he's been able to evangelize in many ways to to people.

01:54:18.000 You know, you became a Christian and a conservative just from listening to him.

01:54:21.000 That's the type of impact he has.

01:54:23.000 You look throughout history, there's not many people that have been able to do that.

01:54:26.000 You look at the Graham family, you look at people like you know, MLK or you know, other prominent people in our country that have had such a platform, the president of the United States, such a palpable uh platform, uh, one that doesn't die um with them, but really lives on.

01:54:44.000 Um, but the reality is, you know, again, as Christians, we know that he's very much alive in heaven.

01:54:48.000 Uh, a place where he prayed and and and wished and knew he probably would end up one day.

01:54:53.000 Uh by no means do we think it would be at 31 years young.

01:54:57.000 Uh, but again, our hearts and our thoughts and prayers are with his family right now.

01:55:02.000 This is a live shot, a camera that we have up at the turning point USA headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, where a makeshift memorial has been set up where people are just coming in.

01:55:18.000 Uh, these aren't people who work for TPUSA.

01:55:20.000 Uh, these are some of the people who uh who work there have come out, but this is really just people coming by, well-wishers, fans, friends in many cases.

01:55:33.000 Charlie, of course, lived in Phoenix, his family still lives in the Phoenix area in Scottsdale, and people are just coming by, watching this in real time, as people are putting his memorial together for Charlie at the work that he did and the campus of Turning Point USA.

01:55:53.000 Uh, I've visited many times, I've been there many times, been there with Charlie many times, and it's it's his life's work.

01:56:03.000 You you are looking physically at these buildings at Charlie's life's work.

01:56:09.000 They would not exist without Charlie Kirk.

01:56:12.000 Turning point USA would not exist without Charlie without Charlie Kirk.

01:56:16.000 Without turning point action, who knows?

01:56:20.000 Maybe you don't have a president Donald Trump, a vice president JD Vance, and the vice president had put up an incredible um 1,000-word eulogy to Charlie last night.

01:56:36.000 And you could tell you you could just tell from the way it was written that JD wrote it himself.

01:56:42.000 Uh, that he had been so close with Charlie all the way back to 2017.

01:56:48.000 And uh so uh what we're we are also told right now is that um the vice president Vance will be uh of course he was not at the 9-11 memorial because he is on his way,

01:57:03.000 he's en route to Salt Lake City, where he can be with Erica and the family as they work through the arrangements and the preparations for for saying goodbye to Charlie.

01:57:22.000 And that's something that we're all going through.

01:57:27.000 It's something we'll all have to go through for everyone in our life.

01:57:33.000 Saying goodbye.

01:57:35.000 And last night, um, Fox News.com reached out to me and asked if I would like to write something for Charlie that they would publish on their opinion side.

01:57:49.000 And so I did, and that is up now.

01:57:51.000 You can guys can go read it.

01:57:55.000 Charlie Kirk died as he lived, bold, unashamed, and anchored in faith.

01:58:03.000 And you can go check it out.

01:58:06.000 I said on September 10th, America lost a warrior and family lost a father.

01:58:13.000 Charlie Kirk was my brother.

01:58:15.000 He was a man who stood tall with his feet firmly planted and a microphone in his hand.

01:58:22.000 He was taken from us at Utah Valley University while proclaiming truth.

01:58:26.000 He did not flinch, he did not waver, he did not run, he died as he lived, bold, steadfast, and unashamed of the gospel and the truth.

01:58:39.000 When America needed a hero, God sent us Charlie Kirk.

01:58:46.000 And there's something about Charlie that no matter how big Charlie got, and I I was with him and I knew him as he went from being well known to an international celebrity.

01:58:59.000 And it didn't matter because he was always kind, he was always generous to everyone, super generous with his time, and he could make a nobody feel like a somebody.

01:59:10.000 because he would listen to every single person, whether it was an event or just on the street who wanted to talk to him.

01:59:16.000 There's someone I know who's been in this fight for a long time and continues to fight and serve this country at the highest levels, but beyond all that, a great friend of Charlie Kirk's.

01:59:30.000 Darren Beattie joins us now from the U.S. State Department.

01:59:34.000 Thank you.

01:59:36.000 Darren, I Jack.

01:59:37.000 I don't even know where to start with any of this, but tell us tell us what your thoughts are.

01:59:44.000 Tell us where you're at today.

01:59:47.000 Well, as you know, we we had a chance to see each other not too long ago, and we're discussing oh well, come on and do Charlie's show, do the show here.

01:59:58.000 And so ordinarily, you know, it would be a situation where I'd say, it's so great to be back, but it's really um the circumstances that occasion my appearance here are terrible.

02:00:12.000 Um, just like everyone else in the country, I'm really heartbroken.

02:00:18.000 It's there's no words to really capture the magnitude of what happened and the magnitude of the loss.

02:00:26.000 Um, you know, there's one sense in which, you know, as the president said, Charlie among his other attributes was a man of fearlessness, and that kind of courage is contagious and will live beyond him as one of the many aspects of his legacy.

02:00:47.000 Um, but there's another sense in which I think he's just irreplaceable.

02:00:52.000 He is probably, I would say without question, the best youth political organizer in America's history.

02:01:02.000 And I think people who don't understand sort of the history of how all this developed may not understand the magnitude of what he accomplished.

02:01:10.000 That's just one of the things, but to create what he created, have these political events with young people engaged, which are more than political events, like like with Trump's rallies, these were rock concerts, and he was a rock star.

02:01:29.000 And that's something that so many people desperately wanted to achieve for so long and couldn't do it.

02:01:36.000 And it took someone of unique character, unique capabilities, like Charlie.

02:01:43.000 And so, you know, they're just a handful of people in the world who are not replaceable.

02:01:49.000 And he was one of them.

02:01:51.000 And when we look across this at the situation.

02:01:57.000 How many times did I did I or you come on the show with Charlie?

02:02:02.000 And we talked about this violence that had started creeping up in our society, probably with the first Trump campaign and throughout the first Trump administration, which you were serving in, leading up, of course, to Butler.

02:02:18.000 And now this.

02:02:20.000 And in a way, Charlie saw it coming.

02:02:22.000 And he knew.

02:02:24.000 He knew going out there, the threat that he was under.

02:02:28.000 I talked to him about it.

02:02:29.000 Everyone talked to him about it.

02:02:32.000 And he did it anyway.

02:02:33.000 He did it anyway.

02:02:35.000 And yet we are in this situation, Darren, in our country where we're in we're in very dire straits because there are so many people who ref who refuse to condemn it.

02:02:45.000 There are so many people who celebrate it.

02:02:47.000 And I really hope that better angels of our nature can prevail in this country.

02:02:56.000 But I worry that perhaps someone else wants to be the next Luigi or whoever this person is.

02:03:04.000 I believe the FBI, by the way, I'll just announce because it's uh because it is just breaking, that the FBI has two pieces of information.

02:03:12.000 The FBI has announced a 100,000 reward for information regarding the shooter.

02:03:19.000 It's number one.

02:03:20.000 Number two, uh, this was something that I had actually heard about last night, but uh I wasn't able to uh to say it publicly yet.

02:03:31.000 And that um JD Vance will meet with Charlie Kirk's wife Erica and their two children in Salt Lake City today.

02:03:42.000 And following that JD is gonna be giving Charlie one last ride on Air Force Two, and he will be flying him back to Arizona to his home state.

02:03:56.000 So that's that's the updates that we have today.

02:03:59.000 Darren, where where do we go at a time like this?

02:04:05.000 It's it's simply a tragedy, and I think it'll take a long time for us to recover as a country if we can at all.

02:04:14.000 I think right now, you know, just want to focus on love and positivity, which you know, Charlie was a warrior, he was also a happy warrior.

02:04:25.000 He was somebody full of love for his fellow citizens for his country, and I think that's really part of the legacy that we should we should remember today.

02:04:37.000 Um yeah, I think in time I trust, of course, the president and the appropriate authorities to deal with this in the manner in which it is appropriate.

02:04:53.000 No, I think that's right.

02:04:54.000 And and of course, we've heard President Trump and and others, Darren.

02:04:59.000 You've spoken out so forcefully in the past and and are now working in your capacity regarding the ideas of censorship, the ideas of silencing speech.

02:05:11.000 Isn't political assassination just the final step of censorship?

02:05:17.000 Isn't that entirely the point?

02:05:21.000 Yes.

02:05:22.000 I mean, it's it's the it's the ultimate um, it's the ultimate silencing, but it doesn't achieve its intended effect because it really just it will make us all all louder, more forceful, more committed to the cause that Charlie fought for so bravely and so effectively.

02:05:45.000 And yeah, I think it's appropriate to say don't want to get into too much of the you know the personal history, but the first time I really had the chance to engage with Charlie was a very long time ago when I was a speech writer for President Trump, and we're doing an event with him, and um it was an event on free speech in college campuses.

02:06:08.000 This was all the way back in 2018.

02:06:12.000 And he'd been around for a while since then.

02:06:15.000 So it's just such at such a young age to achieve so much and be so committed to all of these critical fights for our nation's history.

02:06:26.000 Um is really just a remarkable thing.

02:06:30.000 And uh, you know, it's sure it's been pointed out, but there's something appropriate, but also very poignant and adds to the tragedy is that you know he's wearing a shirt called freedom when his life was taken away, and you know, he was for freedom to the very end.

02:06:52.000 That's exactly right.

02:06:54.000 Charlie Kirk was a martyr of of many causes, interlinked causes, but first and foremost, freedom of speech, the bedrock upon which the American experiment was built.

02:07:09.000 Right.

02:07:09.000 The idea that we have this freedom and we will use this freedom, and Charlie would want us to continue using this freedom, and that's why we're doing the show.

02:07:21.000 And that's why when I reached out to them last night and I said, If you guys need any help, let me know.

02:07:30.000 And they said they they want to keep the keep doing the show, because that's what Charlie would have wanted, because Charlie, and by the way, Charlie would I know for a fact that Charlie would be saying, Jack, don't talk about me the whole time.

02:07:42.000 Talk about what's what's going on, talk about the news, get into things, what's what's happening?

02:07:48.000 And you know, Charlie used to he would he would take Saturdays off and he would use Saturdays to sort of stand still and be there with his family.

02:08:01.000 And so I only think it's appropriate that we take one day and stand still for Charlie.

02:08:07.000 Final minute to you, Darren B. Amen to that.

02:08:12.000 And I can s only reiterate this was uh irreplaceable individual, a great family man, our hearts go out to his family.

02:08:23.000 Obviously, a profound loss for the family, but also profound loss for us for the movement, for the country.

02:08:34.000 Um, and the only consolation we can take is that the courage and the fight and the legacy will live on.

02:08:44.000 So I very much commend you for doing this today, Jack, because I know it's not easy.

02:08:52.000 What can I say then?

02:08:53.000 We know Charlie would do it for us.

02:08:56.000 So Amen.

02:08:58.000 It's rough, but when you stand with the man, you stand with him.

02:09:04.000 It means so much to know how beloved Charlie was to this country, what a hero that he was and is such an icon, and you know having been along for the ride to see how he went from where he started to where he is now,

02:09:28.000 or to have achieved this level of success and become this beloved figure.

02:09:34.000 It's it's impossible, but it you know, it's it just I never saw him that way.

02:09:43.000 Because to me, he's just my buddy, to me, he's my friend.

02:09:48.000 And I'm always just kind of wondering what what the next what's the next fight, Charlie?

02:09:52.000 Where are we going next?

02:09:53.000 What's the next hill we're gonna take?

02:09:55.000 Where are we gonna plant the next flag?

02:10:00.000 And so today we're taking a day to step back from all of that, and we're talking to some of Charlie's closest friends and associates all about the man Charlie was the way that he lived, and the reason that he stood head and shoulders above all of us.

02:10:16.000 Mike Benz joins us now, Mike.

02:10:21.000 I mean, it's it's horrific that we have to be here in such circumstances.

02:10:28.000 But in in a way For me, and I think for a lot of us, we weren't we weren't surprised because we saw the trajectory of the way our country was going.

02:10:36.000 And it was only a matter of time before another act of senseless hate-filled violence came after one of us.

02:10:45.000 And of course they went after Charlie.

02:10:52.000 Yeah.

02:10:56.000 Mike, do you do you think that this is going to turn the temperature up?

02:11:00.000 Is it going to turn it down?

02:11:01.000 What's your sense?

02:11:05.000 I don't know.

02:11:06.000 I think it.

02:11:11.000 I think it has to be.

02:11:14.000 You can't forget this.

02:11:16.000 That was the most graphic, horrifying video.

02:11:22.000 I or anyone I could ever imagine could see in their life.

02:11:28.000 It was in broad daylight.

02:11:31.000 Thousands of people watching, mid-sentence.

02:11:35.000 Shot in the jugular vein.

02:11:39.000 And this was our child prodigy.

02:11:45.000 We would not be here without Charlie.

02:11:47.000 I would not be here without Charlie on so many levels.

02:11:51.000 Charlie was our bridge to the young.

02:11:54.000 Charlie made it okay to believe in this for people whose minds were growing and developing.

02:12:03.000 When I was in college, I was afraid just be friends with anybody who considered themselves conservative.

02:12:13.000 I hid away from the label because there was no institution.

02:12:18.000 There was college Republicans, which sucked and nobody wanted to be a part of.

02:12:23.000 What he did with Turning Point is he built really the first mega institution and probably the most important one, the pipeline of people, networks, of community, of solidarity, of And I can't do something like that.

02:12:43.000 I used to joke with people about when people would say, oh, Ben's, you know, you work so hard.

02:12:52.000 Like uh, and I would say, well, there's someone who works harder than me, actually.

02:12:57.000 How would you like to be Charlie Kirk?

02:12:59.000 He has to do all of this, and then he has to manage teams of thousands of people.

02:13:06.000 He has to bridge divides from all of the different splintered factions of MAGA so that they have one unified vision.

02:13:15.000 He has to be the peacemaker, the diplomat, the communicator, the long-term strategic planner.

02:13:23.000 Every room he walked in, he looked like he would be president one day.

02:13:26.000 You see him next to presence.

02:13:27.000 He looks like he's going to be president.

02:13:30.000 And all of this responsibility was on the shoulders of a kid.

02:13:36.000 Of a kid.

02:13:39.000 He was 17 years old, 16 years old when he started all this.

02:13:44.000 Start turning point at what, 18 years old.

02:13:48.000 And all of that weight and responsibility.

02:13:52.000 And he never lost.

02:13:54.000 I never saw him lose a debate.

02:13:56.000 I never saw him lose his composure.

02:13:59.000 He had a unique and probably the perfect skill set for something that is very, very rare in somebody under 60, let alone somebody in this movement, which is in many ways motivated by passion, and to some extent the kind of chaos of newness and reform.

02:14:23.000 But Charlie was the steady hand.

02:14:29.000 Even in that moment, it's completely surreal.

02:14:33.000 Mike, I couldn't agree more.

02:14:38.000 And I'm shaking up about this as anybody.

02:14:40.000 And I don't even think I slept last night, honestly.

02:14:46.000 And been up with my wife, and she barely slept.

02:14:52.000 And we're just praying, talking.

02:14:58.000 And I know though that because I can hear Charlie's voice in my ear.

02:15:04.000 He would say, keep fighting.

02:15:06.000 Keep up the fight.

02:15:08.000 Keep going.

02:15:10.000 Finish the mission.

02:15:11.000 Complete the task.

02:15:12.000 Work harder.

02:15:13.000 He'd actually and uh he'd be he'd be saying, What do you think?

02:15:16.000 You guys think you get a day off?

02:15:18.000 No.

02:15:18.000 No, we don't take days off.

02:15:19.000 No, we don't.

02:15:21.000 I want to show um very quickly, since we are covering the breaking news, we do have a new image that's been released by the FBI.

02:15:32.000 And so that's the original image right there.

02:15:35.000 And then let's show the new image that's been released, this clearer image that uh is zoomed in, the tighter, clearer image.

02:15:44.000 All right, if we don't have it, we don't have it.

02:15:46.000 But those are the images that were released earlier.

02:15:51.000 We're trying to get a sense of this.

02:15:53.000 Uh right now, okay.

02:15:54.000 Here's the new image that's been released.

02:15:57.000 Mike, as you look at the situation, what do you make of the fact that the shooter is still at large?

02:16:03.000 Possibly.

02:16:08.000 Thank you.

02:16:10.000 I know that this is the most wanted person on earth.

02:16:15.000 I have faith in Cash Tell Dan Bangino, Pam Bondi.

02:16:20.000 To make sure this killer is brought to justice.

02:16:24.000 And I want the slowest, most painful, most gruesome, most public execution of this man possible.

02:16:38.000 I want to be able to do that.

02:16:42.000 Look, I I'm emotionally, I I know exactly where you're coming from.

02:16:46.000 And obviously, cross our T's dot our I's but look, I get it.

02:16:55.000 Something has to give.

02:16:57.000 A line was crossed yesterday that we can't go back from.

02:17:04.000 We can't go back from the we can never turn back into the America that we were before we lost Charlie Kirk.

02:17:17.000 But we can still move forward to become something good because that's what Charlie stood for.

02:17:27.000 But make no mistake.

02:17:32.000 We were robbed yesterday.

02:17:34.000 Erica Kirk was robbed yesterday.

02:17:38.000 Charlie's children were robbed yesterday.

02:17:42.000 And there is now a debt.

The Charlie Kirk Show - September 11, 2025

Charlie Kirk: A Life of Faith, A Legacy That Endures

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