00:01:21.000Wait, so a campus thing I've been doing for 13 years to debate random college kids has now been so important that it gets prominent primetime placement on Comedy Central?
00:01:33.000I think the whole thing is just awesome.
00:01:35.000I'm just finding out how honest you are, Charlie, and so far I think you're doing good, and I hope I'm doing good with you.
00:01:49.000Matt, walk us through the decades long journey from 2015 to today on the public opinion battle.
00:03:17.000My wife is the best person ever, and she's a patriot and she's a believer, and we don't want to have to be accountable to God when this life passes.
00:03:25.000And he asks, Why did you not trust in me and not fight evil?
00:03:28.000Because we as Christians are called to fight evil.
00:03:30.000It's one of the lesser known scriptures, Psalm 97 10.
00:03:33.000For those of you that love God, you must hate evil.
00:03:35.000My call is to fight evil and to proclaim truth.
00:05:20.000I'm going to read some scripture here as we get started off.
00:05:22.000As we remember, One Year Without Charlie.
00:05:25.000Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
00:05:39.000For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
00:05:44.000We are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation.
00:05:47.000If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance and the same sufferings we suffer.
00:05:53.000And our hope for you is firm because we know that just as you share in our suffering, so also you share in our comfort.
00:06:01.000We're joined by Graham Allen and Blake Neff in studio here.
00:06:06.000It's already been a wild morning, I'll tell you.
00:06:11.000We've been saying the devil wants to get his.
00:06:16.000Pound of flesh out of this or something, and so we've had internet issues all morning.
00:06:19.000So if there's sound issues or anything like that, that's why.
00:06:23.000But yeah, bear with us because apparently, like an eighth of Phoenix, uh, their internet went down today.
00:06:29.000So, because of you know, of course, no easy days, it's almost but I, you know, it's kind of fitting because I think Charlie would want us to overcome it and everybody's scrambling around because we've had many days like that with Charlie.
00:06:40.000Um, we have a really amazing show because everybody wanted to be a part of today's show with us, including the vice president himself.
00:06:48.000He's going to be calling in in about four minutes.
00:06:51.000At least we think his schedule is always in flux a little bit.
00:06:54.000We've got Don Jr., also in hour one, who two of those two men were Charlie's dearest, some of Charlie's dearest, closest friends.
00:07:02.000I mean, I think people think about politics as transactional, they think about it as getting stuff done, and it is all those things.
00:07:07.000But behind that are deep, dear friendships.
00:07:11.000And of course, we have Graham here, Jack Pasobic's coming.
00:07:15.000We've got Riley Gaines, Savannah Hernandez, and Officer Tatum.
00:07:20.000Many more come to pay their respects to.
00:07:23.000The most remarkable man I've ever met, and the hardest working man, the most decent man, who was a happy warrior in every single way right up until the end, who gave his life to Jesus, who wanted to be remembered for courage, for his faith, and we remember him for that.
00:07:42.000And we remember all the ways that inspired his life, guided his life, and shaped his life.
00:07:49.000He was an amazing husband, a great father, a great manager of people, a great builder.
00:08:45.000Well, first of all, man, it just doesn't feel like one year.
00:08:48.000That's the conversation I've had with so many private friends in group chat and so forth, man, it's just hard to believe that he's been gone for a year.
00:08:59.000Yeah, I mean, Charlie was obviously a very dear friend.
00:09:02.000I mean, I've kept in close contact, and Usha has with Erica and with the kids.
00:09:08.000You know, I always just first and foremost think of this as a human tragedy.
00:09:12.000You know, you think about the kids, you think about, as a young father myself, you know, what memories will the kids have of Charlie?
00:09:18.000I think about, you know, selfishly the ways in which I wish he was around for my own selfish reasons.
00:09:24.000You know, I think about, hey, man, I just really wish I could call Charlie and get his advice on this, or I really wish I could call Charlie and get his help on this.
00:09:32.000And, you know, it's just you slowly over time realize that, you know, first it's you pick up the phone and you dial his number and then you hang up before he answers.
00:09:41.000The closer you get to this year mark, you realize he's just not there anymore.
00:09:47.000And it's one of these things where I think everybody grieves differently and everybody responds to it differently.
00:09:52.000But the way that I just constantly, almost obsessively, come back to it is this was a guy who just had so much life to live, who had so many people who loved him, and so many people who relied upon him, who depended upon him.
00:10:04.000And we're all in our own way, in some ways, big and small.
00:10:07.000Obviously, the biggest hole is for Erica and the kids.
00:10:09.000But all of us, I think, have this hole that we're all trying to fill or all trying to at least.
00:10:13.000Find some way of making sure that we carry on in Charlie's absence.
00:10:18.000Yeah, I think the personal side is obviously for all of us here is always the hardest, but he also is a man that now belongs to history.
00:10:28.000And that's something that I personally have to wrestle with because I knew him as a friend, as a brother, as a colleague, but I realized that he belongs to everybody now.
00:10:38.000And we've seen his void in the movement, and that has been another struggle over the last year.
00:10:46.000And I think you've put it so beautifully sometimes when you've asked about this.
00:11:08.000Yeah, I mean, it's the wrong question, unfortunately, man, because there's just no answer to it.
00:11:12.000There's no way to replace Charlie Kirk.
00:11:14.000To your point, I heard you when I was sort of coming on and doing the mic check that he was a great manager of people.
00:11:20.000You know, one of the skills, not skills, but I would say virtues that Charlie had that I always try to emulate is that he was like constitutionally incapable of envy.
00:11:32.000And I remember, you know, this is very personal for me in a lot of ways, of course, because I'm giving this big speech at the Republican midterm convention tonight.
00:11:39.000And I remember the first time I gave a speech like this, of course, was at the convention for the general election in 2024.
00:11:46.000And Charlie was down there, like looking up at me, cheering for me.
00:11:50.000You know, sometimes in politics, obviously people have big egos, and there were people who are like, oh, this guy's barely been in politics for a couple of years, and now he's the vice presidential candidate.
00:11:59.000There's like a little bit of jealousy.
00:12:40.000I think that's one of the hidden and underappreciated elements of Charlie's life this is a guy who was evangelizing the Christian faith, was constantly talking about his faith, but in a way that was appealing to people who didn't necessarily come from a Christian background.
00:12:55.000So what you can't do is replace Charlie.
00:12:58.000What all of us can do in our own little way.
00:13:01.000Is try to fill some of the gaps that he left behind.
00:13:04.000You know, I try to talk, of course, to a lot of young audiences, young conservatives, young Christians.
00:13:10.000I think you guys are obviously carrying on with the radio program.
00:13:13.000Erica is trying to ensure that TPUSA continues to be a light out there for the young high school and college students all across America.
00:13:19.000So we're all, I think, trying to pick up some of the burden in our own unique and distinct ways.
00:13:28.000He left a giant hole, and the best we can ever hope for is just to, you know, Make things a little bit better, carry on a little bit of Charlie's legacy.
00:13:37.000Mr. Vice President, I remember at the RNC when Charlie dropped everything.
00:13:41.000I remember I was right next to him and he's like, I got to go.
00:13:48.000And I also remember, as I don't know if you know this Vice President Vance, but I remember as you were speaking, I think he turned to us and he basically said, This is it.
00:14:41.000Charlie, you know, it was like my mom, my sister, my dog, and then Charlie Kirk, I think, was the fourth person to ever support me in that Senate race.
00:14:50.000I mean, so, you know, you guys know the backstory, and I've told this a little bit, but, you know, how I got to know Charlie is I was doing a Fox hit on Tucker Carlson's nightly show on Fox, and I don't know if this is 2018, 2019, maybe even earlier, and I get this message from Charlie Kirk, and I didn't, you know, I'd followed Charlie a little bit.
00:15:09.000I knew who he was, but, you know, I wasn't like a person who was super engaged in the work of TPUSA.
00:15:15.000And it was like not just a very supportive message, but it was also extremely insightful.
00:15:20.000And this is the thing that Charlie had these very deeply held views.
00:15:25.000He had this very distinct perspective on what the Republican Party needed to become to sort of do the best work and to be the best version of itself.
00:15:35.000And I just immediately recognized like this is a guy who sees the world in the same way that I do.
00:15:40.000This is a guy who recognizes that the purpose of a political party is to make people's lives better.
00:15:51.000As much as we might agree with the underlying substance of some of those cliches, it's to make people's lives better and to build the kind of country where young men can become virtuous husbands and fathers and raise good families, and where young women can become virtuous wives and mothers and also raise good families.
00:16:29.000That's the telos of this political movement that we're all engaged in.
00:16:33.000And because of that, again, he was remarkably smart and skillful at navigating in this world because he never lost that North Star.
00:16:41.000And that's, you know, one of the things I try to take away from Charlie, guys, is, you know, politics is inherently like you don't get everything that you want.
00:16:49.000You have to make compromises, whether it's with the moderate Democrats or the moderate Republicans.
00:16:53.000Like you just don't get what you want all the time.
00:16:57.000But so long as you have that North Star, this is what I'm trying to accomplish.
00:17:01.000You may not always make the wisest decisions, but you don't lose yourself in the process.
00:17:05.000And I think there are sort of two separate sins or two separate flaws that I see in American politics.
00:17:11.000You have the people who are just so focused on playing the game that they lose sight of what they're trying to accomplish and they lose themselves in the process.
00:17:19.000And then you have the people who are so dedicated to a particular principle, admirably so, but they're unable to actually get anything done.
00:17:26.000Charlie was the perfect fusion of practical and prudential, but principled.
00:17:32.000And man, we need more of it, but I think that is the great lesson of Charlie's life for people who care about politics.
00:17:38.000I think the greatest lesson for Charlie's life is, for human beings writ large, is, as he always said, be a good husband, be a good father, invest in the things, invest your time in the things that actually will bring you meaning.
00:18:07.000He had his principles, but man, he was better at getting things done than anybody I knew.
00:18:11.000Frankly, I would not be vice president were it not for Charlie and his ability to get things done.
00:18:16.000Yeah, it's an amazing testament to him and how much he believed in you and how much we still believe in you, Mr. Vice President.
00:18:23.000I want to, I'm reminded as you're talking about this moment at the memorial, and I was actually backstage watching the teleprompter of your speech, and it was a beautiful speech, and I remember you went off script.
00:18:37.000And it was that truly powerful moment where you said, I've talked about God and my relationship with Jesus more in the last two weeks than I have in my entire public life.
00:18:47.000And I thought that that was one of the more profound moments of that entire experience.
00:18:53.000Tell us about that and what possessed you in that moment to say those words and what Charlie has kind of injected into your faith journey as well.
00:19:11.000The kind of person that I am, or whether it's that particular journey, but I've always been a little uncomfortable talking about my faith publicly.
00:19:19.000It's not something that comes naturally to me at all, but, and I don't know if it ever came naturally to Charlie either, but there was just no way to talk about Charlie's legacy.
00:19:29.000Like, if I was going to be honest to my friend, to his contribution to my life, to what he meant to the country, to what he meant to the country's Christians, there's just no way to talk about Charlie Kirk without talking about his relationship with Christ and how it really influenced everything.
00:19:45.000I mean, I think that it was C.S. Lewis, and I'm going to butcher this quote, but it's that Christianity is not like my religion.0.78
00:19:53.000It's not this perspective that I have.
00:19:55.000It is the filter by which I see everything else in the world.
00:19:59.000And that was very much true of Charlie.
00:20:01.000And so, almost because I was forced to, like to be honest about Charlie's legacy, I had to talk about my own faith, talk about his faith too.
00:20:10.000It sort of ripped this band-aid off for me.
00:20:13.000And certainly, you know, if you see a speech that I gave six months ago versus a speech that I gave six years ago, You will see a lot more open discussion of faith because now that that band-aid is ripped off, it just, you know, you can't go back.
00:20:29.000And that is, I think, an important takeaway of Charlie's life for me is you've got to talk about the whole person.
00:20:37.000And, you know, I thought a lot about this because I grew up in an evangelical background.
00:20:42.000And I've seen a lot of different ways of people proselytizing their faith.
00:20:46.000I've, you know, walked around my neighborhood knocking on doors, trying to get people to read the saving prayer.
00:20:52.000I've seen the way in which example really, really affects people.
00:20:56.000And I think every person sort of has their own pathway to Jesus.
00:20:59.000But for me, the thing that always was the most impactful and the most powerful is the way that Christians lived their life.
00:21:06.000That witness, that showing as opposed to telling, was always the most powerful Christian witness to me.
00:21:12.000And that's certainly what I try to do.
00:21:14.000I certainly talk about my faith a lot, but I also try to be the kind of person that a human being might be curious and say, oh, well, why did you do that instead of that?
00:21:25.000And I found that that way of sort of talking about or living by example the Christian faith is, again, something I very much took from Charlie.
00:21:35.000He could be, of course, a very good proselytizer.
00:21:38.000I mean, I could see Charlie going door to door, knocking on people's doors and saying, do you want to talk about Jesus?
00:22:08.000That's what one of the most special parts about being able to talk about Charlie is that we saw him up close and we can attest that his life that he lived mirrored his faith.
00:22:22.000It was a superpower, as the vice president was alluding to.
00:22:25.000There's a lot of people who are Christians or claim a Christian mantle, but Charlie, more than anyone, was the person where you could tell that his faith branched into every dimension of his life, that he was not a Political actor who happened to have religious faith, that he was a person who said, I do each of these things as a direct consequence of what I believe about the Bible, about Jesus Christ, about God.
00:22:54.000And we all got to see it, and it's with honor of our lives, actually.
00:22:58.000Mr. Vice President, I just want to give a moment to remember that Erica wrote a beautiful op ed in the New York Times, and she quoted your wife, Usha, on that plane ride that I was on.
00:23:24.000And that was probably one of the more poignant moments in that op ed.
00:23:28.000And give you a moment because you were sitting there when that discussion happened.
00:23:33.000Yeah, I mean, I actually didn't hear exactly what Usha said.
00:23:38.000I believe that Usha said that to Erica either right on the plane or right after we got off and we were on the tarmac together.
00:23:46.000But, I mean, look, man, you guys are all married.
00:23:50.000You know, it's very proud when you see, you know, your wife be the person that you know that she is.
00:23:56.000And in that moment, I was just very proud of Usha because, you know, I know that Usha's caring and strong and wise, but I think the whole country saw it in that moment.
00:24:05.000And certainly Erica saw it in that moment where she was sort of able to be strong enough for Erica to lean on her and offer those words of wisdom.
00:24:13.000I think that, you know, there are so many things about that day that I return to.
00:24:18.000I've talked with Usha a lot about this.
00:24:19.000I think it probably this moment had more of an impact on me than it did on Usha.
00:24:22.000But when Erica looked at us and she was crying and upset, and this is one of the first conversations I'd had with her after Charlie's death, and she said, I wish that we had had more babies together.
00:24:33.000And that hit me like a ton of bricks, man.
00:24:35.000I was like, well, that's not a decision that you ever, one, you'd ever regret it having another kid.
00:24:42.000And two, it's not something you can really go back on.
00:24:44.000If we get to the point where we're 50, 60 and those years have passed us by, I'm never going to be able to go back in time and make a different decision.
00:24:51.000And I think, at least for me, is a big part of the reason why I was so enthusiastic about having another kid.
00:24:57.000And so, you know, now we hold little Alec, who's six weeks old, and I can't help but think of that connection to that moment.
00:25:05.000Man, there's just, there's so much from that day that I hate this term silver lining because, look, there's no silver lining to Charlie's death.
00:25:16.000It left a massive hole in the country.
00:25:18.000It left a massive hole in my heart and my personal life.
00:25:22.000But there are these little rays of sunshine, man, where I think God is speaking to us.
00:25:26.000And I think that moment of Usha's strength for Erica, I think that what Erica said to me, I think, you know, just talking to Charlie's dad, who in that moment you could tell he was trying, I'm getting emotional thinking about it, he was trying not to break down because, you know, he's got his daughter-in-law and he's got his wife and he's got his daughter that he's trying to be strong for.
00:25:46.000You just see all these little moments of people being the best version of themselves in grief.
00:25:52.000And I'm, you know, I'll be honest with you, man.
00:25:57.000A year on, sometimes I find myself talking to God and saying, why the hell did you do this?
00:26:01.000Why did you leave this big gap for all of us?
00:26:05.000But I also remember that there is a purpose to it.
00:26:09.000And if I'm really following Charlie's example, which I try to do, you've got to have a little bit of humility about the ways in which God is speaking to us in these moments.
00:27:34.000They said that we're going to endorse him.
00:27:37.000And then Turning Point was so excited, they blasted out the announcement before Charlie could talk to any of the people in Ohio, any of the donors he had to talk to.
00:27:45.000But he was very proud of it after the fact.
00:28:08.000There could be multiple books written.
00:28:10.000But it's just, it's such a testament, as we said, to, as the vice president said, to, he was always the one looking to boost other people, help other people.
00:28:21.000And that is why he had so many friends, allies, because he was the giving mindset.
00:28:27.000Well, one of his oldest friends in the political space, but really it's beyond politics in so many ways.
00:28:34.000And that is Don Jr., one of Charlie's longtime friends.
00:30:08.000And that was what was great about Charlie, despite having all the connections and having the knowledge that he had.
00:30:12.000I mean, you know, he could go from, you know, fundraising, you know, making calls to billionaires to literally being a bad guy and just carrying stuff.
00:30:21.000Around because we literally had no infrastructure.
00:30:25.000It was just, for me, initially, it was a one or two man show.
00:30:28.000And he became the second or third man on that and pushed us to do college campus events and all the things we weren't supposed to do as Republicans and as conservatives really got us out of our comfort zone to the point where those places actually became our comfort zone.
00:30:45.000And so that was just the beginning of a really long friendship.
00:31:33.000It was like, you know, again, we just, we got to go all out.
00:31:36.000I think I did, you know, some like 40 radio interviews just, you know, that afternoon as sort of the clock was ticking.
00:31:42.000You know, polls would close on the East Coast and then you'd have, you know, the panhandle of Florida was still on the other thing.
00:31:47.000So you had another half an hour, you could still make phone calls for Florida.
00:31:50.000And I mean, we have a picture of me and I'm just literally, On one radio show, other one on hold, and Charlie's just on my desktop, just banging out social media at the same time from my office in New York on that last day.
00:32:06.000He was there for all of that, there for the win there with us at three o'clock in the morning when it finally happened.
00:32:15.000And really, so much of the win in 24 is because of the work that Charlie did and really you guys and all of Turning Point.
00:32:22.000I mean, they really just, the evolution of that and how much they grew and you all collectively grew along with me was amazing.
00:32:32.000When I say your friendship went beyond just politics and transactional, and I meant the same for JD, of course.
00:32:40.000We have this great clip I'm going to play because it was a great moment.
00:32:43.000But, you know, you guys were kind of in an interesting way, you're very different people.
00:32:49.000You know, Charlie was a little bit like uptight, and you guys loved Razingham because he was, you know, like a little brother.
00:32:56.000But, you know, you guys had such different energies, and yet it just became like something that was so dear to both of you and was so fun to watch, like almost polar opposites.
00:33:07.000You got Midwestern, uptight, a little, and I mean this in an endearing way, Charlie.
00:33:11.000In like New York, Manhattan night, Don Jr.
00:33:14.000You know, it was just, it was a crazy thing to watch.
00:33:16.000And I think this clip is just, we're going to play it.
00:33:48.000He's at an Oregon Ducks game, and if you zoom in there, if you gaze at his, at what would be his left ear at the right end of the photo, he has an ear plug within his ear to conceal himself from the true, authentic sound of the game.
00:34:04.000I have a very simple question for Don Do you ever wear ear protection when you shoot?
00:35:45.000Because you could just see him get like visibly uncomfortable with a conversation that most guys have had with every guy buddy they've ever known.
00:35:53.000But with Charlie, it was just like, okay, no, I got to remember.
00:35:55.000Like, I got to talk like I'm talking to my, you know, 12 year old.
00:36:03.000I wasn't planning on bringing this up, but you know, Don, Charlie's impact on all of our lives, he did make us better.
00:36:10.000He made us better people, and he demanded better from everybody around him.
00:36:16.000And I remember the memorial, and I was just telling JD, you know, you ad libbed your speech to talk about Jesus.
00:36:22.000And being backstage, I remember when you came off at the memorial and you talked about Jesus, and everybody's like, wow, God, you know, you really went for it.
00:36:35.000Yeah, I mean, I think it kind of took some people, you know, it was a beautiful moment, though, Don.
00:36:42.000And I think it was such a testament to Charlie's character and what we all witnessed firsthand about the way he lived his life that you went there in that moment.
00:36:53.000And it was almost like it felt like you had to.
00:36:56.000The feel in the room, the moment, and what Charlie's legacy meant.
00:37:02.000Yeah, listen, I think Charlie ultimately, I mean, you know, He probably made everyone a better person who spent around him, but he made you actually want to be a better person.
00:37:10.000He made you want to think about those things that perhaps you don't always think about.
00:37:15.000So, you know, I know he opened that up a lot to me, where you can get kind of preoccupied in the nonsense.
00:37:22.000But, you know, he had a great way of sort of just bringing everything back to sort of a grounded place.
00:37:30.000You know, when, you know, I always joke, you know, with me, even, you know, Charlie was sort of, you know, sitting there, whether it's online or in a speech, I'm like, hey, this is what I want to go here.
00:37:38.000Like, it's That's going to be a banger.
00:37:40.000And he's like, okay, relax a little bit.
00:37:43.000He sort of put, because sometimes, like, you know, 90% Don is better than 110% Don, right?
00:37:48.000It's just like, you know, it's all about time and place.
00:37:50.000And so Charlie was always that grounding voice.
00:37:53.000You kind of, you know, sometimes you just get mad.
00:37:56.000You want to do it, you just, you know, in full fight mode.
00:37:59.000And it's like, okay, but like, I get it, but, you know, you got to think bigger picture here.
00:38:04.000And so, you know, that grounding was always really important.
00:38:07.000I think you see that, you know, I think you saw that then, I think.
00:38:11.000Frankly, you know, across the board, sometimes you see, you know, some of the absence of that now, you know, even in, you know, the people, you know, not just me, but definitely me too, but, you know, others.
00:38:24.000Honestly, even sometimes with my father and stuff like that, he was the guy that could call, you know, and talk through an issue and, you know, sort of break through, you know, the whether it's, you know, if you're stuck in DC and you had the establishment voices in your ear, you know, he was the guy that could do that in a lot of things.
00:38:39.000And so I don't know that anyone really fully appreciated, you know, Charlie's just unique ability.
00:38:46.000To do that, to be the whisperer of all the things that we actually believe, but to do so in a messaging capacity that always hits better than perhaps a lot of people's natural instincts.
00:38:59.000And so he was truly a generational talent.
00:39:03.000I mean, there's no doubt in my mind he would have been president of the United States one day and he would have deserved to have done it and he would have done an incredible job.
00:39:10.000And that's why they took him away from us.
00:39:42.000Just hearing you talk about from the beginning, and I remember me and you first starting to get to know each other around the same time, and I'd see, I'd see you, and then I'd see Charlie right behind you, and Charlie would kind of like nudge me to kind of meet you for the first time and things like that.
00:39:58.000My question for you is this because you brought it up, and naturally, we're all here because of what happened a year ago.
00:40:07.000Charlie's legacy, I believe he's a once in a not a generation, a once in a lifetime person that has graced our world.
00:40:20.000I'm curious what you see on the more political back end side with your father and everything like that when it comes to young men, young women that are.
00:40:31.000We just talked about it that Charlie made all of us want to be better.
00:40:36.000Charlie made all of us realize we could work a little bit harder than we are working.
00:40:42.000I'm just curious what you guys are seeing leading into these midterms, leading into these new challenges that we're facing.
00:40:50.000What do you, from your perspective, see Charlie's lasting impact being in that regard?
00:40:55.000Well, I really hope that it's, you know, that the next young generation opens their eyes, sees through, you know, the indoctrination and the brainwashing.
00:41:08.000And that's why I said it was like, you know, when they're like, oh, he's an extremist, I'm like, yeah, he's such an extremist that he literally opened up one of the largest platforms anywhere in the world to his biggest detractors on an almost daily basis.
00:41:42.000I just hope that his legacy is that enough young people, and God knows there's enough footage out there, but that his message can still carry on.
00:41:52.000I think in DC, a lot of that stuff often gets lost.
00:41:56.000I'll get myself into trouble for saying that, but I think that's 100% accurate.
00:42:01.000And when he was there, he was able to influence that a lot more.
00:42:06.000I don't know that there is someone that has the same ability, gravitas, to move the needle, to talk about the messaging, about Things that actually matter to those groups so they don't feel ostracized and forgotten.
00:42:18.000And I think right now, there's probably media is never going to talk about all the good things.
00:42:33.000But a loss of a Charlie in that conversation really hamstrings it.
00:42:40.000And so I am concerned that all those gains, if we don't seriously address the issues and answer.
00:42:48.000To the needs of what those people who put such faith in us want, that in an election cycle or two or three or four or six, that that's not ever squandered.
00:43:00.000It was such a unique opportunity to be able to talk to that generation and so many others.
00:43:05.000But I mean, obviously, his focus was on the youth, but he mobilized so many other people as well.
00:43:12.000I just hope we don't squander that opportunity and that we remember that the people who got us here are those people.
00:43:32.000That's what we're doing all of this for.
00:43:36.000I see that in all of my five children.
00:43:40.000And who's the messenger that can talk to them to not just talk to them and complain about what's lacking, but also have the ability to drive the initiative to actually create real change.
00:43:54.000For them, so that they do have a reason to get up and vote, that they do have a reason to get out there.
00:43:59.000I think clearly that, you know, the Democrats have done an amazing job of, you know, giving enough people excuses of like why this would be a really bad idea to go with what they're going for right now.
00:44:10.000But to message that effectively to where it moves the needle, where it drives voter turnout, et cetera, you know, we still have to do that.
00:44:19.000I mean, you listen to them and they're insane.
00:44:21.000And I think a lot of the youth of America seem that.
00:44:24.000But, you know, without a voice like Charlie, it's a lot harder.
00:44:27.000To do it because he was so effective at what he did.
00:44:30.000Well, and Don, I mean, not to put the pressure on you, I know you got a lot going on, but I know Charlie believed you were one of those voices that could reach young people.
00:44:40.000And I know that you're a little bit older than some of them, but you speak directly to them, you speak their language.
00:44:46.000And, you know, I know Charlie would be encouraging you to use your voice, your platform, and the trust and the credibility that you have to do that.
00:44:57.000So, The invite is always before you, Don, if you ever want to speak to some colleagues.
00:45:05.000He was a sort of unique guy in that he could do that messaging.
00:45:08.000He'd bring out, whether it's me or others, he could bring out the best in them because we all sort of intrinsically think a lot of these things, but actually getting it out there, putting it into the way that everyone gets it, turning that into not just effective messaging, but effective policy was really what he did so well.
00:45:27.000And so, like I said, I'd love to be able to say I had his talents with those things, and I don't know that anyone does.
00:45:34.000And so hopefully we can collectively do that and keep that legacy alive.
00:45:38.000Don't sell yourself too short there, Don.
00:45:50.000A lot of cynicism setting in, a lot of nihilism, people checking out.
00:45:56.000What's your message to young people right now?
00:45:58.000Listen, I think apathy is what's going to destroy us.
00:46:01.000We have to get out there, you have to understand what the other side is doing.
00:46:04.000You know, the promises that they're making that, you know, these are designed to get their vote, to get power.
00:46:09.000And then we see what they do with it every time.
00:46:10.000You see where the Democrat Party is going in, you know, every election cycle since, you know, way before I ever met Charlie, but certainly since I met Charlie, you know, getting further, you know, radical, more away from the rugged individualism that, you know, makes Americans Americans.
00:46:28.000You know, I think, you know, we were saying it for a while, and maybe it was hyperbole when we first started.
00:46:32.000You know, maybe it wasn't kind of full blown communism, but like, Now, the thought leaders of the Democrat Party, these are DSA people, these are communists.0.61
00:47:17.000But really think about the alternative that alternative that the other side is proposing, the words that are actually coming out of their mouth, the things that they're not just saying in back rooms, but they're saying out loud right now.
00:47:42.000Sometimes, again, you may not be thrilled with everything that's going on right now, but the alternative is so much worse that if you give them a chance, they're just going to chip away and erode the basic freedoms that we hold so dear.
00:47:55.000And they've proven that they want to do that time and time again.
00:47:57.000And so we are certainly there right now.
00:48:01.000And we can't go into this midterm cycle dejected because we didn't get 100% of what we wanted just yet.
00:48:08.000But think of what happens if the other side controls things, where we actually end up in two years or four years or eight years, whatever it may be.
00:48:17.000When the youth of America that Charlie spent so much time talking to, when they have their kids, if you have this continued degradation, where are they when they're your age now?
00:48:47.000I mean, Blake always likes to point to like the UK.
00:48:49.000You know, we basically had the same amount of earning, you know, relative to earnings per capita, real wages to the UK about what, 15 years ago, 20 years ago?
00:49:02.000We have so many advantages over other people.
00:49:04.000And I love, Don, that you, when you asked what was your message, it was no apathy because that was probably, I bet sloth was Charlie's least favorite sin of the seven deadly ones.
00:49:16.000You want to watch Charlie's, you know, get a little.
00:49:25.000He fought against a lot of things, but one of the biggest things he fought was just the attitude of nihilism, the attitude of not caring.
00:49:35.000He cared so intensely about so many things, and that was the root of why he was so effective and why so many people loved him because they could tell he cared.
00:49:44.000I mean, you know, they literally have migrant rape gangs running around the country, and the people who tweet about it and say, this is really bad, we should stop this.0.98
00:49:52.000They're the ones getting thrown in jail, not the people actually committing rape.
00:49:56.000If you want to look at an extreme view, that's it.
00:50:00.000But it's not extreme for the sake of extremism.
00:50:04.000I mean, it's extreme because it's actually happening and everyone's quiet about it.
00:50:08.000And if we think we're immune from that nonsense, we haven't followed history closely because we're certainly not.
00:50:16.000We just may be a little bit further on in the bell curve in that decline.
00:50:22.000We do have the ability to stop it, but we're not going to stop it by saying, well, you know, I don't love this or that.
00:50:28.000And therefore, I'm just going to sit back and let's see what the Democrats do.
00:50:30.000I mean, they've made their points very clear what they actually want to do.
00:50:35.000And the media is going to make sure to cover up, as we've seen in some of these radical extremists that are running for various House and Senate seats and governorships around the country.
00:50:44.000You know, they're going to cover that part up and pretend like it didn't exist, just like they covered up Joe Biden saying, oh, yeah, no, we would never, you know, we'd never get rid of the Keystone Pipeline, even though it was like executive order number one.
00:50:53.000You know, they're going to run cover because, you know, the media knows that that would be a bad messaging.
00:51:02.000We got to know what's actually happening and we got to vote accordingly.
00:51:05.000And so, you know, I guess my final message would be just, you know, don't squander that ability because once you give up those rights, once you give up those freedoms, you don't ever get them back.
00:53:48.000Like, do you actually believe these things, or are you going to get in there and knife the president in the back and the policy in the back that he ran on?
00:54:11.000Let's go a little bit over, and then we'll take a quick, short break, and then we're going to have Officer Tatum, Poso, and others in the studio, which is going to be great.
00:54:19.000We have all this stuff going on at Campus today.
00:54:21.000So, on top of having dozens of staff and students at the RNC, the midterm RNC, we've got the UVU event.
00:54:31.000The whole campus here is transformed into basically a big, like, we've closed off the street and there's food.
00:54:38.000We just unveiled a bronze statue of Charlie, which is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
00:55:00.000I thought it would be really fun to go around the corner here in this last few minutes and just say, what was the first time you remember meeting Charlie?
00:55:09.000What was the first, if you had to, because I mean, it goes back pretty far for Graham, actually.
00:57:27.000And then, Andrew, I met you, I think officially for the first time at the University of Florida when me, you, Erica was there, my wife was there.
00:57:38.000And I remember it feeling potentially heavy that day.
00:57:43.000And we all just were kind of in the back just saying, Hey, I think we need to pray.
00:57:47.000Over this event, you know, and that was, you know, again, just the furthering as it went.
00:57:54.000And I know you didn't ask this, but I have to say it.
00:57:56.000The last time I physically, not the last time I spoke to Charlie, but the last time I was physically in the same room with Charlie, I came here.
00:58:04.000And I don't know if you remember this, he was sick that day, like super sick.
00:58:08.000And yet, Charlie still took the time to meet with me and talk to me about things that I was going back and forth in my mind.
00:58:15.000And then, classic Charlie's like, hey, we got to do a show.
01:01:39.000Brandon, since you're just joining us, why don't you tell about.
01:01:43.000I've been doing this to everybody, so sorry to put you on the spot.
01:01:46.000But the first time you met Charlie, or the first memory you have with Charlie, Graham was theorizing that maybe you were part of that first meeting.
01:01:53.000I don't know if it was the first for you or whatever.
01:01:56.000No, I was just curious if you remembered the first time that we met.
01:01:59.000But go ahead, and then we'll go for that.
01:02:01.000What were your impressions of him when you met him?
01:02:04.000Yeah, first of all, my memory is terrible, I think, because of too many head injuries.
01:05:34.000And, you know, just throwing you there, no prep time, no nothing.
01:05:39.000I almost kind of feel like it was one of Charlie's ways to see if you were who you seem to be, kind of deal.
01:05:46.000Because so many of us, I was telling them before you came on, the first time I met you, was Charlie threw me in to yours and his ASU event.
01:08:35.000I'm a different breed, but I admire him, you know, taking it.
01:08:38.000You know, it's like Martin Luther King did, you know, and some of the activists in the civil rights movement.
01:08:42.000They just, you know, it was passive resistance or whatever you want to call it, where they, you know, allowed them, the other side, to look foolish while they kept their composure.
01:08:52.000And it kind of made people, you know, realize who was at fault.
01:08:56.000Well, you're kind of talking about the students and you're talking about the core outreach that Turning Point did.
01:09:04.000And we have these videos from some of our students.
01:09:07.000I think it's probably a good time to play them.
01:09:09.000They submitted these and the team put them together, so I want to play them.
01:09:17.000He was someone who made a real difference in the lives of so many people, including me.
01:09:22.000He used his voice to stand up for what he believed in, and he gave me the courage to do the same.
01:09:27.000His fearlessness and strong faith inspired me to grow in my own faith and reminded me that we shouldn't be afraid to stand up for what we believe in.
01:09:35.000What I admired most about Charlie was how much he cared about making every Student feel welcomed, valued, and safe.
01:09:42.000He worked to create a community where everyone felt like they belonged, and that is something I will always remember.
01:09:49.000Charlie's legacy will live on through everyone he inspired and the lives he's touched.
01:09:53.000I'm incredibly grateful for the impact he had on me, and he will forever be missed.
01:11:20.000I mean, he's made a difference in so many people's lives, even people who were haters.
01:11:25.000They became, you know, and the funny thing is, or the ironic thing is, I remember, you know, right after Charlie's passing, somebody in my family was like, he never followed Charlie Kirk.
01:11:54.000And it's funny because when people have an opportunity to actually listen to what Charlie said and, you know, listen to the facts that he presented and the way he presented it, you cannot help but be changed.
01:12:07.000Unless you just don't want to change and you just want to be ignorant your whole life.
01:12:11.000But if you are a genuine person and want to understand the truth, you want to understand Christ, Charlie was the perfect person to listen to.
01:12:17.000Maybe talk to that because, you know, it was interesting.
01:12:20.000There was a big Guardian piece that was just released on Charlie.
01:12:25.000It was a whole big thing, and it kind of explains it from the left wing point of view.
01:12:30.000That, you know, a lot of liberals think of Charlie as being a hater, as saying hateful things.
01:12:37.000Some of the stuff he said about black pilots, for example.
01:12:41.000And the way that the piece described it was, you know, some of these things were ugly and cannot be easily explained.
01:12:46.000And it's like, we literally did a whole episode debunking.
01:14:49.000And I don't believe there's, I know for a fact there's no racist bone in his body, but I don't even believe there's anything questionable that Charlie Kirk has ever said if you actually listen to him.
01:15:35.000You're the GOAT when you don't have to keep on playing until you're 40 and get your kid some sort of special job just because you're a billionaire.
01:17:56.000Charlie didn't live his life normal, and that's what makes him great.
01:18:00.000As a matter of fact, one of the things that Eric and I always say to each other, because Charlie used to always say it to us, is he would look around and kind of have.
01:18:08.000There were these moments where he would give himself like one just small little moment to kind of acknowledge like how crazy his life was, and he would look and he'd go, This isn't normal.
01:19:10.000So we're going to be on the air still with Real America's Voice.
01:19:13.000Jack is graciously, he's going to be joining us during that hour, but we're going to be keeping on the Charlie Kirk show on Real America's Voice and streaming.
01:20:15.000Worked together closely with Erica, with the team here, and developed what is incredible what Erica refers to as this Jordan moment, which is on campus.
01:20:44.000But Erica, Thought the Jordan moment was just this is where he lived and died, where he was murdered, doing the work that he loved, converting the hearts of young souls across America.
01:20:59.000And there's some really cool things that are in this statue.
01:21:02.000So you'll notice it's kind of the final motion of him throwing the hat.
01:21:06.000So his hand pointed towards God, which is intentional.
01:21:10.000If you actually go up to the statue, you'll see some very specific things.
01:21:14.000So you'll see his wedding ring that's on his left hand.
01:21:18.000It's clear there, it's behind, you can see it.
01:21:20.000On the hats, you can down to the logo of the Turning Point logo is on the hat.
01:21:25.000So it's not just any MAGA hat, it's the Turning Point MAGA hat, which Charlie loved and produced.
01:21:29.000We produced hundreds of thousands of them.
01:21:52.000Falling out of his shirt and then across, obviously, the freedom shirt across his chest, and then wearing his joggers that he loved to wear every single day.
01:22:13.000By the way, we did a best of Thought Crime, which is our Thursday night streaming show, that we managed to wedge into Charlie's schedule somehow, and he was so faithful to it.
01:24:00.000And it's like, it's one of those weird things where you kind of just, it was almost like God adorned him, you know, in white on his final day with us.
01:24:10.000And now that shirt is like basically we were talking about is like the MAGA Hat 2.0.
01:26:23.000Like if you've seen the ones they put out in front of you, Front of like down in Miami of Dwayne Wade, uh, or the Hall of Famers, the Kobe Bryant ones outside.
01:26:32.000Like, some of them are really bad, and they're really.
01:26:35.000And again, I'm not trying to attack artists that are out there, it's tough, it's tough where I could never do it.
01:26:38.000But the inspiration from Quentin to get so much right, and then Erica's involvement with she, I mean, she, we, the test sculptures we had in her office, and I mean, she had like gotten to the point of just like touching his face and just like making sure everything works.
01:26:59.000And his eyes, like little small things.
01:30:28.000We're going to do, I'm going to play a video of Charlie talking about the start of TPUSA, and then Blake's going to read your emails because you've been sending hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of emails.
01:30:38.000We're going to get to some of those in just a second.
01:30:40.000We'll do a hot swap with Graham Allen.
01:33:15.000Bethany, I'm sure you're getting bombarded with emails about how much Charlie meant to so many people.
01:33:20.000I'm just one more, but I wanted to share.
01:33:23.000I had a six month old when Charlie was assassinated.
01:33:26.000His death affected me as it did so many others.
01:33:28.000I went back and I listened to old Charlie clips.
01:33:31.000He and Erica spoke about the importance of family and children, and this radically changed my perspective on being a mother to my baby.
01:33:41.000My husband and I are now expecting our second, and I can honestly say it's because of Charlie's advice.
01:33:45.000To have more kids than you can afford.
01:33:48.000I actually didn't even know that was going to come out of this one because we actually got a separate email from someone who also said, Let me get it here.
01:34:54.000My barber told me they literally had their baby on a year ago today.
01:35:00.000And he said that, you know, of course he loved Charlie and thought he was great.
01:35:03.000And he said his, unfortunately for him too, is that he don't even remember a lot of the birth because he was so distraught over what happened to Charlie.
01:35:44.000And God honored that and gave Charlie a tremendous influence and platform even after his death.
01:35:52.000But then Charlie goes on, and in my opinion, I think that Charlie went to heaven, which is one of the greatest accomplishments you can ever accomplish.
01:36:31.000Some of these pastors out here to do the same and to stick with Christ and to make every political ideology you have rooted in your faith and not separate the two.
01:36:42.000The problem with society today is people are too cowardice and they want to separate the two.
01:36:49.000You should, there's no such thing, in my opinion, as politics outside of your faith.
01:37:04.000And he's talking about one year without Charlie.
01:37:07.000And this was funny because some of my favorite moments with Charlie were on a plane.
01:37:11.000And he says, I remember one flight in particular.
01:37:13.000Charlie and I were flying into Brackett Field Airport in California on a small twin prop Merlin when we found ourselves in the middle of an intense storm.
01:37:21.000The turbulence became so violent that the plane was being thrown back and forth through the air, and the lights in the cabin were flickering in and out.
01:37:49.000And it's funny because it was such a Charlie thing to say, Mike.
01:37:51.000He says, In the moment he was contemplating whether we're about to fall out of the sky, he somehow managed to create a laughable and teachable moment.
01:38:17.000And I'm sitting there going, like, what just I mean, it was smooth as butter, and all of a sudden the plane just gets rocked violently multiple times.
01:38:26.000And and uh, I look at Charlie, I go, you know, I'm I'm about like, I'm not okay.
01:38:31.000And I look at Charlie, he turns around and smiles at me and smirks, he goes, having fun yet.
01:38:36.000And I just, he was just calm as a cucumber in those moments.
01:39:57.000I think we all can agree that this year has gone in many ways, some that we probably thought, and then others that we probably never could have imagined that it went.
01:40:11.000And so I just wrote, and I'm going to read it so I don't mess it up, so I apologize.
01:40:15.000And I just wrote, Dear Charlie, as you're looking over us right there, it's been one year since you were taken from us, and I'm not going to lie, it's been a rough one.
01:43:07.000And I have to say, I'm proud of all you guys that are here of standing up for Charlie, man.
01:43:13.000When some people have turned their back on him and went crazy and off a cliff, but it's, People like us and others who continue to fight and continue to stand up for him and continue to speak out against people who are trying to taint his legacy.
01:43:30.000And, you know, Erica has been absolutely tremendous.
01:43:34.000I was at the trial with you for 30 hours of testimony, and then you guys may have gone to the final.
01:43:42.000Yeah, and so, but Erica being strong in those moments and, you know, showing true raw emotion, and his parents have been strong and hanging in there.
01:45:17.000And then to walk out there either into that courtroom and, you know, and we won't get into all of the things there, but to look into that courtroom or to, Get in front of a camera and deliver what she needs to deliver and say in those moments.
01:46:31.000I think right now, Blake and I were having a group chat with Charlie as he was in the car to the venue at UVU on why monogamy was great, talking about marriage, societal, advanced civilizational tech.
01:49:42.000Thank you again to Real America's Voice, to Jack for letting the Charlie Kirk show be on in this hour.
01:49:51.000This is in, what is it, I guess 18 minutes, is the moment we're going to do a moment of silence, and we're going to invite the team here that's a part of the show to come join us on set and just observe that moment of silence.
01:50:42.000Jack, this is normally your hour in the Real America's Voice network.
01:50:47.000Why don't you just, today, what does it mean to you?
01:50:51.000What's going through your mind right now?
01:50:53.000Well, you know, what goes through my mind, I think, is the mission.
01:50:58.000And I just keep thinking about how Charlie was always mission first.
01:51:02.000And whether that, whatever the mission was, if the mission was we're going to campus and we're going to have a debate, then that was the mission.
01:51:08.000If the mission was we're going to win election and harvest ballots and chase and knock doors, that was the mission.
01:51:15.000All the mission was, I'm going to memorize this chapter of the Bible and know it by heart, word from word, then that was the mission.
01:51:22.000And he would not, as you know, he would not stop until it was done, or I'm going to read this book and I'm going to read every single page of the book, etc., etc.
01:51:29.000And so, you know, it and people keep, you know, there's that sort of perennial question this time of, you know, when things like this come up, oh, what do you think he would say?
01:51:38.000I'm like, I'm not going to put words in his mouth, but but I imagine he'd be mission focused.
01:51:45.000You know, coming from Dallas last night with where I was just incredible seeing Erica there and that that moment really for me when the entire crowd a year later on the eve was up on their feet.
01:51:58.000Every single person was on their feet chanting Charlie, Charlie, Charlie.
01:52:04.000And it was a moment that showed that no matter what the left thought they achieved that day, that they completely failed because the mission does continue.
01:52:18.000And unfortunately for them, they did inspire so many people to get on board and give more people a why.
01:52:26.000And, you know, one other thing that I wanted to do when I was here so this is the first time I've been back to Phoenix since I was at the CPAC in the UK.
01:52:36.000And Blake, you remember when Charlie went to Oxford and Cambridge and he was so excited and just, you know, just actually excited to really just be an honored to be able to be speaking there in the.
01:52:50.000Vein of so many people who had come before, and so many of the great writers, Burke, and Locke, and Smith.
01:52:57.000And there was a moment at the gala that we held there where CPAC UK wanted to give out, they started this new award, and they called it the Winston Churchill Courage Award.
01:53:11.000And of course, for the inaugural award, they wanted to award it to Charlie.
01:53:16.000And of course, Charlie wasn't able to be there, and they asked if I would be able to.
01:53:21.000Bring it back and to give it to Erica.
01:54:27.000A lot of people say they want to change the world, but what set Charlie apart is he had that goal, but he was so skilled at reducing that to what is the thing I can do.
01:54:37.000Today, yeah, that over time will change the world, and so yeah, it might be to memorize that argument about the Bible.
01:54:45.000I've mentioned this a few times that when he needed to learn something, he'd say, Blake, give me the four talking points, right?
01:56:03.000You know, as you show us every day, even when sometimes we wish you wouldn't because you go by yourself into some pretty heinous territory.
01:56:14.000You know, this last entire week, I have not been able to focus and I couldn't understand why.
01:56:19.000And I realized that it is because of the underlying feelings about what this memorial means for not only myself, but the entire country.
01:56:28.000And so it's been a really, really difficult week, but it's been really great to see how everybody has carried Charlie's legacy on over truly this last year.
01:56:37.000And, you know, knowing that I was going to come on the show today, I was like, okay, what do I want to talk about?
01:56:41.000And what I did want to highlight, I think the most important thing that Charlie did for all of us was.
01:56:47.000He helped grant so many of us our American dream.
01:56:50.000I'm a homeowner for the first time because of Charlie Kirk.
01:57:27.000And so his legacy is still so strongly felt.
01:57:30.000And Andrew, when I was outside and the statue was being unveiled, as they pulled the cloth off the top and we saw it for the first time, it was kind of an insane moment because the American flag immediately started waving.
01:57:43.000It wasn't waving prior, and it immediately started waving as soon as it was unveiled.
01:57:47.000And it was just such a beautiful moment.
01:57:49.000And I just feel like Charlie's spirit is, of course, here with us today.
01:58:49.000No, I was supposed to be with him that day.
01:58:51.000Charlie had called me a few weeks before the UVU event.
01:58:56.000He called me during August and said, Mike, I'm going to be at Utah Valley University on September the 10th, and I want you right there with me.
01:59:02.000I was planning to be there with him, and I told him at the time, I'll be there if it's humanly possible.
01:59:10.000That day in Washington, that I can't miss.
01:59:12.000And if that's the case, I'll have to take a rain check.
01:59:14.000As it turned out, I was not able to be there.
01:59:17.000But I was texting with him and talking to him on the phone in the days and hours leading up to the event.
01:59:25.000The last text message I got from him was shortly after he landed in Utah.
01:59:30.000And he somewhat presciently said, You know, I think today's event is going to be huge.
01:59:35.000Now, he was right, but not in the way that we had imagined, not in the way that we had hoped.
01:59:41.000And to this day, 365 days later, I can't believe he's gone.
01:59:47.000He's one who I have expected, like Tom Sawyer, to show up to his own funeral.
01:59:52.000Charlie is someone who was taken from us far too young.
01:59:59.000But he made a profound impact on this world.
02:00:03.000And his influence lives on, his legacy lives on.
02:00:07.000I think what happened when the left killed him and then celebrated his death.
02:00:12.000The left created millions of aspiring new Charlie Kirks.
02:00:18.000And I think nothing, nothing that is short of living and being able to continue his earthly mission would have made Charlie prouder or happier than that.
02:00:30.000If I may, Senator, I just wanted to say thank you personally as well because you did show up at that preliminary hearing a couple of, you know, back in July, I guess it was, two months.
02:00:43.000And Of course, you being from the area, obviously with your legal background, and of course your relationship with Charlie, it meant so much to have someone there who was a familiar face, but also who could kind of walk us through that terrain in a way that really only you could.
02:01:01.000And I remember there were a few moments during that hearing where there was frustration with the process, frustration with the emotion of the event.
02:01:09.000And I know you arriving, what really meant so much, I mean, I'm not just talking about myself, but I remember with Charlie's family there, with With Erica, with his mother and father, you being there really meant a lot.
02:01:20.000And so I just wanted to say thank you for that.
02:01:38.000And, Jack, it was an honor and a privilege to be there, especially getting to sit next to you and just behind Erica and Charlie's parents at that event.
02:01:46.000We saw and heard some evidence that day that was hard to take in.
02:01:53.000These are things that no one should have to see.
02:01:56.000But sometimes people have to bear witness.
02:01:59.000To hard things in order to warn against them happening in the future.
02:02:03.000So we are grateful for so many good things that have happened since Charlie's death, all of them because of what Charlie did while he was alive.
02:02:38.000We're coming up on the exact one year mark, which means a year ago, right now, Charlie was witnessing to the gospel for the last time.
02:02:49.000Because you might remember the first question at UVU was a guy who was arguing over whether, I think it was Mormonism versus evangelicalism, but it was Charlie always loved every opportunity to witness to that.
02:03:39.000This moment exactly a year ago, right now, because I couldn't be there, I was keeping tabs on what was happening.
02:03:45.000I was asking my staff in between meetings, in between votes and meetings and hearings for a play by play on what was happening on the ground.
02:03:53.000And when I got the unfathomable news that there had been a shooting, I couldn't think about anything else until I found out what happened.
02:04:03.000And it took several hours before I could find out what had occurred.
02:04:07.000I actually had to call the president of the United States to get the final word as to whether he had made it.
02:04:12.000And It was tearful, but I couldn't believe it at the time.
02:04:20.000Still can't believe it now that he's gone, but we're so grateful for what he did.
02:04:26.000We are three minutes away, and we're going to do something here with the team.
02:04:35.000I want to bring all the team that's a part of this show and new Charlie behind the scenes, and we're going to start gathering around the back of this set.
02:04:48.000We're going to get ready for the moment of silence as we, you know, it's just wild because, you know, everything was going on just as we always expected it to and as we always had.
02:05:01.000And in three minutes, everything changes.
02:05:03.000I was on air, I was in an interview with your colleague, Senator Ron Johnson.
02:05:11.000Couldn't even tell you what we were talking about.
02:05:12.000And, you know, I just had the show, the live chat up, you know, as I usually do.
02:05:19.000And it was like something shifted, and suddenly every comment, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie.
02:05:29.000And I was hoping it was a hoax originally.
02:05:33.000And I remember, and the senator, of course, he kept going, and I just couldn't even hear a word he was saying because I was trying to figure out hey, what's going on.
02:05:43.000I just, you know, I've got producers in the ear trying to figure it out.
02:05:55.000We were in Europe and we were expanding our coverage.
02:05:57.000Charlie wanted us to go and highlight, you know, again, not only the illegal immigration crisis and migration crisis here in the United States, but also abroad.
02:06:04.000And so I just remember that trip being very pivotal because it was a shift for the front lines team for how much we were growing.
02:09:03.000The reason I say sacrifice is because Charlie knew there was a threat, obviously.
02:09:14.000He had the security, but he knew that any day, any given day out there on campus, something could happen.
02:09:23.000But it was because he had this vision in his heart, inspiration from God, that he still had to go out there to fight the fight, to go on that field and not let any threat get in his way.
02:09:44.000And the sacrifice is because he wasn't doing it for himself, it's because he was doing it for his family, for his country.
02:09:53.000And ultimately, like he did all things for God.
02:09:57.000And that's the purest definition of a sacrifice.
02:10:38.000I want to try to continue to lead this movement and to speak truth and to never lie.
02:10:42.000To stop thinking about yourself all the time and think about what you should do to help other people and to defend this country above yourself.
02:10:54.000Freedom fighters, we're going to be around for the next 100, 200 years because we know in the end our ideas will win.
02:10:59.000God should be the most important thing in your life, but then beyond that, it's getting married, having children, building families.
02:11:05.000My kids are my most important thing in my world.
02:11:08.000My wife and my kids are our relationship with God, the top three things.
02:11:13.000And the more often that you choose the deep, the difficult, but the right path over the easy path is one that will reward you, your family, and this beautiful nation.
02:12:40.000You know, you have no words to navigate the show, but I feel like I've had no words to navigate the past year.
02:12:46.000It's really heavy being here on the ground at headquarters, and of course, being able to spend time with the Turning Point family, but to see all these beautiful memoirs and, you know, reminders of Charlie everywhere, looking at this seat in person.
02:13:03.000I think people handle grief and obviously the traumatic circumstances, the horrific graphic.
02:13:11.000Circumstances of, of course, 910 last year and everything that has ensued since.
02:13:16.000I think people handle that in different ways.
02:13:17.000And I will say for me, I don't know, I've been relatively like, I don't know a good way to put it, maybe emotionally avoidant.
02:13:27.000Like anytime Charlie has popped up on my screen, I don't know if this is like an immature way of coping, but I've just been so quick to scroll by.
02:13:34.000Like it feels like a punch to the gut, even still to see his face and to listen to his voice and to hear his message.
02:13:43.000Because I think with confronting it and realizing that you're not going to get any more videos, new content made by Charlie, it makes it all the more real.
02:13:51.000And so I feel like the past year, maybe as immature as it sounds, I have been emotionally avoidant.
02:13:57.000And so being here in person and seeing this for me, it just makes it all the more real and heavy, of course, today, but even understanding what tomorrow is 9 11, like it's a pretty dark week.
02:14:10.000And in a world covered and surrounded by darkness, Charlie was.
02:14:14.000Not just a light, he was the brightest lights.
02:14:19.000And so to know that he's gone, it's pretty deep, pretty devastating being here.
02:14:25.000But nonetheless, just to be surrounded by family.
02:14:27.000That word gets thrown around, but it's real.
02:14:31.000Just when we've been through what we've all been through, you see so many comments online of people who feel like they knew Charlie personally, even though they've just seen him on reels and clips and TikToks.
02:14:42.000The people in this building did know him personally.
02:14:45.000So, that word family, yeah, it's the literal sense.
02:14:48.000We asked other people, Joe Bob, how did you first encounter?
02:15:31.000You don't want to ask for a photo because that, you know, you're working.
02:15:35.000So your first picture is photobombing Larry Elder?
02:15:37.000My first picture is photobombing Larry Elder and Charlie.
02:15:42.000And this is, I was a big fan, but this is, you know, three, four.
02:15:45.000Four years before I started doing anything with Turning Point.
02:15:48.000And I was thinking about it, and that kind of mentality kind of carried through my entire time here at Turning Point.
02:15:55.000And we never actually got a posed photo together until one of the last stops on the spring tour of 2025 when Mikey found me and said, Hey, Charlie wants a photo with you.
02:16:08.000And I was like, I didn't believe him because Mikey will pull your leg all the time.
02:16:15.000And so we have from the first encounter with Charlie way back when I was a fan and I was working behind the camera and kind of sneaking in a photo bomb to.
02:16:29.000That one photo that we have that's posed and we're both mean mugging.
02:16:37.000It was, he was always a larger than life figure, even while working with him.
02:16:42.000And I don't know if this is the same for a bunch of other people.
02:16:46.000There's just hours of footage of just content talking, me and him, and several other people.
02:16:53.000But what I find myself going back to is the small moments that some people might see as insignificant off camera.
02:17:02.000Where he'd just say something, or something would pop up.
02:17:05.000He, this is a, this is a, a couple months after we started doing the show on Real America's Voice, I get an email at like 45 minutes into the show, and it, the headline says Charlie Kirk, the name on it.
02:17:22.000And all it says is just the subject that says big fan, nothing in the box.
02:17:40.000Come to find out, it was actually Charlie who emailed the show.
02:17:43.000And it's those little moments that, you know, I can go back and watch all the footage and I have, but it's those small moments that weren't captured on camera of, you know, passing by in a comment that he'd make that are the ones that really have been jumping to mind over the last year.
02:18:37.000Like, I hadn't told the only people who knew were, of course, my husband and like my immediate family and maybe some of my closest friends, but no one in the turning point orbit knew that I was pregnant.
02:18:47.000I was able to, you know, my bump wasn't that big.
02:18:51.000I couldn't even focus on like the whole rest of the time on the prove me wrong because I was like, he knows.
02:18:58.000And there was a part of me that was so fearful to tell him because I think, you know, internally, you're of the mind that, of course, with pregnancy and with delivery comes maternity leave.
02:19:09.000And with Turning Point being an employer, there was a part of me that was fearful in telling him because I was like, he's going to get mad at me because I'm not going to be able to travel and to go on the road.
02:19:16.000And so it was, again, totally, I placed that fear and that worry on myself internally.
02:19:20.000And so after the fact, after the prove me wrong, I went up to him.
02:19:23.000I was like, Charlie, you know how you answered that question?
02:19:26.000He said, let's take Riley and pretend she's 20 weeks pregnant.0.98
02:19:33.000And of course, he said, Riley, there is nothing more fruitful or purposeful or rewarding or satisfactory or fulfilling that you can do as a woman.
02:19:50.000Don't worry about making this quick rush to return back.
02:19:56.000We're just happy, of course, that you're a part of the team and that you're bringing life into this world, that you're engaging in the act of creation.
02:20:02.000Our nation so desperately needs it in the way that Charlie, of course, you would imagine that he would respond.
02:20:06.000And so then I felt so silly for ever thinking of the, you know, he would have another stance on it, but it was rare what he said.
02:20:14.000So that's when I was like, no, he's a prophet.
02:20:34.000And the young people would flock to him by the thousands to hear him preach and proclaim truth.
02:20:40.000And it was almost like God had to revamp the format so that this generation didn't immediately write it off because if you said, hey, this is a tent revival, they wouldn't have come.
02:21:25.000Even in death, it's been amazing to see some of the comments from people.
02:21:30.000Online, on TikTok, on social media, who say, you know, I never knew Charlie, but either his time on this earth radicalized them in a positive way and brought them to the Lord or brought them, you know, maybe they became a first time conservative voter because of Charlie.
02:21:47.000And maybe it was Charlie himself, and they're getting to go back and, you know, get beyond just the headlines and the little clips that are taken totally out of context.
02:21:55.000And they're watching these debates and they're realizing, wait, Charlie is unusually kind.
02:22:00.000He's unusually compassionate and decent and genuine and honest and effective.
02:22:50.000I can just imagine every weird development, we would have posted one of those videos of the jurors saying something baffling, and he would just reply, OMG, or possibly, I quit.
02:23:01.000Those are his two exasperated stories.
02:23:06.000Man, I want to play something like uplifting though, because, you know, we play a clip all the time, but it really, as we're getting to the end of our third hour here, you know, and again, thank you to Real America's Voice for taking it.
02:23:21.000I know we've blown all the breaks, Michael, talking to you, Michael, and thank you for being so gracious to us.
02:23:28.000We've played this clip a lot, but it really is, as we're nearing the end of our stream here, that this was the culmination of so much of his political activities, and this is, of course, Election night 2024.
02:23:40.000I know you love it as much as we do, and I don't ever get tired of seeing it.
02:25:16.000It feels so when you're close to something.
02:25:19.000Right when you've been here, when you've been doing something, sometimes you miss, or at least I'll speak for myself, the explosiveness of the moment.
02:25:29.000You know, I've been doing these college events for with Charlie for three years, and after that moment, and obviously all the moments leading up to that moment, I think people really understood what Charlie was all about.
02:25:46.000Turning Point has always been a first foot forward on offense organization.
02:25:51.000And Charlie's always been a first foot forward on offense organization.
02:25:54.000But something happened in the culture, and we've all seen it over the last couple of years, to where people are looking for something.
02:26:01.000And at that time, at the moment, Charlie was the thing that they could go after and say, This guy's being honest with me.
02:26:08.000He might not agree with everything he says, but this guy's being genuine and honest.
02:26:12.000And I say that to say the crowds just grew without, I didn't recognize it.
02:28:14.000They were who were denied truth on TikTok.
02:28:17.000I can't even tell you how many times my account was censored or banned or suspended.
02:28:21.000And I think it's probably just like it's like when you were in middle school and you did that experiment on like bacteria doubling in a petri dish.
02:28:28.000And, you know, if it takes for it, it doubles in the last thing.0.80
02:28:32.000And so I think it really was that he just grew and grew and he became more and more formidable as a debater, as a Christian.
02:28:40.000And he finally just got that point where suddenly it could double in a few months.0.87
02:28:47.000And so you go from a few hundred people at your event in fall of 23 to one of the most, probably the most famous, you could say the most famous lay Christian in the world by the summer of 2025.
02:29:04.000So that event was actually, and I wonder if that was when he started to recognize it too, because I remember, so we were in the back area, right?
02:29:12.000So it was a ballroom, so it was like a hallway, and Charlie was behind a door.
02:29:15.000And he comes out, says hello, and he's kind of looking, the numbers looking good.
02:29:57.000We posted all over social, and it was just like we went from years of being outnumbered on campus, of being put upon by protesters and Antifa and all this stuff.
02:30:07.000And in this moment, it was like, uh uh.
02:30:14.000We talk a lot about faith, but I do think a secondary but still very beautiful thing about Charlie is the degree to which he.
02:30:22.000Loved America in, I sometimes say it's like he, if you read about Americans in the 1800s, their level of patriotism, even to us who love America, it can make you raise an eyebrow the way these people really do.
02:30:36.000It's like if someone disrespects the American flag, they will snap and try to beat you up.
02:30:42.000Or you read about the Civil War, Lincoln comes out and he's like, they fired upon the American flag, and hundreds of thousands of people sign up to fight in the Union Army in response to that.
02:30:52.000And that's, Charlie's level of patriotism.
02:30:54.000He just, he absolutely loved America in this uncompromising, straightforward, intensely prideful way.
02:31:05.000He thought it was the greatest thing to have ever happened on this earth after the incarnation.
02:31:10.000And it's that earnestness that he brought to things that I think won so many people over.
02:31:19.000You, I'm just thinking back because, you know, what was striking about when you first met Charlie is how much he cared about things.
02:31:26.000And I think that, like, had this ability to inject optimism into everybody around him.
02:31:31.000And I'm remembering, as you're sitting next to me, Riley, when you first, like, that San Francisco State thing happened, it was like you had, I don't know how many followers, but all of a sudden, with overnight, it was like you had a half a million, and then it was like a million.
02:31:43.000And I remember we were talking to you during that whole phase, and, like, Charlie was talking to you, I was talking to you.
02:31:48.000And we've asked this about everybody, like, your first memory of talking to Charlie or meeting Charlie, was it around that time, or did you actually?
02:32:44.000I knew nothing about our government, our government structure, about, you know, I knew we had three branches and I didn't really know what they did and I still don't really know what they do.
02:32:54.000And I don't even know if they know what they do half the time.
02:33:57.000And you get up there and it was one of the most, I mean, we just saw that clip, like consequential moments in this country's history where President Trump is in the Oval Office for the second time.
02:34:07.000And you, it just, Came out with like, it was a breeze standing on that stage.
02:34:13.000You know what I remember when I realized what you had become was at the RFK event.
02:34:20.000When RFK endorsed President Trump, it was here in Phoenix and we did that big event.
02:34:26.000And you gave one of the speeches in the lead up to it.
02:34:32.000And I remember it was, first of all, pitch perfect, it had so much energy and the crowd was wrapped.
02:35:31.000You know, that rally was one of the most, I don't know, like, in understanding what the Conservative Party had become and what Charlie had really built.
02:35:40.000I don't think a lot of people realize, like, just how much of a behind the scenes player he was and who President Trump even still currently has closest to him in those cabinet positions and otherwise.
02:35:54.000And so, to me, when you saw the likes of RFK, And Tulsi Gabbard coming out and supporting and getting behind President Trump.
02:36:03.000It showed me how we really were the party of unity.
02:36:06.000And that was something that Charlie was dedicated to building and to fostering and to growing.
02:36:11.000The other side, for so long, they had claimed to be the ones that were inclusive and diverse and were all accepting and welcoming and blah, blah, blah, all the buzzwords.
02:36:20.000But in that moment, it was like the left isn't any of those things.
02:36:23.000They don't embrace diversity because they don't embrace diverse thought.
02:36:27.000Here we have Charlie, who has really fostered RFK Jr.
02:36:32.000I mean, a Kennedy, to be with President Trump.
02:36:35.000It was a perfect symbol of the umbrella of unity that Charlie was really dedicated to creating.
02:36:51.000And I wanted to bring on Quentin, who is the sculptor and the artist who made that beautiful, beautiful statue that is now temporarily outside.
02:37:55.000I just listened to videos on Loop from Charlie and started that portrait.
02:37:59.000And it took me a few months to kind of get his likeness.
02:38:03.000And then my dad's cousin saw what I was working on and he got me connected with Tyler.
02:38:10.000And then Tyler called me and asked if I wanted to make a monument.
02:38:14.000And it was the greatest honor I could have ever received to use my skill and what I love to do to honor Charlie.
02:38:24.000It's so cool how you say, you know, I knew I had to do something because I think that's how so many people felt, especially in the immediate, is you knew you had to do something.
02:39:42.000I'm like, you will not know the depth and breadth and scope and all the ripples that are going to emerge and emanate from Charlie's life for 40, 50 years because somewhere out there is a.
02:39:55.00012 year old that wants to be like Charlie Kirk and wants to live a life like Charlie's.
02:40:02.000And I think the impact that they're going to have on future generations and the fact that everybody had this collective response of what can I do?
02:40:10.000What can I do to do more, to be better, to be a better husband, to be a better father, to be a better student, be a better activist?
02:40:17.000I just think it's a tremendous, tremendous insight.
02:40:21.000And I think it's just more proof that I'm right about this.
02:40:25.000And from there, we saw the slogans, of course, of Pick up the mic, and we are all Charlie Kirk.
02:40:30.000And it gave people, again, that sense of security and confidence that while Charlie, of course, is one of one, and saying we are all Charlie Kirk, that's not saying that we were looking for some replacement in the immediate of who could fill this void.
02:40:44.000No, Charlie had the belief that this is a country we're saving.
02:40:48.000And if all of us as individual average people could have a small part in that to do what we can as just one person to contribute to make this country worth it.
02:40:59.000Saving to, especially for the next generation, then we're not going to do half bad.