Matt Peterson joins us to talk about the growing number of Trump allies being indicted, should you support a candidate if they receive support from a Democrat running ads on their behalf, and much, much more. Thanks to our sponsor, Turning Point USA, for supporting the show.
00:00:01.000Today in the Charlie Kirk show, Matt Peterson joins us to talk about the scary trend of Trump allies being indicted.
00:00:07.000I asked the question about: should you support a candidate if they receive support from a Democrat organization running ads on their behalf?
00:00:52.000His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
00:01:00.000We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
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00:01:23.000With us right now is a great American Patriot, co-founder and general partner of New Founding, and also the president of American Firebrand Super PAC and friend of the show, Matt Peterson.
00:01:52.000And the way the media has responded is a new line of attack that you can see in kind of the smart coordinated circles, the people that are considered to be smarter, you know, than not.
00:02:02.000However, they are all kind of coordinating their attacks around Christian nationalism.
00:02:11.000Over the last few weeks, since I had the honor, this term of writing, I think, the only Supreme Court decision in the history of that institution that has been lambasted by a whole string of foreign leaders who felt perfectly fine commenting on American law.
00:02:35.000One of these was former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but he paid the price.
00:02:42.000Matt, kind of mocking Boris Johnson there, Samuel Alito, who I think is the best thing George W. Bush ever gave us, probably my favorite member of the court.
00:02:50.000They're attacking him as being a Christian nationalist.
00:04:00.000However, he's pushed back against some of the other rulings that maybe Gorsuch has had, especially on immigration or Kavanaugh on some of the others.
00:04:07.000What is it about kind of Clarence Thomas and Alito and some of those members of the court that stand differently than some of the more traditional Republican justices?
00:04:17.000Well, I think they don't hide behind an originalism that's too scared to rule on what the Constitution means.
00:04:28.000So, you know, there's a strain of originalism that I call it technocratic, that wants to shy away from really correcting 50 years of egregious liberal error when it comes to the Constitution.
00:04:45.000And perhaps no case illustrates this better than Roe v. Wade.
00:04:50.000You don't have to be on the right or left to realize that the Constitution says nothing about abortion, nothing about a right to privacy.
00:04:57.000All of this was introduced out of whole cloth a long time ago, and it's a terrible decision.
00:05:06.000And even if you wanted to get to that result, you could write a better decision.
00:05:09.000So I think that what you see in the more bold justices is the idea that no, we will correct these errors.
00:05:16.000We will return that decision back to the states.
00:05:22.000Or, you know, some of them would go even further.
00:05:25.000But I guess to boil it down, they're willing to make those judgments and they're not hiding behind a kind of proceduralism or they're not hiding behind this idea that, oh, well, we have to be very careful prudentially and respect precedent, even if the precedent is laughable and unconstitutional.
00:05:44.000So, Matt, another thing I want to reinforce for our audience, though, George W. Bush originally wanted to put Harriet Myers on the court.
00:05:50.000And it wasn't until conservatives said, no, we've had enough.
00:06:04.000It looks, quote, Merrick Garland is acting like an attorney general is supposed to act as they're investigating Donald Trump, potentially going to indict Trump, going after many Trump allies.
00:06:13.000What is your take on this outright, naked and public weaponization of government against political opponents?
00:06:22.000Look, Americans have to wake up and realize that what's happening here is extremely serious.
00:06:29.000And, you know, I don't see how you get back to normal anytime within our lifetimes.
00:06:35.000I mean, what you're doing by criminalizing dissent, by criminalizing the other side, by using the power of government against the other side, is you're starting a cycle in which both sides are going to have to do the same thing in order to keep up with each other, in order to stay afloat, in order to stay alive.
00:06:53.000And this is a desire for a one-party state.
00:06:57.000And what you have to think is, if you were responsible, a responsible political leader, even if you were on the left, you would realize that by criminalizing dissent, by trying to criminally prosecute your political opponents, you are, this is the height of irresponsibility.
00:07:14.000You are going to throw the country into a divide, a debate, a conflict that escalates.
00:07:20.000And I have to say, I don't know how some of these people aren't very smart, but some of them are smart enough to realize what they're doing.
00:07:28.000They are purposely doing what they accuse the other side of.
00:07:31.000They are escalating political conflict in the United States in a way that's extremely unhealthy and that frankly, most Americans never dreamed would happen here.
00:07:55.000I mean, I think the first thing that needs to happen is Republicans need to be screaming about this and doing everything they can, if they have political power, to leverage that power against it.
00:08:08.000So this is why taking over Congress is important.
00:08:12.000These people should be investigated, and anyone running for president should be directly talking about how, giving us a plan, how they're going to radically clean out. these agencies and these departments.
00:08:25.000Because if they don't do that, this is only going to continue.
00:08:31.000Tell people what's going on, identify it as the radical threat to our system that it is, and then provide that plan of what you would do when you take office, no matter what your political position is.
00:08:43.000There's a lot of ways to get at it, but we need to hear political leaders with a plan who are directly addressing it and saying, when I get in there, I'm going to get rid of X, Y, and Z. I'm going to clean out the stables, and this is how I'm going to do it.
00:08:55.000There's many paths potentially, but it starts with awareness and then it starts with people talking about specific plans.
00:09:00.000And Matt, what frustrates me, and we'll talk about it after the break, is that some of the old guard in the Republican Party still acts as if we're dealing with a Democrat Party that is in good faith and good intentions.
00:09:11.000They're literally imprisoning their opponents, Matt.
00:09:14.000I mean, this is as serious as it gets.
00:09:17.000This is the descent into a third world oligarchy.
00:09:29.000I mean, I said the other day on the show that state attorney generals, as just as a show of force, should all consolidate criminal investigations in a Hunter Biden.
00:09:38.000I'm sure he's broken plenty of laws in your states, Red States.
00:09:41.000He seemed to party in Arkansas plenty.
00:09:43.000And I said that somewhat jokingly, but I also said they have to think that there is a counterbalance against them, right?
00:09:49.000They can't be the only ones that put political, meaning they have to feel as if there is a cost to this.
00:10:00.000There is no balance because they control the entire criminal justice institution.
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00:11:12.000So Matt, I would just want to get into some details here, though, because people feel so helpless.
00:11:16.000They're willing to lock up their political opponents.
00:11:19.000How do we then respond just from a state level, a local level, if at all?
00:11:23.000Or do we just talk about it and hope it gets better?
00:11:26.000No, no, the time for op-eds only as a response has ended.
00:11:32.000This is not an academic matter anymore.
00:11:34.000This is not a matter of commentating and talking.
00:11:42.000And let me say first that I do think that a taste of their own medicine in a just and equitable way, as they would say, is absolutely what's required.
00:11:54.000First off, you know, I'm thinking you walk in as president, say, let's stop at start at the top.
00:12:00.000You declare Black Lives Matter and Antifa domestic terrorist organizations, and you say, we're going to look back at 2020, and we are going to investigate and, if necessary, prosecute anyone who supported violent crime throughout the entire country.
00:12:17.000And that includes politicians who gave them aid.
00:12:21.000That includes private corporations that gave money to these terrorist groups.
00:12:25.000That includes large foundations who are funding illegal activity effectively.
00:12:30.000We're going to have to investigate that and we're going to have to look at their communications, the communications between these violent insurrectionists, right?
00:12:38.000These violent rioters and their organizations and the politicians and foundations who supported them.
00:12:44.000That to me is completely legitimate as a move.
00:12:47.000And that would send a signal that you're not going to get away with this.
00:12:51.000We are going to come after you and we are going to make you pay because you did violate the law.
00:12:56.000And we can investigate your foundations and your universities.
00:12:59.000What universities supported the riots?
00:13:01.000What universities are teaching violence and justifying violence and insurrection throughout the country against the United States of America?
00:13:10.000And therefore, we will remove funding after we do a thorough investigation of what these universities are teaching.
00:13:16.000Charlie, this is just an example of the kind of thing that could be done at the state and federal level.
00:13:21.000Why is it Republicans are unwilling or reluctant to do that, Matt?
00:13:27.000Well, I think you have what I would call a leadership class or a number of people who've been in office for a long time who really haven't had their feet held to the fire.
00:13:37.000And let's be honest, especially in red states, right, where the Republicans are in charge and have been in charge for a long time, they haven't had to do much, right?
00:13:47.000And we don't have the luxury for that anymore.
00:13:50.000So both nationally and at the state level, we need to find leaders who actually understand where the base is, where the people is.
00:13:58.000People are in front of their leaders right now.
00:14:02.000And the only way that we're going to have people who really represent the people and protect the Republican base is if the Republican base pushes for new and better leadership.
00:14:13.000And I will say that you have to model this locally.
00:14:16.000It doesn't matter if you live in a state where you think everything's kind of fine.
00:14:19.000If you poke around, it's usually not fine.
00:14:22.000And so you need to join the growing numbers of people who are doing something in their own communities.
00:14:27.000You know, city council, school boards.
00:14:32.000But especially, you can't just accept the garbage leadership that you've often had.
00:14:38.000You have to, we have to press as a group and say, we demand leaders who will represent us and take the fight to the enemy and protect us from increasingly the criminalization of dissent.
00:15:08.000Just go after all the other people, not me.
00:15:11.000The Democrats openly campaign like Letitia James when she ran for office in Attorney General of New York in putting political opponents in prison.
00:15:20.000She ran for office saying, I'm going to lock Donald Trump up.
00:15:38.000It's going to become a lot more soon that will just connect you to businesses, products, and services from people who don't hate you.
00:15:45.000So, if you go to joinalign.us, it's an easy, free way to start to make alternative choices in what you buy.
00:15:52.000Because what we have to do, Charlie, as you well know, is take billions of dollars out from under woke capital and start rewarding any business that just refuses to go woke and that is worried about helping their fellow Americans and bringing back supply chains here.
00:16:28.000I'm Rebecca Hatfield, president of Second Vote.
00:16:30.000We've had uniquely American common sense since 1776, but now we're in the age of common nonsense.
00:16:36.000Today's common nonsense comes from the left's radical agenda.
00:16:40.000Inflation has reached a 40-year high, and we're headed into a recession.
00:16:45.000If you have common sense, the causes are obvious: extreme environmental policies, massive government spending, and woke fund managers.
00:16:53.000The left has spent years trying to kill domestic fuel production, and now energy prices are skyrocketing.
00:16:58.000But instead of talking to American energy companies, Joe Biden is in Saudi Arabia begging Middle Eastern dictators to increase supply.
00:17:06.000When the far left and woke corporations push extremist environmental policies, they have serious consequences.
00:17:14.000According to research from the Heritage Foundation, American families have lost $6,800 per year due to inflation, and we'll all feel that.
00:17:23.000When government gets bigger, our paycheck gets smaller.
00:17:27.000And inflation is the inevitable result of massive government spending.
00:17:31.000But inflation doesn't just affect the dollars you spend, it also affects the dollars you invest by destroying the purchasing power of your dollar.
00:17:38.000The Wall Street Journal recently exposed how so-called ESG funds cost between five and 15 times as much as other funds, but perform worse.
00:17:48.000This is why secondvote.com scores hundreds of companies on whether they support the leftist extreme environmental agenda.
00:17:55.000For 10 years, Second Vote has been looking out for conservative consumers helping you to shop your values.
00:18:00.000I'm Rebecca Hatfield reminding you that your first vote is at the ballot box, but your second vote is with your wallet.
00:18:07.000Make sure you go to secondvote.com and subscribe now using promo code Charlie for just $40 for a whole year.
00:18:17.000I want to highlight for you here what I consider to be a legitimate conundrum, and I want your help with this.
00:18:26.000What do you do if there is a candidate that you like that is receiving support in a primary from Democrats?
00:18:38.000If you kind of look below the surface, this is a major story that is happening all across the country.
00:18:46.000Since Democrats are so flush with cash, since Democrats have more money than they know what to do with, Democrats are now playing outwardly and publicly in Republican primaries.
00:19:01.000And I'll be very honest, this is not as easy as you might think.
00:19:05.000So on the surface, your initial reaction is probably similar to mine, that I wouldn't want to vote for a candidate that receives support from the Democrat Party, but it's actually more complicated than that.
00:19:17.000So for example, in Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano received major support from the Democrat Party.
00:19:27.000Now, Doug Mastriano is no fan of Democrats.
00:19:30.000In fact, Doug Mastriano was the Trump endorsed candidate.
00:19:33.000And Doug Mastriano is a fabulous person.
00:19:37.000So why is it that Democrats are weighing in on Republican primaries, spending huge money when they are candidates that are totally diametrically opposed to their values?
00:19:49.000Well, the way that they look at it is they want to pick their candidate that they think that they can beat in the general.
00:19:56.000And these are not small amounts of money.
00:19:59.000This is happening in congressional races.
00:20:17.000In 2012, Claire McCaskill's reelection campaign, you might remember, spent $1.7 million on ads against Todd Aiken, who then Todd Aiken had one of the worst gaffes in the history of modern Republican politics, who said something he should not have said, something of the sense of if something around rape, it was awful.
00:21:36.000Because they think John Gibbs will be easier to beat in a general election than Peter Meyer.
00:21:42.000So the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee is coming in and said Gibbs, who has basisly questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election, was, quote, handpicked by Trump to run for Congress, adding that Gibbs is too conservative for Western Michigan.
00:21:57.000And this is a serious quandary for me.
00:21:59.000And I'd love your thoughts, freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:22:02.000If the Democrats come in to support a candidate, how does that make you feel about your choice?
00:22:08.000I'll be honest, it makes me, I'm torn.
00:22:12.000If the Democrats so badly want a certain candidate and they're willing to put their money there.
00:22:19.000Now, the counter argument that I think is rather compelling is that be careful what you wish for, Democrats, which I think is a good argument.
00:22:30.000For example, back in the Florida governor's race, back in 2018, it was a two-way race between Congressman Ron DeSantis and I believe Agricultural Commissioner Adam Putnam.
00:22:43.000Adam Putnam, nice man, but far more establishment than Ron DeSantis.
00:22:48.000If the Democrats would have been doing the same thing they're doing now, they would have easily said, Ron DeSantis picked by Trump because they thought he would have been easier to defeat in a Republican, in a general election.
00:23:01.000And Ron DeSantis squeezed by, squeaked by, and is now America's greatest governor.
00:23:07.000What I'm getting at here, though, is something that I think we should all be aware of, which is when you make decisions in these primaries, you got to ask yourself the question, why would Democrats want that person to run?
00:23:20.000Now, Democrats, I think, are making a mistake here.
00:23:24.000Democrats, I think, are missing the target because I think they believe that some of these more conservative candidates are destined to automatically lose in a general election.
00:25:22.000They're doing this because these are actually the candidates that they fear the most.
00:25:29.000In a bizarre and ironic way, they're deploying resources to support the people that if they actually end up winning, could actually end up having the greatest amount of impact.
00:25:41.000Why would they run ads for John Gibbs?
00:25:43.000Because Peter Meyer is not a threat to them.
00:25:47.000Is that Peter Meyer is actually an ally?
00:25:50.000That they aren't that worried about Peter Meyer.
00:26:21.000It goes both ways, though, because we also don't want to lose in the general election either.
00:26:26.000Now, I'm under the belief that you got to nominate the most conservative candidate that can win.
00:26:31.000Know the district, know the state, and generally, almost always as a rule of thumb, if the media says they're too conservative, that means they're probably right over the mark of what you actually should have.
00:26:44.000But this is not just happening in one area.
00:26:51.000It happened, as I mentioned, in Pennsylvania.
00:26:54.000Democrats, the new Democrat strategy right now is to deploy resources early against candidates that they think are easier to beat.
00:27:07.000Look, every election in some sense is a base election in a post-Trump era in most districts.
00:27:13.000And I believe, after consideration and looking at all of this, I think Democrats are going to deeply regret the deployment of valuable resources in these primaries that will only elevate the more conservative grassroots candidate.
00:27:28.000I think that their metrics are all wrong here.
00:28:09.000If you found out a massive Democrat group is coming to support your preferred candidate, does that impact your choice?
00:28:17.000Or does it reaffirm that they actually might be the biggest threat because they think it would be easier to beat in a general?
00:28:25.000There are many examples of Republican establishment candidates that have lost over the last couple of years because the base stayed at home.
00:28:33.000Martha McSally would be an example twice in Arizona, two winnable races.
00:28:41.000We're blessed to live in the greatest nation ever to exist in the history of the world.
00:28:45.000Luke 12, 48 says, quote, to whom much has been given, much will be required.
00:30:48.000The DNC and RNC prefer the establishment candidate over America First.
00:30:52.000I'm overfalling for the argument that conservatives can't win.
00:30:54.000I prefer to watch Democrats destroy the world, then continue to be stabbed in the back by Republicans, helping them do so.
00:31:02.000I want your thoughts, freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:31:06.000I don't love doing the I told you so segments, but there is definitely, and tragically and unfortunately, the need to just kind of give a little bit of an update of something I find to be morally reprehensible and also something that is just kind of getting swept under the rug.
00:31:24.000We came out early, first and foremost.
00:31:26.000We are very clear on moral terms that Vladimir Putin is a thug.
00:31:34.000Invading a sovereign country is not defendable, period.
00:31:38.000Especially a stronger country invading a smaller, weaker country.
00:31:42.000However, we've been very clear on this program that Western intervention into Ukraine through funding and arms and weapons is a big mistake.
00:31:51.000There are several thought crimes that could be said about Ukraine.
00:31:54.000We had this conversation with Senator Kramer, very respectful, but it was a disagreement.
00:31:58.000And Senator Scott from Florida, very respectful, but a disagreement.
00:32:01.000That eastern Ukraine should have had its own elections, of which the people in eastern Ukraine are ethnically Russian.
00:32:08.000They speak Russian, and this entire conflict could have been avoided.
00:32:13.000Many senators will say, well, Charlie, we can't allow Russia to border NATO.
00:32:19.000There is a sliver of land called Kalingrad Oblast, of which there's a million people and a military base that already borders Poland.
00:32:27.000It's its own island of a nation, you could say.
00:32:29.000It borders Lithuania and Poland, and that completely destroys the argument that Russia can't border a NATO country.
00:32:36.000They're already bordering a NATO country.
00:32:38.000The entire Western fascination with helping the corrupt Ukrainian government, in our personal opinion, has always been unclear of what success looks like, has turned into a massive funding trough, all the while having sympathy and having support for the Ukrainian people.
00:32:54.000This recent development that we have seen shows the following: that despite $56 billion being spent by the American government to Ukraine, of which we questioned on this show, and we were one of the only shows to do so, alongside Tucker Carlson and a couple others, has showed the following: the ruble is soaring, and Putin is stronger than ever.
00:33:17.000Simon Jenkins wrote rights for the Guardian.com.
00:33:21.000The more money we have put into Ukraine, Russia is richer than ever before.
00:33:25.000Putin is more popular than ever before.
00:33:27.000Putin is stronger domestically than ever before.
00:33:30.000And there is more suffering in Ukraine than ever before.
00:33:32.000The tragic suffering and the plight of the Ukrainian people.
00:33:36.000War is not something to joke around with.
00:33:38.000Yet, Western forces, led by America, we've been pouring money into Ukraine and seemingly indifferent about the civilian suffering, saying we just have to keep going till we defeat Russia.
00:33:49.000Newsflash, the only way you defeat Russia is if we put 400,000 American ground troops in Ukraine and be willing to put up to 4 million, potentially getting into a nuclear war, and then maybe we could push them back to a border, of which is artificially drawn as is.
00:34:02.000Is that a cost that you want to be able to endure?
00:34:05.000The lack of prudence and wisdom when it has come to this situation is maddening.
00:34:10.000But I want to tell you what really frustrated me.
00:34:17.000The front page of Vogue, Olena Zelenska, Vladimir Zelensky, and Olena Zelenska, while Ukrainian citizens are being massacred, they are refugees.
00:34:40.000Zelensky finds time to go pose with the hair perfectly done and the perfect lighting for not the Wall Street Journal or not the New York Times, no, but for Vogue, which is a fashion magazine.
00:34:55.000While the people of Ukraine have become refugees, our money is funding a photo shoot in Kyiv.
00:35:03.000And there's this picture of the first lady surrounded by what could only be called their bags.